Joint Findings by Bioarchaeologists from the University of Tehran and the University of Warsaw in the Qazvin Plain: Existing Hypotheses About the Iranian Plateau Before the Formation of the Median Empire Are Revised

According to the Public Relations Office of the University of Tehran, this international project was co-directed by Dr. Mostafa Dehpahlavan, faculty member of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Tehran and director of the Qareh Tepe, Sagzabad excavation team, and Professor Arkadiusz Sołtysiak of the University of Warsaw, together with a team of Iranian and international researchers including Joanna Trębicka, Rafał Fetner, Elham Farnam, Marjan Mollabeirami, and Zahra Alinezhad.

Shift in the Hypothesis of Nomadic Pastoralists of the Qazvin Plain

In recent decades, because archaeological findings were concentrated on cemeteries and clear settlement evidence was scarce, the dominant hypothesis was that the Central Iranian Plateau during the Iron Age was primarily inhabited by nomadic pastoralists. However, the results of the team’s isotopic and osteological research indicate that the inhabitants of Qareh Tepe in the late second and early first millennium BCE were a sedentary, farming and herding community with deep ties to the local ecosystem.

Three Main Axes of the Project’s Scientific Findings:

1. Health, Nutrition, and Skeletal Pathology (Bioanthropological Study)

In osteological examinations of at least 52 individuals (including 18 males, 9 females, 4 adults of indeterminate sex, and 21 infants and children), indicators of skeletal stress and ancient diseases were examined:

• Oral and dental diseases: The individual prevalence of dental caries was recorded at approximately 21%, indicating continuous access to carbohydrates and starchy foods derived from agriculture.

• Physiological stress: Signs of iron deficiency and physiological anemia were recorded in the cranial vault and orbital roof (porotic hyperostosis and cribra orbitalia), with higher frequency in adults than in children.

• Evidence of trauma and conflict: Signs of trauma caused by sharp and blunt objects were recorded on the crania of two adult males and one female, suggesting social tensions or physical conflicts among communities of that period.

2. Dietary Reconstruction through Stable Isotope Analysis (Carbon and Nitrogen)

By analyzing stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in 53 human dentine samples and 30 animal samples, researchers achieved unprecedented results. Nitrogen levels in the tooth collagen of Qareh Tepe inhabitants were unusually high—much higher than at other contemporaneous sites on the Iranian Plateau. Based on the available evidence, the authors argue that these high values were not solely due to massive meat consumption, but reflect intensive agriculture and the extensive use of animal waste and manure to fertilize soil in a limited and densely populated geographic territory on the alluvial fan of the Qazvin Plain. This phenomenon is robust evidence of sedentism and advanced agricultural land management. Likewise, a significant difference in carbon values between women and men indicates subtle differences in the source of grain supply or consumption patterns between the sexes.

3. Measuring Migration and Geographic Origin (Radiogenic Strontium Isotope Analysis)

One of the most advanced parts of this project was the analysis of radiogenic strontium isotope ratios in the tooth enamel of 60 individuals from this cemetery to determine what proportion of the population was local and how many were migrants.

Interested readers and researchers can follow the precise statistical details and laboratory charts of this research in the following three articles:

1. Human remains from Qareh Tepe, Iran, 2019
Trębicka, J., Dehpahlavan, M., Farnam, E., Alinezhad, Z., Mollabeirami, M., & Sołtysiak, A. (2019). Human remains from Qareh Tepe, Iran. Journal of Short Reports/University of Warsaw Publications

2. Isotopic Insight Into the Human Diet at Qareh Tepe, Iran, During the Iron Age (c. 1200–750 BCE)
Trębicka, J., Dehpahlavan, M., Fetner, R., Alinezhad, Z., Farnam, E., Mollabeirami, M., & Sołtysiak, A. (2025). Isotopic insight into the human diet at Qareh Tepe, Iran, during the Iron Age (c. 1200–750 BCE). International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.

3. Human Mobility at Qareh Tepe, Iran, During the Iron Age (c. 1200–750 BCE)
Trębicka, J., Dehpahlavan, M., Alinezhad, Z., Farnam, E., & Sołtysiak, A. (2025). Human mobility at Qareh Tepe, Iran, during the Iron Age (c. 1200–750 BCE). Archaeometry.