Over the past few decades, several excavations that have been performed in the Fars Neolithic sites have resulted in the presentation of different chronologies for the region. Most of the research in Fars centered on the Kur River Basin (KRB). Fars has always had a different environment for the formation of different cultures over time, therefore, in order to reach a better understanding of the prehistoric cultures of the region it is necessary to make a brief review of the geographical zones of the plains and valleys of Fars province. Taking into account the existence of several questions and ambiguities regarding Neolithic Fars, the Hormangan site, located in the Bavant River Basin, was excavated. During the excavation, two settlement phases were identified that contained cultural materials relatively comparable to Tol-e Mushki, Tol-e Jari B, Kushk Hezar, and Rahmat Abad sequences. The goal of this paper is to explore the absolute chronology of the Hormangan site as well as other Neolithic sites located in the northern half of the Fars region with a special reference to the local cultural and technological sides of different Neolithic sites throughout the region. Bearing in mind the similarities of Bashi materials with Hormangan, Rahmat Abad, and Mushki regions and the absolute chronology of these regions, consideration of Bashi phase does not seem logical. Therefore, by comparing the cultural materials and absolute chronology done in other regions, a sequence chronology including Rahmat Abad (7500–7000 BC), formative Mushki (7000–6400 BC), Mushki (6400–6000 BC), Jari (6000–5600 BC), and Shams Abad (5600–5200 BC) for the Neolithic period of Fars can be presented. According to the excavation of Rahmatabad and Tal-e Sangi, it seems that Fars was inhabited in the middle of the 8th millennium BC and the Neolithic package entered this area, and there is no evidence of the Neolithization process. In the past, the Mushaki period was introduced as the oldest pottery Neolithic period, but with new excavations, it seems that the use of pottery had become common in Fars, as in many parts of Southwest Asia, around 7000 BC.

A recent survey in the western foothills of the Zagros Mountains has located five new Neolithic sites. We present here the occupational features and finds of this period in the Sar Pol-e Zahāb region, along with an interpretation of their distribution and associated settlement patterns. Our research indicates that the visible distribution of Neolithic sites is highly influenced by geomorphological factors. All sites are located on natural outcrops or on the edge of alluvial plains. Many others have certainly been buried beneath layers of later sedimentation. All of the sites identified by our survey are small and of modest elevation, with cultural remains, particularly ceramics, similar to Neolithic sites such as Guran and Sarāb in the central Zagros region and Jarmo and Tamarkhan in Mesopotamia. Based on the ceramic evidence and the location of the region, between the central Zagros mountains on the east and Mesopotamia on the west, we suggest that this vast area maintained an integrated ceramic tradition, which suggests an overall cultural homogeneity of these areas during the seventh and early sixth millennia B.C. In other words, these recent discoveries indicate that similarities in Neolithic material culture in the Māhidasht, Kermanshāh and Hulailan plains with material culture of regions in Mesopotamia are not accidental or random but indicative of a large coherent zone with unique ceramic and cultural traditions (the patterned ceramic tradition of Sarāb-Jarmo), extending from Iraqi Kurdistan east into the central Zagros range. Regarding the lack of eighth and seventh millennium B.C. sites in the northern reaches of the Iranian part of the Zagros range, we may consider the pathway of Sar Pol-e Zahāb a primary route for transporting obsidian to upland areas of the central Zagros. This also suggests a lasting network of cross-regional communications, since archaeological discoveries prove this pathway was the main node connecting these two cultural regions for a long period of time.

Radiocarbon (14C) dating was performed on samples from the prehistoric settlement at Makriyalos, northern Greece, a “flat extended” (rather than tell) site. Two separate occupation phases, Makriyalos I and II, were clearly distinguished on different sides of a low hill and belonged to the Late Neolithic I and II periods, respectively. Individual phases related to the use of circuit ditches and borrow pits were also recognized and dated. Phase modeling was applied in order to establish the sequence and duration of use of different features. The earliest activity seems to be around 5450 BC, among the earliest dates in northern Greece for the beginning of the LN and perhaps reflecting some earlier activity. The transition from LNI to LNII occurred at around 4950 BC without discontinuity earlier than other sites in Macedonia but perhaps same time as Thessaly. Intermediate ditch cutting phases occurred at 5300 and 5050 BC. A cemetery in the area of the settlement, initially thought to relate to the LNII phase of the settlement, was shown to date in the EBA period (beginning of 3rd millennium BC).