Evolution, Resilience, and Collapse of Prehistoric Settlements in the Bavanat River Basin, Southern Iran

Small intermontane valleys, like the Bavanat River Basin in southern Iran, are valuable for archaeological research due to their preservation of environmental and social changes. An archaeological survey in 2015 and excavations at the Hormangan site in 2016 revealed 200 sites dating from the Neolithic to the Islamic period. This article examines prehistoric settlements, cultural interactions at both regional and interregional levels, and the key factors influencing settlement formation in Bavanat, a secondary valley, during different prehistoric periods. Additionally, it explores the impact of climatic and social changes on prehistoric communities and their settlement patterns in small valleys. Archaeological evidence indicates that this region was seasonally occupied by hunter-gatherer communities during the Neolithic period as a result of climate changes associated with the 8.2 ka event. In the first half of the sixth millennium BCE, the area was abandoned but was resettled by farming communities in the late sixth millennium BCE. This way of life continued until the mid-fourth millennium BCE. With the rise of urbanization in Iran, settlements in this region, like many other parts of Fars, experienced a significant population decline.