Shiwatoo (Sorani Kurdish: شیوه‌تو), located 7 km to the west of Mahabad, overlooking Mahabad-Piranshahr road in the West Azarbaijan Province, Iran, is an archaeological site of the Lower Paleolithic, c. 400.000 years ago.

Shiwatoo
شیوه‌تو
LocationIran
RegionMahabad
TypeOpen-air site
History
PeriodsPleistocene
CulturesAcheulean
Site notes
Public access7 km to the west of Mahabad, overlooking Mahabad-Piranshahr road

Archaeologists collected nearly one hundred artifacts from an area measuring about one hectare overlooking the Mahabad River. Many of the artifacts were made from andesite, quartzite, and basalt cobbles.[1]

The stone industry consists primarily of cores, tested cobbles, and core-choppers. The most characteristic find from this site is a Cleaver (tool), which is a type of biface stone tool of Acheulean tradition of the Lower Palaeolithic.[2]


Shiwatoo Cleaver stone, National Museum of Iran


References

edit
  1. ^ Biglari, F. and Shidrang, S., (2006) The Lower Paleolithic Occupation of Iran, Near Eastern Archaeology 69(3–4): 160–168
  2. ^ Jaubert, J.; Biglari, F.; Bordes, J.; Bruxelles, L.; Mourre, V.; Shidrang, S.; Naderi, R.; and Alipour, S. 2006 New Research on Paleolithic of Iran: Preliminary Report of 2004 Iranian-French Joint Mission. Archaeological Reports (Iranian Center for Archaeological Research) 4: 17–26.