Our knowledge of the lithic industries from the Village Period (Neolithic-Chalcolithic) in the southern Caspian Sea region is primarily derived from excavated sites in the Mazandaran Province. At the same time, Gilan Province remains largely unexplored in this regard. During a rescue excavation in the winter of 2018 at the Shahran site in the Sefidrud Valley, alongside Iron Age burials, evidence of a Late Neolithic-Transitional Chalcolithic occupation was discovered. An assemblage of chipped stone artifacts, along with other finds such as pottery sherds and animal bones, provides clear evidence of the subsistence strategies among local population during the transition from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic period in the region.
aaaaThe presence of a small number of bladelets, produced using the pressure technique, indicates that the inhabitants of the Shahran site were familiar with this technique. However, the examination of the cores and flakes reveals that the direct and indirect percussion techniques were primarily employed for the on-site production of lithic artifacts. The existence of small cores, whose raw material source was river pebbles and cobbles, further indicates local production of lithic artifcats. The stone tool industry of the Shahran was based on flake production, with the cores being used predominantly to produce flakes for the manufacture of geometric tools, particularly lunates.
aaaaSimultaneously, utilized pieces were frequently subjected to reuse. The presence of gloss on tool cutting edges, produced by continuous contact with plant silica, indicates their use in composite sickles for reaping cereals. It appears that the Shahran was a temporary camp dating to the late Neolithic and the beginning of the Chalcolithic, whose inhabitants seasonally occupied the site to exploit agricultural products and to graze their livestock. The study of the stone tool assemblage corroborates this interpretation.