Baradostian culture

Baradostian culture

Period	Upper Paleolithic
Dates	c. 36,000 – c. 18,000 BC
Preceded by	Mousterian
Followed by	Zarzian culture

The Baradostian culture was an Upper Paleolithic flint industry culture found in the Zagros region in the border-country between Iraq and Iran. It was preceded by the Middle Paleolithic Mousterian culture.

Radiocarbon dates suggest that this was one of the earliest Upper Paleolithic complexes, beginning perhaps as early as 36,000 BC. Its relationship, however, to neighbouring cultures remains unclear. Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan, Warwasi rock-shelter and Yafteh Cave in the western Zagros, and Eshkaft-e Gavi Cave in the southern Zagros are among the major sites to have been excavated. Perhaps precipitated by the most recent cold phase (the Würm glaciation) of the current ice age, the Baradostian was replaced by a local Epipaleolithic industry called the Zarzian culture. The Baradostian tool tradition marks the end of the Zagros Paleolithic sequence.

According to M. Otte, the Baradostian of the Zagros clearly belongs to Aurignacian traditions.

External links

• Benco et al. Asia, Western. From Encyclopedia of Human Evolution and Prehistory, 2nd ed; E. Delson, I. Tattersall, J. A.Van Couvering and A. S. Brooks, eds. Garland: New York, 2000.
• S. E. Churchill and F. H. Smith. Makers of the early Aurignacian of Europe. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Vol.113(S31): 61 - 115.