Prehistory of Iran
The prehistory of the Iranian plateau is conventionally divided into the Paleolithic, Epipaleolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age periods. It spans the time from the first settlement by archaic humans, about a million years ago, to the beginning of the historical record during the Neo-Assyrian Empire, in the 8th century BC. It is a part of the broader prehistory of the Near East.