27 August 2003

Visiting a place where pre-historic man used to live, eat, hunt and sleep more than 12,000 years ago can be an exciting experience for both ordinary people and researchers alike.

The Quchali passageway in the western province of Ilam will soon become a place for visitors to see first hand a lifestyle practiced thousands of years ago.

A new project aims to turn chambers in the passageway where pre-historic man used to roam into places for displaying simulations of their way of life. The project is undertaken by the Paleolithic research center of the National Museum and the local cultural heritage department.

Fereydun Biglari, head of the Quchali exploration team, said in France, there are a number of archeological parks in a region dotted by the Paleolithic caves.

"This region in the ilam province will soon be turned into an amusement-educational facility," he noted.He pointed out studies carried out on tools found in these chambers suggested they dated back to between 12,000 to 15,000 years ago.

"Another aspect of the studies seeks to find out about animal remains in the chambers. Food remains could guide us about the then environmental and climatic conditions," Biglari remarked.

Meanwhile, Saman Heydari, a geologist with the team, described sediments in the historical caves as clues regarding the climatic conditions in various periods.

"Physical and chemical tests are carried out on samples of residual layers in the laboratory," he said.

Given its unique climatic variation, slopes and plains, Ilam is among the few provinces standing out as a historical human habitat.