A five-year joint research project by the University of Tehran and the University of Warsaw has provided new insights into the life of communities in central Iran before the rise of the Median state. The study refutes the long-held view that the population of the Iron Age in this region consisted predominantly of nomadic pastoralists.
The research examined human remains from Iron Age II and III burials at Karah Tepe, located in Sagzabad on the Kazvin plain in Iran. These remains date back to approximately 1100–750 BCE. As reported by ISNA on Monday, the results were published in three scientific articles in international academic journals following detailed bioarchaeological and archaeometric analysis.
The international project was jointly led by Mostafa Dehpakhvalan, a researcher from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Tehran and head of the Karah Tepe Sagzabad excavation team, and Arkadiusz Soltysiak from the University of Warsaw. Researchers Joanna Trebitska, Rafał Fetner, Elham Farnam, Marjan Mollabeyrami, and Zahra Alinejad also participated in the project.
The data obtained indicates that the inhabitants of Karah Tepe in the late second and early first millennium BCE were primarily a sedentary agro-pastoral community closely connected to the local environment.
For decades, the lack of clear settlement evidence and the concentration of archaeological finds in cemeteries led researchers to conclude that most of the Iranian central plateau during the Iron Age was associated with mobile pastoral groups. New isotopic and osteological data paint a more complex picture of subsistence and mobility in the region before the emergence of early states.
Evidence from Human Remains
Bioanthropological examinations were conducted on the remains of at least 52 individuals, including 18 men, nine women, four adults of undetermined sex, as well as 21 infants and children.
Dental caries affected about 21 percent of the individuals studied, which corresponds to the regular consumption of carbohydrate and starch-rich foods associated with agriculture. Furthermore, researchers found signs of physiological stress, including indicators of iron deficiency and anemia, in the skull and eye sockets. These conditions were observed more frequently in adults than in children.
Traces of physical trauma were also recorded. Injuries consistent with blows from sharp and blunt objects were found on the skulls of two adult men and one woman, indicating episodes of physical violence or social tension within the community.
Isotopes Offer Clues About Diet and Agriculture
Researchers analyzed stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes from 53 samples of human dental tissue and 30 samples of animal bone and dental tissue to reconstruct dietary models and subsistence strategies. Nitrogen isotope values in the collagen of Karah Tepe residents were unusually high compared to data obtained from other contemporary sites on the Iranian plateau. Researchers suggest that these elevated values cannot be explained solely by high meat consumption.
Instead, they propose that intensive agriculture and the widespread use of animal manure to enrich agricultural soils may have contributed to such an isotopic profile. Such methods would align with intensive land management in the relatively limited and densely populated area of the Kazvin plain alluvial cone.
The results point to evidence supporting a sedentary agricultural economy rather than a predominantly mobile pastoral lifestyle. Researchers also identified significant differences in carbon isotope values between men and women, which could potentially indicate differences in grain sources or dietary practices between the sexes.
Tracking Mobility and Geographic Origin
Another crucial element of the project involved analyzing radiogenic strontium isotope ratios in the enamel of 60 people. This method allows scientists to distinguish between individuals who grew up locally and those who may have arrived from elsewhere. The analysis aimed to assess the degree of mobility of the Karah Tepe population and identify potential migrants, providing additional evidence for understanding settlement and movement patterns in the region during the Iron Age. Researchers note that the combined osteological and isotopic data offer a deeper picture of the communities living on the Kazvin plain from approximately 1200 to 750 BCE, preceding the formation of early states in Iran.
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