Until recently, the Iranian Central Plateau (ICP) was considered to have been unoccupied at the end of the Pleistocene (Marshall 2012 in ‘Missing Links: Demic Diffusion and the Development of Agriculture on the Central Iranian Plateau’. Durham University e-Theses. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3547/), raising questions about the mechanisms that drove Neolithic diffusion in this area. However, recent field data has provided new insights into the rise of domestication here. Reassessment of the local chronology during the Early Holocene reveals consistent occupation of the ICP throughout the Epipaleolithic/Mesolithic. Plant and animal remains indicate that Mesolithic communities preserved a purely foraging lifestyle, yet data for the Early Neolithic shows that communities produced fully domesticated resources. This clear economic rupture suggests the introduction of farming technologies from other regions. Additionally, the central geographic position of the ICP between the Zagros and western Central Asia, and the correspondence in material culture between the eastern sites of the ICP and the Zagros suggest that the region was a hot spot of connections favourable to the eastward diffusion of the Neolithic.

直到最近，伊朗中央高原 (ICP) 还被认为在更新世末期一直无人居住（Marshall 2012，《缺失的环节：伊朗中部高原的人口扩散和农业发展》。杜伦大学电子论文。 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3547/），提出了有关推动该地区新石器时代传播的机制的问题。然而，最近的实地数据为这里的驯化兴起提供了新的见解。对全新世早期当地年代的重新评估揭示了在整个表旧石器时代/中石器时代对ICP的持续占领。植物和动物遗骸表明，中石器时代的群落保留了纯粹的觅食生活方式，但新石器时代早期的数据表明，群落生产了完全驯化的资源。这种明显的经济断裂表明农业技术是从其他地区引进的。此外，ICP位于扎格罗斯和中亚西部之间的中心地理位置，以及ICP东部地点和扎格罗斯之间物质文化的对应性表明，该地区是有利于物质向东扩散的联系热点。新石器时代。