Iranian archaeologists discovered an 8000-year-old stone tool workshop during the first archaeological study at an ancient site south of Shahrud, in the northeastern province of Semnan, announced team member Korush Rustaie. The excavations carried out over the past few years by Iranian and Japanese experts in Dehkheyr and Chakhmagh Tepe, south of Shahrud, resulted in the discovery of traces from the Neolithic era (9000–8000 BCE).
     "We made new discoveries in the region near the Siarigi Tepe, which dates back to 6000 BCE, finding a site with stones of opal, chert, and flint, which led the team toward an ancient workshop where stone tools were made," said Rustaie. The remains of broken stones indicate that a great variety of stone tools, like sickles, arrowheads, and blades, were being mass produced in the workshop, which covers an area of 2000 square meters, he added. "No evidence has been found indicating human habitation near the workshop. Thus, it appears that the man of 8000 years ago traveled a distance of three kilometers to reach the workshop," Rustaie noted.
     The team also plans to carry out some excavations on the plain of Bastam, six kilometers from Shahrud, with the hope of finding more ancient workshops.

Source: CHN (9 February 2005)