Iranica Antiqua, vol. LI, 2016 doi: 10.2143/IA.51.0.3117827 AN EMERGING PICTURE OF THE NEOLITHIC OF NORTHEAST IRAN BY Kourosh ROUSTAEI (Iranian Center for Archaeological Research) Abstract: For many years the Neolithic of the northeastern Iranian Plateau was acknowledged by materials and data recovered from the three sites of Yarim Tappeh, Turang Tappeh and Sang-e Chakhmaq, all excavated in the 1960-1970s. In the last two decades an increasing mass of information based on archaeologi- cal fieldworks and reappraisal of archival materials have been built up that is going to significantly enhance our understanding on the Neolithic period of the region. The overwhelming majority of the information is obtained from the Shahroud area and the Gorgan plain, on the south and north of the Eastern Alborz Mountains respectively. So far, sixty two Neolithic sites have been identified in the region. This paper briefly reviews the known Neolithic sites and outlines the various implications of the newly emerging picture of the period for the northeast region of Iran. Keywords: Neolithic, northeast region, Sang-e Chakhmaq, Shahroud, Gorgan plain, Jeitun Culture Introduction Since Robert Braidwood’s pioneering investigations in the Zagros Mountains in 1960s (1961), western Iran has been the interest area for scholars who searching the early evidence of domestications. The follow- ing decades witnessed a series of well-planned works (e.g. Hole et al. 1969) in the region that considerably contributed to our understanding on early stages of the village life. Renewal of the relevant investigations in the Zagros region in recent years points the significance of the region on the incipient agriculture in the Near East (e.g. Riehl et al. 2013; Matthews et al. 2013). By contrast, the eastern part of the Iranian plateau has so far only experienced sporadic archaeological investigations. Indeed, by east- ward moving from Zagros the evidence for early Neolithic life become increasingly meagre (cf. Hole 1999).