Discovery of early human footprints on the island of Hormuz

According to Moj News Agency, quoting the public relations of the research institute Cultural heritage and tourismSepehr Zarei, Head of the Board Archeology Located in the area of ​​”several trees” Hormoz island “The results of the initial survey of the area ‌ a few ‌ trees in order to assess the capacity of the area to carry out future field programs, made it clear that the history of human presence on the island needs to be reviewed,” he said.

He added: “Despite the significant stone structures and especially the presence of the” Lavalva “technique, this complex can be attributed to the Middle Paleolithic period.

The archaeologist said: “These new findings confirm the presence of hunter-gatherer groups on the island in the Paleolithic period and indicate the importance of the Strait of Hormuz in the Paleolithic archeology of the Persian Gulf and the southern coast of Iran.”

Zarei emphasized: preserving this area and its ecological landscape and conducting more research in this part of the eastern coast of Hormoz Island is one of the research-conservation goals of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts of Hormozgan Province.

He said: “We hope that future research, including intensive surveying, systematic sampling, excavation of in situ layers and additional studies, will increase archaeologists’ knowledge about the development of Paleolithic groups and the connection of the Persian Gulf with southern Iran and the Arabian Peninsula during the Pleistocene.”

The archaeologist added: “The site of several trees is the first evidence of Paleolithic settlements on the island of Hormuz and after the Bam Qeshm site, the second evidence of such settlements in the Persian Gulf islands.”

Discovery of early human footprints on the island of Hormuz

The Director General of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts of Hormozgan Province, referring to the identification of an area from the Paleolithic period by the experts of the General Directorate on the east coast of Hormoz Island, said: According to archaeologists’ observations of their technological and typological features and the existence of the “Lavalva” technique can be attributed to the Middle Paleolithic period.

Sohrab Banavand added: “The period that coincides with the presence of Neanderthals and probably ancient intelligent humans in Iran and began about 200,000 years ago and ended about 40,000 years ago.”

Referring to previous archeological excavations on the island of Hormoz, which began in the 1310s, during which only the remains and remains of settlements of the Islamic period were found, he said: A stone was identified on a naval barracks called “Several Trees”.

Referring to the importance of this discovery, Banavand said that the planning and implementation of the preliminary survey project started in this area with the aim of examining the natural background of this area and Paleolithic remains and stated: A relative chronology was presented.

About six years ago, it was announced that traces of early humans had been identified in Qeshm, another island in the Persian Gulf. Farzin Hagdal, the former Deputy Minister of Culture, Social Affairs and Tourism of the Qeshm Free Zone Organization, said: “From 1987 to 2007, excavations were carried out in an area called ‘Bam Qeshm’, which was thought to have been inhabited by early Neanderthals and Neo-Neanderthals.” On the African continent, they traveled to Europe and from there to other parts of the world, but the findings of archaeologists in 1996 refuted the initial theories and concluded that early humans were divided into two groups, partly to continental Europe and Some have moved to what is now Qeshm Island and from there to other parts of Asia. From this site, winning stone tools such as ax, bayonet and knife have been discovered.