A review of the dates of early Neolithic sites from the Fertile Crescent to the Indus River Valley and a bit beyond is available at PLOS One (open access).
The study shows that the Neolithic expanded gradually through central Persia starting at a point in the Zargos Mountains from the Fertile Crescent. It disfavors models of sea based hop to the Indus River Valley from Mesopotamia, a coastal route migration to the Indus River Valley, or a "land rush" style settlement when lots of farmer rush past virgin land to reach more distant virgin land further away from the point of departure. It also strongly disfavors a source for the Fertile Crescent Neolithic in South Asia or Persia.
Zargos or Zagros mountains? Is there a link to Argos?
ReplyDeleteZagros. My bad on the spelling error. The possibility of the link to the Argos is interesting, although the distance for the Aegean story to the mountains is great, so it could be a coincidence.
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