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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A professor from the University of Sulaimani's archaeology department discovered a Palaeolithic tool dating back approximately 200,000 years in the Sharbazher district, northeast of Sulaimani.
"We found the stone in the village of Wazha in Sharbazher,” Dr Dilshad Zamua told Rudaw on Saturday, noting that the tool “is made of quartz and is 200,000 years old, making it the oldest stone tool crafted and used for cutting by humans in the Sharbazher area."
The Kurdistan Region is the cradle of some of humanity’s earliest civilizations. Being part of northern Mesopotamia, it hosts several of the earliest human settlements and is home to numerous prehistoric sites.
Since 2009, foreign archaeological teams have carried out 19 major surveys in the Kurdistan Region, covering roughly 55 percent of the Region’s territory and recording around 6,500 archaeological sites, according to Muhammad Lashkri, director of antiquities and heritage affairs in the Kurdistan Region.
"The shape and the way the stone is gripped suggest that the person who used it was left-handed,” Zamua explained, noting that after consulting with several experts operating in Kurdish regions, they have “reached the conclusion that it dates back to the Palaeolithic period [Old Stone Age]."
"Since Sharbazher does not currently have a museum, the Sulaimani Museum Directorate will temporarily receive and protect the stone until the Museum of Archaeology and Civilization at the University of Sulaimani is opened," Zamua stated.
In mid-August, archaeologists uncovered seven Parthian-era tombs, including a clay coffin containing a small figurine of a pregnant woman, during a two-month excavation in Erbil province's Koya district. The finds provide information about the wealth and customs of people who lived during the Parthian era, spanning 247 BCE to 224 CE.
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