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Where did the ancient Iranian peoples settle after migrating from the steppes?

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religious sites of ancient Indo-Iranian peoples — ancient Iranian religion Significant religious sites and sites containing religious artifacts of ancient Indo-Iranian peoples, including those of peoples of adjacent areas and modern Zoroastrians.

Ancient Iranian peoples migrated into the Iranian plateau from the east, likely following routes along the southern face of the Alborz Mountains. As they entered the Zagros Mountains, they spread out to the northwest and southeast, following the natural topography of the region.1

During the early 1st millennium BCE, groups such as the Medes and Persians infiltrated these areas, often pushing toward the edge of the plateau and the borders of lowland Mesopotamia. While their exact locations varied as they moved, they were eventually established in regions such as the central western Zagros near modern Kermanshah, the southwestern Zagros near the borders of Elam, and the region of Fars. This movement is often associated with the introduction of gray and gray-black pottery into western Iran, which signaled the start of the Iron Age in the region.12