SHANIDAR CAVE — SOLECKI 393 



In upper Mesopotamia we find the record of distinct terrace sys- 

 tems bordering the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Greater Zab Rivers. 

 Passemard (1927, p. 71) noted that there were terraces along the Eu- 

 phrates at elevations of 100, 60, 30, and 15 meters. He found a hand 

 ax described as of upper Chellean type in place in a 30-meter terrace, 

 suggesting that the region was occupied during Lower Paleolithic 

 times. 



The geologists of the Iraq Petroleum Co. at Kirkuk reported that 

 one of their surveys between Tarjil and Rudkhana, villages northeast 

 of Tauq in northern Iraq, revealed five fluviatile deposits marking five 

 terraces merging one into another.^ These terraces lie on the stream 

 drainages of the Tigris River. The relative heights of these terraces 

 above river level were measured between the following limits : Terrace 

 1, 289 feet; Terrace 2, 190 and 170 feet; Terrace 3, 110 and 90 feet; 

 Terrace 4, 65 and 55 feet ; Terrace 5, 33 and 25 feet. The relative hori- 

 zons of the terraces are constant at about 10 feet for the fourth and 

 fifth terraces, and at about 20 feet for the second and third terraces. 



C. Stansfield Hitchin (unpublished report of 1948, pp. 50-51), con- 

 sulting geologist for the proposed high dam at the head of the Bekhme 

 Gorge in the Rowanduz District of northern Iraq, reports the occur- 

 rence of four distinct horizons of terrace gravels above the Greater Zab 

 River. Isolated deposits of these gravels occur at fre(iuent intervals 

 up the length of the Greater Zab and Rowanduz River valleys. These 

 terrace gravels are found at 100-90, 40-35, 15, and 4 meters above the 

 present river level. At many localities these sediments are lime- 

 cemented, and evidently represent the depositions of past pluvial 

 periods, since they contain material far coarser than the present river 

 is capable of carrying, even in flood. 



I was able to make a few observations on the terraces in the vicinity 

 of Shanidar village and the Greater Zab River during my explora- 

 tions at Shanidar cave and environs. Using an aircraft-type altimeter, 

 I measured the heights of two terraces on the Greater Zab River 

 about half a mile above the confluence of the Greater Zab and the 

 Rowanduz River.^ One terrace lay at approximately 50 feet above 

 the river, and a lower terrace was measured at approximately 25 feet 

 above the river. The Shanidar police post, which is situated on a 

 broad terrace composed of coarse gravel cemented by limestone, is 

 some 140 feet above the river level. 



The observations of Passemard, the Iraq Petroleum Co. geologists, 

 Hitchin, and myself are tabulated below (table 1). Measurements 

 made in feet are converted to the nearest meter.* 



' Unpublished data. The terraces are numbered in reverse order in the report. 



* These readings should be rechecked with a level for more accurate data. 



* The conversion tables used are the "Express," British into metric conversion 

 tables, by J. Gall Inglia, London, 1927. 



