Bu Ali Sina University Archaeological Research of Iran 2345-5225 16 49 2026 08 23 Prehistoric Floats of Cham Qule, Evidence of Human Responses to Natural Occurrences in the Seimarreh Valley, Central Zagros Prehistoric Floats of Cham Qule, Evidence of Human Responses to Natural Occurrences in the Seimarreh Valley, Central Zagros 39 55 6369 10.22084/nb.2025.29319.2680 FA Mohsen Zeynivand Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.(Corresponding Author). 0000-0001-5705-4729 Abbas Moghaddam Iranian Center for Archaeological Research (ICAR), Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism (RICHT), Tehran, Iran. 0000-0001-5720-7975 Kamal Aldin Niknami Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. 0000-0001-5273-8179 Journal Article 2024 05 07 The narrow valleys of Seimarreh, with their high ecological potential and strategic location between the lowlands and the Zagros highlands, hold particular significance for archaeological research. Nevertheless, despite the earlier efforts of foreign researchers, the region has rarely been subjected to systematic and focused investigation, with the exception of the Huleilan Valley. The salvage project in the reservoir area of the Seimarreh Dam, initiated in 2009, provided a valuable opportunity to expand our knowledge of the prehistoric and even historic societies of the region. The identification and investigation of important areas such as East Chia Sabz demonstrates the potential for the earliest settlers to have occupied these valleys. Cham Qule is another prehistoric settlement in this area that has yielded evidence dating to the sixth and fifth millennia BCE and was excavated over two seasons. Archaeological evidence points to a notable pattern linking the abandonment of Chia Sabz with the formation of Cham Qule, a transition that extended for about a thousand years. This discontinuity in settlement may have been caused by the massive landslides of Kabir Kouh and Pusht e Bil, which occurred around the end of the eighth or the beginning of the seventh millennium BCE. Given that the lake formed by the damming of the Seimarreh and Kashkan Rivers persisted for about a thousand years, it appears that even after this period, the lake waters had not fully drained. For a further two or three thousand years, river depths and water levels remained higher than at present. Accordingly, the inhabitants of a settlement such as Cham Qule, which is enclosed by canyons with only two narrow gorges providing access to surrounding areas, probably travelled by boat. Evidence recovered from the excavations at Cham Qule should help clarify this hypothesis. The narrow valleys of Seimarreh, with their high ecological potential and strategic location between the lowlands and the Zagros highlands, hold particular significance for archaeological research. Nevertheless, despite the earlier efforts of foreign researchers, the region has rarely been subjected to systematic and focused investigation, with the exception of the Huleilan Valley. The salvage project in the reservoir area of the Seimarreh Dam, initiated in 2009, provided a valuable opportunity to expand our knowledge of the prehistoric and even historic societies of the region. The identification and investigation of important areas such as East Chia Sabz demonstrates the potential for the earliest settlers to have occupied these valleys. Cham Qule is another prehistoric settlement in this area that has yielded evidence dating to the sixth and fifth millennia BCE and was excavated over two seasons. Archaeological evidence points to a notable pattern linking the abandonment of Chia Sabz with the formation of Cham Qule, a transition that extended for about a thousand years. This discontinuity in settlement may have been caused by the massive landslides of Kabir Kouh and Pusht e Bil, which occurred around the end of the eighth or the beginning of the seventh millennium BCE. Given that the lake formed by the damming of the Seimarreh and Kashkan Rivers persisted for about a thousand years, it appears that even after this period, the lake waters had not fully drained. For a further two or three thousand years, river depths and water levels remained higher than at present. Accordingly, the inhabitants of a settlement such as Cham Qule, which is enclosed by canyons with only two narrow gorges providing access to surrounding areas, probably travelled by boat. Evidence recovered from the excavations at Cham Qule should help clarify this hypothesis. https://nbsh.basu.ac.ir/article_6369_0599ed8cdae6949af69385a4b59ff0dc.pdf