« Now New York
Main
To Curse of Not to Curse - - Tut, Tut »
May 11, 2005
Just Who Were These People?
Who were these people and where did they come from?
There is a report out of Iran of the excavation of a late Iron Age (~800 BCE) graveyard in the village of Lafourak in the Savad Kouh area of Mazandaran. This is a salvage excavation working beyond the rising waters of the Alborz Dam. Fifteen graves have been discovered. A paleontologist with the Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, Farzad Forouzanfar, believes that three of these graves are unique, at least unique to Iran.
All the tombs found in Lafourak include skeletons buried either in fetus positions or to their sides, but the three different ones include skeletons on their backs covered with clay. Moreover, the race of these three skeletons is different than the other ones. As a result, Forouzanfar believes they have been immigrants to the area buried according to their own traditions after death. More studies are needed to find out their ethnicities."Since no other remains of such skulls have been found in any other part of Gilan and Mazandaran, it is believed that the people have emigrated out of the province to either other parts of Iran or to other countries," said Forouzanfar. Samples of such skulls are not so far identified in other parts of Iran, and according to Forouzanfar, more detailed comparisons are needed to be carried out between the previously discovered bones elsewhere and the new ones. [from Persian Journal]
The implication is that there is some anatomical difference between these three skeletons and other 12 that were uncovered. Of course, subtle differences in "race" can sometimes be discerned but it doesn't sound that these differences are all that subtle. Where did they come from?
When I learn more, I'll let you know. Oh, just in case you are wondering, there is no reason whatsoever to think that they are anything but completely modern H. sapiens.
Posted by Duane Smith at May 11, 2005 9:39 AM | Read more on Archaeology |
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.telecomtally.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1156