A research conducted by the National Museum of Iran and a team of international researchers, including the Bordeaux University of France, on a tooth found in Vazmeh Cave proves that Neanderthals have lived in Zagros mountains in Iran.
The director-general of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Kermanshah Province Omid Qaderi said that the tooth will soon be displayed in the National Museum of Iran.
The tooth belonged to a child who had been 6-10 years old Neanderthal at the time of death. It was found about 20 years ago.
Fereydoun Biglari, an archeologist, said that due to the fact that the Neanderthals die out more than 40 thousand years ago, the tooth should be between 40 to 70 thousand years old. The research is of great importance because there has been only one bone dating back to the Paleolithic age found in Iran; of course, a canine tooth of a Neanderthal child was also found in a shelter in Kermanshah, which is still to be studied.
Neanderthals were a group of so-called archaic humans that emerged about 200,000 years ago and were replaced d by modern human between 35,000 and perhaps 40,000 years ago.
Neanderthals lived in Eurasia from the Atlantic regions of Europe eastward to Central Asia, the Mediterranean and southwest Asia, as well as eastern Asia and Africa. They are mostly known as the “cavemen.”
The word Neanderthal is derives from Neander Valley in Germany (in German Neander Thal or Neander Tal), where the fossils were first uncovered.
Average Neanderthal males stood around 164 to 168 cm and females 152 to 156 cm tall, and had a more robust build and distinctive morphological features than Modern Humans.
9417**1424
Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish
Your Comment