پروژه ی باستا نشناسی زاگرس مرکزی(czap) گزارش مقدماتی کاوش و بررسی درتپه ی شیخی آباد صحنه و تپه جانی اسلام آباد غرب

تپه باستانی شیخی آباد روستای کرتویج شهرستان صحنه، در برگیرنده ی فرهنگ دوران نوسنگی بدون سفال در غرب ایران است. این تپه در بررسی های باستان شناسی تیم باستان شناسی دانشگاه بوعلی سینا کشف و معرفی گردید. تاکنون صرفاً چند محوطه معدود باستانی مربوط به دوران نوسنگی در غرب ایران بین دهه های 1950 تا 1978 م. مورد کاوش قرار گرفته اند. خوشبختانه پس از حدود 40 سال وقفه ی مطالعاتی، تیم مشترک باستان شناسی ایران- انگلیس به سرپرستی یعقوب محمدی فر و روجر متیوس و همکاری پژوهشکده ی باستان شناسی، کار در این تپه را آغاز نموده اند. تپه ی جانی اسام آبادغرب، محوطه ی دیگری است که در فصل اول این پژوهش به جهت تمرکز هیأت باستان شناسی در تپه ی شیخی آباد و به جهت بُعد مسافت این دو محوطه به مدت چند روز مورد بررسی، نقشه برداری، عکاسی فتوکرامتری و انجام عملیات مختصر لایه نگاری قرار گرفت و ادامه فعالیت به فصول آینده موکول گردید. نتایج آزمایش های اولیه حاکی از این بود که لایه ی تحتانی شیخی آباد متعلق به 9810 ق.م است. عاوه بر این در لایه های سطحی تپه ی شیخی آباد بقایای یک استقرار روستایی با یک فضای مقدس شناسایی گردید.     abstract one key aim of czap is to investigate climate change at the end of the ice age and in the early holocene. a second aim is to study the transformations in human-environment relationships associated with increasing sedentism and management of plants and animals. cave site near kurtavij the sites of sheikh-e abad and jani enable comparative study of local and regional variation in palaeoclimate and environment, between the upper cooler zagros at sheikh-e abad, and the lower warmer zagros at jani. sheikh-e abad is located in the high karstic zone of the zagros mountains, on a fertile plain at 1,425m asl, surrounded by peaks over 3,000m high, 38km northeast of kermanshah city. jani is situated in the lower folded zone on a fertile plain at 1,280m asl, between ridges 1,500m high, 90km to the southwest of sheikh-e abad. the site of ganj dareh, where there is evidence of the earliest domesticated goat in the world, c. 8,000 cal bc, lies close to these sites, c. 35km south of sheikh-e abad. palaeobotanical, archaeozoological and environmental data from czap indicate that the sites of sheikh-e abad and jani were located close to a rich range of ecological zones and resources including plains, wetlands and mountains. results are being compared to records of climate and environment change over the last 40,000 years from sediment cores from lake zeribar, 160km northwest of kermanshah, at c. 1,300m. at sheikh-e abad and jani there is evidence of substantial long-lasting settlements of pre-pottery neolithic date, with varied subsistence practices, including an emphasis on hunting wild goat and sheep. micro morphological analysis has identified widespread traces of herbivore dung pre- and post-dating c. 8000 cal bc, which together with zoo archaeology and archaeology enable interdisciplinary investigation of early animal management, independent of changes in bone morphology, which may take 500-1000 years. the use of wild goat and sheep skulls in cultic practices in building 2 indicates that these animals had a significance beyond economic. there is currently no indication that people at either site engaged in agriculture, relating to cereals, but many of the wild plants available in the surrounding landscape were exploited, including lentils, pistachio and almond. sheikh-e abad and jani are large, enduring sites of the pre-pottery neolithic period, inhabited by hunter-foragers rather than farmers, with indications of early animal management. excavations here illuminate one distinctive pathway in the early neolithic taken by human communities of the fertile crescent in the millennia after the end of the last ice age, with subsistence based on intensified exploitation of wild plants and animals. key words: central zagros, neolithic,tepe sheikh-e abad, tepe jani.