A piece of stone with prehistoric paintings has been discovered in the past few days near the town of Davan in the city of Kazerun in Fars province.
A few days ago, a piece of rock with prehistoric drawings was found in Kazerun, and preliminary studies indicate that the age of the carvings on this rock dates back to 3500 to 5000 years ago.
Discovery of a new prehistoric drawing in the Kazerun region, besides adding another crucial document to the collection of documents related to paleontological village of Davan, and there are hopes that a post for focusing on prehistoric research will soon be established in the Kazerun region, to study the numerous documents that have been obtained in this field in a more comprehensive and in-depth manner.
In an interview with Mehr, a cultural heritage activist said: “The petroglyphs seen on a rock are comparable to a rectangular shape, and this rock was found in the vicinity of the historical village of Davan, 5 km northwest of Kazerun, and these have been transferred, by a group of local enthusiasts, to Davan anthropological museum.
Referring to the surface drawings, and the superficial features of this historic rock Mohsen Abbaspour added: “All the drawings seen are engraved on the upper surface of this stone, and this boulder is one and a half meters long, and its widest part is 1 m and 20 cm. the height of the rock is 70 cm at its highest point. From the traces left on the lateral surfaces of the rock, it is clear that the lower half of this rock has been buried in the soil for a long time.
He described the drawings on this rock as such: “two sets of drawings can be seen on this rock; the set of images in the upper part of the rock are clear. The images at the bottom are not clear, due to erosion.
He continued: “In the upper part two animals can be seen and both of them are facing towards the right. One of them has big horns that to towards the back of the animal in a semi-circle shape. It can be assumed that this is a drawing of a mountain goat, when comparing with similar drawings on other rocks.
The cultural heritage activist said: “We think that there is a human being riding on another animal, and at a short distance from these two animals and a little higher, two continuous lines can be seen, from each of which small and equal lines, at a distance, regularly extended downwards. These lines are almost across the width of the rock and have stopped slightly on either side. Two circles are seen at a small distance from each other, in each of which two diagonal lines are drawn so that the shape of a “plus” is created in each circle above these lines.
Abbasspour continued: “In the lower part, some drawings are less legible, but in this part it seems like two 4-legged animals have been drawn, the faces of both animals are to the right of the image, and a human being is riding on one of them. The two crescent shaped arches, like the horns of the 4-legged animal seen in the upper part of the painting, are drawn in this part. Along these arches, a line is drawn which, after about 20 cm in length, continues to the top of the role at an angle close to the perpendicular, extends to about 20 cm, and returns slightly inwards again.”
The age of this petroglyph is estimated to be more than 5000 years
The cultural heritage activist compared this petroglyph with other historical drawings: “Regarding the elements used in this petroglyph and comparing it with other similar petroglyphs discovered in Kazerun and comparatively examining them with the results obtained from research on other petroglyphs found on the plateau of Iran, it seem that the history of prehistoric lithography dates back to the Bronze Age, between three thousand to 1,500 BC, based on which it can be estimated that its longevity is between 5000 and 4500 years ago, the main reason being that a human being is seen riding on a 4-legged animal, which is thought to be a horse. Since horses were tamed around three thousand years BC, so the longevity of this petroglyph cannot be more than five thousand years old.
Referring to the most important feature of this petroglyph, he said: “One of the important characteristics of this drawing, which makes it more outstanding, compared to other similar drawings, is the presence of abstract and abstract images in it, especially in the upper part of the painting, where we see two continuous lines and two small lines drawn downwards.
He said: “Also in the upper part of these lines, we see two circles, similar examples of which have been found both on the plateau of Iran and in other parts of the world. In the Iranian plateau, a sample similar to this has been found in Yazd. Outside the Iranian plateau, an example identical to this circle has been recorded in Kenya.”
The cultural heritage expert stressed on the point that: “Until the exact function of all the elements used in this painting is clarified, given the current state of the images drawn in it and the impressive use of abstract illustrations along with features such as antelopes and human on horseback, Prehistoric lithography may be considered as a depiction of a ritual, a custom or a narrative of a common way of life of the Bronze Age people in the Kazerun plain. In this case, this illustration is doubly essential from the point of view of anthropological research.
Kazerun region, due to numerous geographical and historical reasons, is one of the most critical areas in the archaeological and prehistoric research field. To date, based on the results of research on human remains in this region, it can be said. The longevity of human presence in Kazerun dates back to the Neolithic period, about 30,000 to 40,000 years ago.
Researchers have done numerous researches in this regard, and the results of these scientific studies have been published.
