Khalil Rashidian - School of Government and International Affairs, University of Durham, Durham, U.K

The early human settlement in Zagros goes back to the Neolithic era, about 10,000 year ago. In this study the physical and environmental potential for primitive and modern settlement in this area will be highlighted. With regards to logic criteria, the Zagros settlement patterns that characterize the movement of the local community from a small number of dispersed settlers with few services to concentrations of settlers in a village, town, or city with many more services will be discussed. For preparing this paper, various maps including geological map of Zagros range 1/000000 scale, set of topographical maps of Zagros 1/50000 scale, various academic studies of Zagros, and author’s personal studies and experience of Wear valley located in Penine, (North of England), and the Zagros region have been applied.