For archeologists whose research is partly about how prehistoric humans provided food, the ancient Sheikhi-abad area is critical. This hill, dating back to the beginning of the 8th millennium BC, provides much knowledge in this field. It was one of the first human settlements in the Middle East.
Sheikhi-abad hills are located in the village of Kortavij in Sahne district, in the province of Kermanshah. That area is also called Dinavar. The findings of Sheikhi Abad allows archeologists to partially cover two thousand years of unawareness about how the first humans lived and reveal traces from the heart of the soil that shed light on that unawareness and lack of resources. From this we can make out the great importance of Sheikhi-abad hills.
It was 10,000 years ago that a settler settled in Sheikhi-abad Dinvar. Ancient people lived there in the Neolithic period of Zagros. This period of Zagros civilization is divides into three parts: paleolithic, Metapaleolithic, and Neolithic. The Neolithic period is divided into two parts; one part is without pottery, and the other is with pottery finds. Along with the ancient areas of Sarab, Gardan, and Ganjddareh of Harsin (in Kermanshah province), Sheikhi Abad has a value equal to them and maybe more than those areas for the archeology of the Zagros area and is the object of researchers’ attention.
The first excavations in Sheikhi Abad were carried out with the help of a collaborative group of archaeologists from Iran and England, led by Roger Matthews and Yaqub Mohammadifar, two archaeologists of the group. They found that Sheikhi Abad, with an area of one hectare, is one of the first hills inhabited by humans. Two residential contexts were found there, and the caves that were seen nearby were a place for prehistoric humans to live. In order to settle they came out of the cave and started settling in the village that they built, especially since that area was full of animals to hunt and obtain animal products and edible plants.
The archeological group also found the bodies of hunted animals and identified many lentils and barley. This finding showed that Sheikhi Abad was a place to tame animals and the first place to plant lentils and rice. This point is critical not only for the archeology of the Iranian plateau but also for the archeology of the world, and the knowledge gained in this field is known to be unique. Construction of prehistoric houses in Sheikhi-abad was done with layers of clay. Arrays of a mountain goat and ram horns also adorn the houses. Clay statues and bone and stone tools were found in Sheikhi Abad. A figure for worship (goddess) was also found there, similar to the ancient goddess in Sarab Hill, Kermanshah, but smaller.
All those excavations showed that Sheikhi Abad is older than Harsin’s Ganja Valley and that Sheikh Abad should be considered the first human habitat in the plateau of Iran and the entire Middle East. Another point of importance about ancient Sheikhi-abad is that the period of time of human habitation in it was very long and covers the period of 9800 to 7600 BC. In other words, prehistoric humans have lived in this area for more than two thousand years, and by settling together, they were engaged in animal domestication and agriculture for the first time.
