A recent publication suggests that the Zagros region in western Iran was one of the main cradles for agriculture and herding in early Holocene SW Asia and that a Neolithic way of life then spread from here towards the East. The study of faunal and botanical remains from archaeological sites across Iran and western Pakistan allows us to trace and date the diffusion of agro-pastoral economies. As domesticated animal and plant species spread they progressively adapted to new environmental conditions and became the base of local subsistence economies. This conference aims at summarizing our knowledge on the eastern spread of agriculture and herding relying mainly on recent archaeozoological and archaeobotanical research.

Margareta Tengberg, MNHN Paris, Archéozoologie et Archéobotanique (UMR 7209 du CNRS)