Sheikh-e Abad Hill

 hill, ancient, archeological site

The importance of these sites lies in their early date and long occupation spanning c. 9800-7600 cal BC, and in their location on the most important route-way through the Zagros, later the Silk Road.
The Zagros mountain region and 'hilly flanks' are of major importance to the study of early sedentism and the origins of agriculture, as a heartland of wild animals and plants that were later domesticated. Research here in the 1950-60s was seminal in developing theories on the Neolithic transformation (Braidwood 1961). Principal among these was a proposed 'broad-spectrum revolution' in use of plant and animal resources (Flannery 1969).
www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/matthews323/
CZAP is a new programme of UK-Iran research, investigating the origins of sedentism, domestication and agriculture in western Iran. Phase 1 investigates two Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites in the upper and lower Central Zagros (Figure 1). The site of Sheikh-e Abad is in the upland cooler Zagros, in a fertile plain, 1430m asl, surrounded by 3000m-high peaks. Jani lies close to the foothills of the Mesopotamian Plain in the lower, warmer Zagros, in a small plain, 1280m asl, with 1500m-high ridges. Each site comprises 8-10m of occupation deposits covering c.1ha, four times larger than Ganj Dareh.

The importance of these sites lies in their early date and long occupation spanning c. 9800-7600 cal BC, and in their location on the most important route-way through the Zagros, later the Silk Road. This region provides great scope for investigation of east-west movements of people, animals, materials, ideas and practices in the first two millennia of the Early Holocene. The sites were identified during survey by Mohammadifar, Motarjem and Abdi, and are part of a cluster of important Neolithic sites in this region, including Asiab, Sarab, Ganj Dareh and Abdul Hosein.