The Effects of the Southern Zagros Folded Zone on the Adaptive Strategies of the Late Pleistocene Human Occupations in Fars Province

The current research examines the effects of the southern Zagros Folded Zone on the adaptive strategies ofthe Late Pleistocene human occupations in Fars Province. The human use of caves and shelters during thePaleolithic is well documented in southern Zagros. Survey data indicate that Paleolithic people frequentlyoccupied many cave sites either for short or long periods in this region. This phenomenon, occupying thecaves during the Stone Age, was probably more common in this part of the Zagros Mountains than in otherregions of the Zagros due to its geological and geomorphological characteristics. Abundant caves andshelter sites that formed during the folding and erosion procedures provided good opportunities for thehumans during the Late Pleistocene and even early Holocene to intensely occupy the region. Differentgeological formations also yielded abundant knappable stones of different quality and size exploited asraw materials by humans for tool making which highly influenced the regional lithic industries during thePleistocene.

Keywords:

Cave , Rock shelter , Paleolithic , Southern Zagros , Iran