Millennia-old hyena unearthed in Iran’s Qazvin

Remains of now-extinct species of hyena have been unearthed in Qale Kord Cave in Qazvin Province, Iran.

The remains include the upper part of the skull of an extinct hyena called a cave hyena, which lived between 500,000 and 11,000 years ago and was first reported from Iran.

The organs have been discovered during a recent excavation survey headed by a team of archaeologists co-led by Iranian archaeologist Hamed Vahdati and French paleoanthropologist Gilles Berillon.

According to archeological studies, the cave is over 400,000 years old, making it the oldest human settlement in Iran that has been found so far.

A fossilized tooth that is thought to be 100,000 years old was previously discovered in the cave.

In November 2018, over 6,000 cultural pieces were discovered in this area during the first season of the joint Iran-France archeological exploration.

The pieces included bone remains of horses, deer, bears, and many stone tools belonging to the Middle Paleolithic period (between 200,000 to 40,000 years ago).

MM/AG