On July 17, the team began working on a project to save artifacts and to gather information from the two caves at Tang-e Bolaghi, which is located in Iran’s southern province of Fars. They are racing against time, since Tang-e Bolaghi and its very significant ancient sites will be flooded by the Sivand Dam, which is scheduled to come on stream in March 2006.

“Due to the importance of the caves, the excavations are being carried out in order to determine the history of human settlement in the region. Thus we discovered a great number of stone tools made of chert and flint,” the Iranian director of the team told CHN.

“Studies have not been able to precisely determine the age of the tools yet, but the artifacts indicate that the techniques and the lifestyle were unchanged for several millennia,” Mohammad Zeidi added.

The Neolithic period pertains to the last phase of the Stone Age, marked by the domestication of animals, the development of agriculture, and the manufacturing of pottery and textiles. It is commonly thought to have begun circa 9000–8000 BC in the Middle East.

The team is comprised of eight Japanese experts from the University of Tsukuba and six Iranian archaeologists, who will be working in the caves until mid August.