Ali Kosh

Ali Kosh is an Early Neolithic archaeological site located in the Zagros Mountains of Ilam Province, western Iran. This small tell, approximately 135 meters in diameter, was excavated in the 1960s, revealing a sequence of occupation phases. Initially settled around 7500 BCE during the Bus Mordeh phase, the site featured small rectangular houses and an economy based on herding, hunting, and gathering. By the Ali Kosh phase (7250-7000 BCE), inhabitants had developed larger houses and intensified agriculture, with evidence of skull deformation practices. In the Mohammed Jaffar phase (7000-6500 BCE), stone houses, ceramics, and a necropolis emerged, alongside the use of flint and obsidian tools and the introduction of imported materials. Ali Kosh is significant as one of the earliest agricultural communities in western Iran, where emmer and barley were cultivated, and goats and sheep herded.