Pedosedimentary Evolution and Site Formation Processes in Mirak Mound 8, South of Semnan

Mirak is one of the open-air Paleolithic sites in the Iranian Central Plateau and the only Iranian archaeological open-air site which has been excavated extensively. The site is comprised of 8 mounds, located in a dry floodplain some kilometers south of Semnan in the northern fringes of the Iranian Central Desert, aka. Dash-I Kavir. Mirak mound no. 8 was selected for the excavation. The mound itself is of Aeolian origin which has been formed throughout Holocene and is responsible for the covering of the Late Pleistocene deposits. Regarding the huge scatters of lithics (archaeological) and the absence of cultural layers in the landscape, it is logical to assume that the aeolian mound has conserved archaeological deposits beneath. Contrary to the mound, Pleistocene cultural deposits were formed under alluvial regime in a floodplain during a period of relatively cold and humid. At least, 4 Paleolithic cultural layers are identified in Mirak. In terminal Pleistocene, a hiatus of some millennia divided the alluvial sequence from the topmost Holocene sediments which was an end to Paleolithic occupation of Mirak.