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Dr. Saman H. Guran
Human Evolution in the Zagros Mountains, Partner of ERC-2024-SyG project of the “Last Neanderthals” 
Researcher

Institute for Prehistoric Archaeology
University of Cologne
Bernhard-Feilchenfeld-Straße 11
50969 Cologne

Phone: 0049-17632048209
Email: sguran(at)uni-koeln(dot)de
ORCID: 0000-0002-7668-8804

Consultation hours

By appointment

Current Projects

  • In search of  “Last Neanderthal” in the Zagros Mountains
  • Tracking Middle and Upper Palaeolithic transition in the Kermanshah Region, West Central Zagros Mountains, Iran.

Research Focus

  • The Zagros Mountains
Monographs

2022

Heydari-Guran, Saman und Elham Ghasidian: Special Issue Palaeolithic of Iran 1. Edited book. Archaeological Report Monographs, Series 2, No 7. Pp: 270. In Persian with English abstract. Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism (RICHT). ISBN: 978-600-8977-21-6.

2014

Heydari-Guran, Saman: Palaeolithic Landscape of Iran. BAR International Series 2586.

Publications

2024

Guran, S.H., Yousefi, M., Kafash, A. und Ghasidian, E.: Reconstructing contact and a potential interbreeding geographical zone between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans. In: Journal of Nature: Scientific Reports 14/1, 2024, S. 20475.   

2023

Ecker, M., Hariri, N., Heydari‐Guran, S., Ghasidian, E., Tuross, N., Zeder, M. und Makarewicz, C.A.: Herbivore enamel carbon and oxygen isotopes demonstrate both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals exploited similar habitats in the Zagros Mountains. In: Journal of Quaternary Science, 2023. Heydari-Guran, S. et al.: Evidence of Neanderthal Resilience from Forty-Five to Thirty-Nine Thousand Years Ago at the Bawa Yawan Rockshelter, Kermanshah, Zagros Highlands. In: Reinhard Bernbeck, Gisela Eberhardt & Susan Pollock (Hrsg.): Coming to Terms with the Future. Concepts of Resilience for the Study of Early Iranian Societies. Leiden: Sidestone Press 2023, S. 67–84.   

2022

Heydari-Guran, S. und Ghasidian, E.: Ecological Landscape Structure and Game Management Strategy among the Upper Palaeolithic Societies of Southern Zagros Mountains. In: Environmental Archaeology, 2022, S. 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2021.1996889   

2021

Heydari-Guran S., Benazzi S., Talamo S., Ghasidian E., Hariri N., Oxilia G. et al.: The discovery of an in situ Neanderthal remain in the Bawa Yawan Rockshelter, West-Central Zagros Mountains, Kermanshah. In: PLOS ONE 16/8, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253708 Heydari-Guran, S., Douka, K., Higham, T., Münzel, S. C., Deckers, K., Hourshid, S. et al.: Early Upper Palaeolithic occupation at Gelimgoush cave, Kermanshah; West-Central Zagros mountains of Iran. In: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 38, 2021, S. 103050. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103050 Heydari-Guran, S. und Ghasidian, E.: Consistency of the “MIS 5 Humid Corridor Model” for the dispersal of Early Homo sapiens into the Iranian Plateau Pearls, Politics and Pistachios. Essays in Anthropology and Memories on the Occasion of Susan Pollock’s 65th Birthday, 2021, S. 219–37. DOI:11588/propylaeum.837.c10746. Saman Heydari-Guran und Elham Ghasidian: The MUP Zagros Project: tracking the Middle–Upper Palaeolithic transition in the Kermanshah region, west central Zagros, Iran. In: Antiquity 91/355, project gallery, 2021.   

2020

Heydari-Guran, S. und Ghasidian, E.: Late Pleistocene hominin settlement patterns and population dynamics in the Zagros Mountains: Kermanshah region. In: Archaeological Research in Asia 21, 2020, S. 100161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2019.100161   

2018

Ghasidian, E. und Saman Heydari-Guran: Upper Palaeolithic Raw Material Economy in the Southern Zagros Mountains of Iran. In: Nishiaki Akazawa und Aoki (Hrsg.): Dynamics of Learning in Neanderthals and Modern Humans. Volume 2. Springer 2018, S. 157–174.

Memberships

2023- continuing

Founder of the DiyarMehr Publishing House; Iran. 

2015- continuing

Co-founder of the DiyarMehr Institute for Palaeolithic Research; Iran. htttp://sites.google.com/diyarmehrinstituteforpalaeolithicresearch/home

2011- continuing

Society for Iranian Archaeology. Directing the Iranian Palaeolithic Research Group.http://sites.google.com/site/societyforiranianarchaeology/home 

2018

Society for American Archaeology. saa.org/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx 

2005- 2010

Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte und Förderverein des Urgeschichtlichen Museums Blaubeuren e.V. (Society for Prehistory and Friends of the Museum of Prehistory), Blaubeuren; Germany.http://www.gfu-blaubeuren.de/

2007- 2010

Hugo Obermaier Gesellschaft für Erforschung des Eiszeitalters und der Steinzeit e.V. (Hugo Obermaier-Society for Quaternary Research and Archaeology of the Stone Age). www.obermaier-gesellschaft.de