Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 38 (2021) 103050 Available online 10 June 2021 2352-409X/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Early upper palaeolithic occupation at Gelimgoush cave, Kermanshah; West-Central Zagros mountains of Iran Saman Heydari-Guran a, b, * , Katerina Douka c, d , Thomas Higham c , Susanne C. Münzel e , Katleen Deckers e , Shaghayegh Hourshid f , Rahmat Naderi g , Samran Asiabani h , Elham Ghasidian a, b, * a Stiftung Neanderthal Museum, Talstr. 300, 40822 Mettmann, Germany b DiyarMehr Institute for Palaeolithic Research, PO 78144-67189, Iran c Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, RLAHA, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, United Kingdom d Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlischestr. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany e Institute of Archaeological Sciences (Archaeozoology), University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany f Iranian Centre for Archaeological Research, Tehran, Iran g University of Abhar, Iran h Faculty of Art and Architecture, Bu-Ali Sina University of Hamedan, Iran A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Iranian Plateau West-Central Zagros Mountains Upper Palaeolithic Kermanshah ABSTRACT The timing and dispersal routes of Homo sapiens (H. sapiens) into the Iranian Plateau have always been a matter of debate in the recent years. Current studies on the Upper Palaeolithic period of the Zagros mountains demon- strated the later colonisation of West-Central Zagros by H. sapiens based on techno-typological and radiocarbon dating. The Kermanshah region is one of the main concentrations of Palaeolithic sites in the West-Central Zagros mountains. Despite presenting rich Palaeolithic sequence records, it suffers from the lack of stratifed data associated with chronological control. This issue, until now, has prevented us from evaluating and knowing how these archaeological records relate to the patterns of H. sapiens dispersal and colonisation into the West-Central Zagros mountains. Here, we present the frst excavated and dated Palaeolithic site in Kermanshah. Eshkaft-e Gelimgoush Cave yielded a classic Upper Palaeolithic assemblage, representing the Lorestan and Kermanshah (LaK) cultural group documented in the West-Central Zagros. Radiocarbon dates, associated with the material culture from this cave, provide the frst dated stratifed Upper Palaeolithic evidence in Kermanshah. The data from Eshkaft-e Gelimgoush are consistent with the cultural diversity model among the Upper Palaeolithic populations in the Zagros and confrm later colonisation of the West-Central than northern and southern Zagros mountains. 1. Introduction During the last decade, the origins, distribution and behaviour of late Pleistocene Homo sapiens (H. sapiens) have been the subject of critical examination especially since they directly related to the demise of Ne- anderthals and the broad establishment of H. sapiens across Eurasia (Alex et al., 2017; Bae et al., 2017). The Iranian Plateau located at the crossroads between Africa, Asia and Europe. Despite this important geographical location, we know little of the presence of H. sapiens on this region. Recent research revolving around Late Pleistocene hominin behaviour in Iran has documented variability among the lithic assemblages, namely different cultural groups in the Middle Palaeolithic (MP) and Upper Palaeolithic (UP) in different parts of the Iranian Plateau including the Zagros mountains (Heydari-Guran and Ghasidian, 2017; Ghasidian et al., 2019; Ghasidian, 2019; Heydari-Guran and Ghasidian, 2020). However, one of the most important questions in this regard is the hominin species responsible for these cultural facies during MIS 3. The timing of H. sapiens arrival on the Iranian Plateau is directly infuenced by the lack of physical remains. What is, so far, accepted – especially in the Zagros mountains, is that the MP Zagros Mousterian was manufactured by Neanderthals based on several fossils and cultural remains from Shanidar Cave (Solecki, 1963; Pomeroy et al., 2017, 2020) * Corresponding authors at: Stiftung Neanderthal Museum, Talstr. 300, 40822 Mettmann, Germany. E-mail addresses: heydari-guran@neanderthal.de (S. Heydari-Guran), ghasidian@neanderthal.de (E. Ghasidian). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jasrep https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103050 Received 29 November 2020; Received in revised form 5 May 2021; Accepted 20 May 2021