Revisiting Neolithic Ali Kosh: New Insights into Settlement Sustainability, Human Mobility, and Subsistence Strategies

In western Asia, the Zagros foothills played a fundamental role in the formulation of early explanatory hypotheses on the origins of agriculture. The excavations at the emblematic Neolithic site of Ali Kosh, Deh Luran, led to the development of the so-called “marginal zone hypothesis.” However, some chronological inconsistencies remained until a new stratigraphic excavation was carried out in 2017 to revise the findings. According to the new evaluation, Ali Kosh was occupied from ca. 7500–6500 cal b.c. During the Boz Mordeh phase (ca. 7500–7350 b.c.), the inhabitants occupied the site seasonally, but they became increasingly sedentary in the succeeding Ali Kosh phase (ca. 7350–7000 b.c.). In addition to obsidian, they also imported beads of stone and sea shell. Moreover, they increasingly relied on herding sheep and fully domesticated goats. The emergence of Neolithic life in the lowlands was a direct consequence of cultural changes in the central Zagros. It is not yet known whether this was a result of climatic deterioration or population pressure in the highlands.