The impact of climatic phenomena on the biological settlement patterns of late Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic societies in Fars Province, Southern Zagros Cultural Basin

Kiani, Mohamad; Qorbani, Hamidreza; Nikzad, Meisam

doi:10.22034/z.a.r.2025.2061584.1026

The impact of climatic phenomena on the biological settlement patterns of late Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic societies in Fars Province, Southern Zagros Cultural Basin

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

mohamad kiani ¹

Hamidreza qorbani ²

Meisam Nikzad ³

¹ PhD student in Archaeology, Isfahan University of Art

² Faculty member of the Department of Archaeology, Isfahan University of Art

³ Faculty member of the Department of Archaeology, Shiraz University of Art

10.22034/z.a.r.2025.2061584.1026

Abstract

Abstract
Climate is inherently variable, and understanding its fluctuations has long fascinated climatologists. “Climate change” denotes significant shifts in the expected long-term patterns of a region’s average climate. In Iran, where a predominantly hot-dry climate prevails across much of the plateau and a wide range of geographic ecosystems coexists, even modest climatic shifts can profoundly affect water resources, food security, and thus the biological and social fabric of human settlements. Altitude and proximity to the sea further modulate these effects, making some areas far more sensitive to change than others. Evaluating how past climate variability shaped prehistoric settlement patterns requires integrating paleoclimate models with archaeological data. Fars Province with its favorable geographic setting and rich environmental resources has hosted human communities throughout the Late Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic. Yet the role of climatic events in the emergence, persistence, or collapse of these early sites remains underexplored. This study employs a descriptive-analytical approach to assess how major climate episodes the Bølling-Allerød (ca. 13000 –11000 BC), the Younger Dryas (ca. 11000–9500 BC), and the early Holocene 9.2 ka and 8.2 ka events affected cultural and subsistence strategies in prehistoric Fars.
Keywords: Fars Cultural Basin, Paleoclimatology, Climatic Phenomena, Bowling-Allrod, Younger Dryas.
Introduction
Climate is a variable phenomenon and its variability is a subject that has always been of interest to climatologists. Climate change refers to a specific change in the expected patterns for the average climate of a place that occurs over a long period of time. Due to the dominance of the hot-dry climate over most parts of Iran on the one hand and the extent and diversity of geographical ecosystems in the Iranian Plateau on the other hand, climate changes and consequences of varying degrees have many effects on the sustainability of water resources and food security, which cause numerous changes in biological, social, etc. textures. Although climate change has affected all parts of the Iranian Plateau in the past and today, factors such as altitude and distance and proximity to the sea have caused the effects of climate change on biological, geographical textures and, consequently, human societies to be much more severe in some areas of the Iranian Plateau and much less in others. In this regard, it is important to evaluate these changes on the biological settlement pattern of prehistoric societies based on paleoclimate models in different parts of Iran. Fars province, due to its geographical conditions and suitable and desirable environmental capacities, has been a ground for the establishment of human settlements in different periods. The study of this important cultural basin as part of the Southern Zagros and the role of climatic phenomena and its natural environment in the formation, persistence, or collapse of ancient sites is one of the research projects needs that is seen as lacking in the studies of this region. This research aims to study the impact of climatic phenomena such as the Boling-Alrod phases (13,000-11,000 BC), the Younger Dryas (11,000-9,500 BC), as well as the 9.2 and 8.2 pre-present climatic phenomena in the Early Holocene on the cultural and livelihood changes of prehistoric societies in Fars in the late Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic periods, using a descriptive-analytical method.

Discussion
The study of human-environment interactions and the impact of climate conditions on pre-modern societies on the Iranian Plateau is still in its early stages. Although significant progress has been made in the analysis of past climate change, there are still significant regional and temporal gaps, which to some extent also apply to archaeological data. If we are to understand the complex relationship between climate and humans in different parts of the Iranian Plateau, more interdisciplinary studies at both macro and micro scales on archaeological sites and their paleo environmental contexts are needed. This inconsistency is not only present between archaeological and paleoclimate data, but can also be observed within the same dataset, i.e. paleoclimate archives located close to each other have recorded contradictory evidence. Two paleoclimate records show that lake levels were higher at the end of the last glacial period than at the beginning of the Holocene in northwestern Iran and the southern Zagros (Persia), probably due to lower evaporation. This suggests that abundant water resources and their availability to human societies during the Younger Marine Period and in the cultural transition to the early Neolithic. After the end of the Younger Marine Period, it had a potential impact. A series of rapid climate change events (RCC) in the Holocene should also be considered. Another part of the paleoclimate record that is of potential importance for the Neolithic of Iran is the 8.2 K event, which, like the Younger Marine and 9.2 ka events, is characterized by sudden cooling and aridity in most parts of the world. Neolithic societies in Iran were already well developed by that time, and human societies had been herding animals and growing crops for several centuries, and had also developed complex adaptive strategies, including resource diversification and storage practices, that could have protected them from the worst effects of RCC events. The most compelling evidence for human behavioral adaptation to the effects of the 8.2ka event comes from the Fars region of southwestern Iran, where a shift from agriculture to hunting has been confirmed at sites such as Tel Moshki and Hermangan. The assemblage of stone tools at these sites during the 8.2ka climatic event suggests a possible collapse of local agricultural regimes and a return to pre-Neolithic hunting-gathering food production methods as the cold conditions of this period and event became a challenge for the farming communities of the region.

Conclusion
Studies show that the Southern Zagros (Persia) includes a multifaceted landscape consisting of rivers and wetlands, pastures and a significant number of trees including pistachios and almonds. It is argued here that these resources provided a rich and diverse environment in the Southern Zagros in the early Holocene for hunting, gathering and early sedentary life and management of plant and animal resources, and are an important example of the range of local and regional ecological changes in the Early Neolithic. According to the excavations carried out, the evidence of subsistence practices in prehistoric Fars is very limited, since most of this research was carried out in the past decades, when zoo archaeological and phyto archaeological studies were not very common. According to the recent excavations carried out, as well as the study of cultural materials from previous excavations, the cultural landscape of the late Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic of Fars has been revealed to some extent. Studies show that during the 8.2ka climatic event in the Fars region, there is evidence for a change in lifestyle among the dated sites (Mushki and Jerry) with a stable lifestyle after 8000 years before present, which is potentially a result of more favorable conditions after the end of the climatic event. It seems that due to the climatic changes in the 7th millennium BC and its improvement in 6200 BC, we are witnessing changes in the habitat pattern of this period. These climatic changes most likely had a direct impact on the socio-economic strategies of the Neolithic societies of Fars. In general, it can be said that the ecosystems of Iran, especially its interior, had a limited carrying capacity in the pre modern period, and as a result, small units of human habitation and sometimes urban centers were formed. While environmental constraints imposed limits on the size and number of settlements as well as their lifestyles, the small local communities of the Iranian Plateau usually found ways to adapt and probably learned to be more resilient in times of rapid climate change (RCC) and hazardous weather conditions. Shifting from one crop to another, from sedentary to nomadic, or exploiting mineral resources, or choosing to migrate and move to new areas, are all strategies that pre modern societies used to cope with the adverse effects of weather conditions. It should also be noted that the geographical location of the Iranian Plateau prevented a heavy economic reliance on agriculture, as climate change had immediate effects on this sector. Therefore, the economy in pre modern Iran depended on other economic activities such as mixed agriculture and animal husbandry, small-scale and remote trade, animal husbandry and herding, as well as small-scale industrial activities. Iran's climate and geographical diversity have been conducive to various forms of adaptation, and the fragile balance of human-environment relations on the Iranian Plateau has led the inhabitants of this land to develop their own unique form of resilience against environmental stresses throughout the history of this region.

Keywords

Fars Cultural Basin

Paleoclimatology

Climatic Phenomena

Allerud Bowling

Younger Deryas

Subjects

Archaeology

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