Pre-Ice Age Iran, found in Turkey

"Look at this", he said, pointing at a photo of an exquisitely carved sculpture showing an animal, half-human, half-lion. "It's a sphinx, thousands of years before Egypt. South-eastern Turkey, northern Syria - this region saw the wedding night of our civilisation."

This all makes a lot of sense to me.  Afterall the Vendidad speaks of the coming of the ice-age, and the Kurds are one of the first settlements.

Comical animation on The Sting Theme

http://www.behance.net/Gallery/The-Entertair/83169ne

I loved the film The Sting, but the theme by Oskar Fischinger was superb. Now to compliment all that here is a great animation clip.