Prehistoric Sites of the Khorramabad Valley
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How it came to be
The Khorramabad Valley lies in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran. Along a narrow corridor rich in water, plants and animals are five caves, Kaldar, Ghamari, Gilvaran, Yafteh and Kunji, and the Gar Arjeneh rock shelter. People first lived here about 63,000 years ago, and the deposits span the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic.
Research began in 1950 with a test pit in Kunji Cave. A systematic survey in 1963 identified seventeen caves and rock shelters, and Kunji Cave and Gar Arjeneh were excavated. Work continued at Ghamari, Pa Sangar and Yafteh in 1965. A survey in 2001 raised the count to twenty-one caves and shelters, and excavations ran from 2005 to 2015.
The sites have yielded Mousterian and Baradostian stone tools. Yafteh Cave produced personal ornaments, bone tools and ochre, along with shell pendants that may have come from the Persian Gulf. The valley was inscribed in 2025 at the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee in Paris, the first group of mainly Palaeolithic sites in Iran to be listed.
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