398 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1954 



geological context in Iraq. According to Wright (1952, p. 12), the 

 deposits containing the artifacts date from the very beginning of the 

 last of the four glacial stages of the Pleistocene (i. e., Wiirm, in terms 

 of the Alpine sequence) . Included in the mammal remains are the 

 bones of rhinoceros and Indian elephant, which have not been noted 

 elsewhere in Iraq archeological sites (Wright and Howe, 1951; 

 Fraser, 1953). 



The combined archeological expedition of the Oriental Institute 

 of the University of Chicago and the American Schools of Oriental 

 Eesearch under the directorship of Dr. Kobert J. Braidwood in 

 1950-51 spent a season in the region between Chemchemal and Sulei- 

 maniyah in northeastern Iraq. This expedition investigated four 

 sites: Jarmo, Karim Shahir, Palegawra, and Barda Balka (described 

 above). All these sites are in the foothills area of the Zagros Moun- 

 tains. With the exception of Jarmo, a very early Neolithic site, all 

 are pre-Neolithic in age.'' 



Palegawra, a cave site that was excavated by Howe (Braidwood, 

 1951a, b), is situated about 20 miles east of Chemchemal. Three suc- 

 cessive natural layers were exposed in a trench excavated to 1.75 me- 

 ters. The bottom layer contained an "uncontaminated blade-tool 

 industry, with microliths" resembling the industry of the Zarzi cave 

 (Braidwood, 1951b, p. 15). A preliminary impression is that the in- 

 dustry of Palegawra represents a slightly later phase than that of 

 Zarzi (Garrod, 1953, p. 23, footnote 3). In typological classification 

 it may be deduced that Zarzi and Palegawra are very late Upper 

 Paleolithic sites, bordering on Mesolithic (Garrod, 1953, p. 22; Mo- 

 vius, 1953, p. 416). Unfortunately, because of its physical nature, 

 Palegawra cave cannot be related to the geological sequence of the 

 Chemchemal Valley, and therefore cannot be placed in the geochron- 

 ology of this area (Wright, 1952, p. 12). There is no way of geo- 

 logically dating Zarzi cave either. 



Karim Shahir is an open settlement site of about 2 acres in extent, 

 situated on an eminence about one-fourth mile upstream from Jarmo 

 (Jarmo is about 5 airline miles east of Chemchemal) (Braidwood, 

 1951a, b). It was excavated by Bruce Howe. This site appears to 

 represent the terminus of the Mesolithic quite close to Early Neo- 

 lithic Jarmo. Karim Shahir had a single occupation exposed in about 

 550 square meters of area, with the principal occupation level only a 



'Braidwood (1952, p. 41), and Braidwood, Robert J. and Linda, 1953, pp. 

 279-280) use the term "food gathering stage" as a substitute for the Paleo- 

 lithic; "era of incipient agriculture and animal domestication" for the Meso- 

 lithic; and "era of village-farming efficiency" for Neolithic in their papers on 

 Near Eastern archeology. According to the Braidwoods, the terms in current 

 usage, especially Neolithic and Mesolithic, are felt to be too loosely applied. 



