Evidence of 8000-year-old Agricultural Activities Found in Shahrud

14 February 2005

The archeological team working in the southern parts of Shahrud, in Semnan province, have found evidence of agricultural life dating to some 8000 years ago.

The evidence shows that the area, now a desert with no agricultural activities, had some temporary waterways in the old times, indicating that despite the dry climatic conditions, people succeeded to initiate dry farming.

The archeology team working in the southern areas of Shahrud studied the area with regard to the environmental conditions 8000 years ago. They have so far discovered sharp stones, diverse geological evidence, and evidence of agricultural life going on there in the old times.

According to geo-archeologist working in the area, Korush Roustaii, southern parts of Shahrud are today deserts and dry lands in which even dry farming is difficult. So if the climatic conditions are considered the same for 8000 years ago, it becomes obvious that farming then was really hard.

Yet the discovery of items such as sickles for wheat harvesting and other farming tools triggered the experts to find out more about the matter, and they succeeded to find remains of some temporary waterways made by humans as irrigating sources for their farms, explained Roustaii.

The evidence proves that ancient residents of most of the 8000-year-old archeological sites of the southern parts of Shahrud had defeated the dry climatic conditions and initiated farming.

Most of these sites date back to the Neolithic times, and were left derelict afterwards; therefore intact evidence of life at the time could be found in the area, however not much studies have so far been carried out there.

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