New Evidence of Two Transitions in the Neolithic Sequence of Northeastern Iran

During preliminary fieldwork at an endangered site in the Shahroud area in northeast Iran, evidence of two transitional periods in the Neolithic sequence of the region were observed and partially documented. The first transition, around 6700–6200 BCE, corresponds with the temporal gap between the West Mound and the East Mound of Sang-e Chakhmaq sequences, as the type sites of the Aceramic/Proto-Ceramic Neolithic and the Ceramic Neolithic of northeastern Iran, respectively. The second transition demonstrates the contextual relationship between the ceramic of the final phase of Chakhmaq culture and the first manifestation of the distinct ceramic of the succeeding culture of Cheshmeh Ali in the second half of the sixth millennium BCE. This is the first time that evidence of these two transitions, augmented by new 14C dates, has been documented.