Paleoclimatic Changes and Research on Feasibility of Appearance and Development of Neolithic Societies in Gorgan Cultural Area

Authors

1 Ph.D. Candidate in Archaeology, University of Bu-Ali Sina, Hamedan

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeology, Islamic Azad Univeristy of Varamin-Pishva

3 M.A. Graduated of Archaeology

Abstract

During the Holocene Epoch and simultaneously with the Neolithic Period, weather variations caused wide-ranging changes in temperature and humidity of various regions. These together with geographical and climatic features, led to the shaping of special regional matching of Neolithic cultures. We have obtained most of our knowledge of Epipaleolithic and Neolithic sites from excavations in locations on coasting regions bordering the Caspian Sea. Obviously, feasibility of relationships and population and information transfer between the mentioned regions is a research priority considering the role natural geography plays in the shaping of and developments in human communities. Available data includes climatic information from various sources such as magnetic analyses and geochemistry, paleoecology, palynology, study of oscillations in the water level of Caspian Sea, and sequences of loess sediments in the Gorgan Plain together with archeological data obtained from explorations made in the region. Considering the importance of developments in and environmental potentials of the region and their relationships with domestication of plants and animals, attempts were made to answer these questions through comparing and matching data obtained from reviewing studies carried out on oscillations in the water level of Caspian Sea, studies on soil sequences of loess sediments, and studies on archeological findings in the region.The study region is the cultural-geographical area of Gorgan that refers to a triangle in the southeastern corner of the Caspian Sea. The base of this triangle borders on the southern end of the eastern coasts and the other two sides meet the Alborz mountain range to the south and the Kopet Dagh mountain range to the east. The most important geographical feature of the Gorgan area, in addition to the Alborz and Kopet Dagh mountains, is the Caspian Sea that is fed by river sources in Iran and Russia. Presence of coastal sediments is the other feature of the region, and these sediments are derived from the rivers and aeolian loess belts. One of the strategies for paleoclimatology of the region is the study of alternate oscillations in the water level of the Caspian Sea that has yielded various results. The Caspian Sea region has experienced numerous alternate advances and recessions during the years. Moreover, soil studies have also provided interesting results. The loess formation in the region is in the form of the hilly areas in Gorgan and results from aeolian deposits of the last glacial recession in the Quaternary Period. Rereading archaeological data of the region and matching it with ancient weather can provide us with important information. Classification of Epipaleolithic layers in the Hotu and Belt caves can be matched with ancient weather and be confirmed by advances and recessions of the Caspian Sea. The present conditions indicate that the region faced hard and harsh conditions at the start of the Neolithic Period. Evidence of deep gaps between dating of the Hotu and Belt caves and evidence of plant and animal domestication and of pottery, and accumulation of aeolian loess sediments are among the available reasons for confirmation of population transfer. Another reason supporting this claim is that the Pokerdval area in the Gorgan Plain with materials and pottery of the Neolithic Period, that have great similarities with the oldest samples of the Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmagh and the Hotu and Belt caves, lies one yellow layers of loess that probably match the second advance of the Caspian Sea during the Holocene Period. Therefore, this set of information shows that cultural and technological developments in the human communities of the region strongly depended on conditions imposed by the environment, and severe environmental fluctuations necessitated continuous population movement, which caused infiltration of cultural material beyond geographical borders and created the relative homogeneity between the potteries attributed to the Jeitun Culture. Based on present documents, population mobility was one of the features of this region in Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Periods.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

- پاشایی، عباس، 1375، «گاه‌شـناسی تغـییرات جوی هولوسن در شمال خاوری ایران (دشت گرگان)»، مجله‌ی علوم زمین دانشگاه علوم کشاورزی و منابع طبیعی گرگان، سال پنجم، شماره‌ی 19، صص: 42-51.
- پاشایی، عباس، 1376، «بررسیِ ویژگی‌های فیزیکی و شیمیایی و چگونگی خاستگاه رسوب‌های لُسی در منطقه‌ی گرگان و دشت»، مجله‌ی علوم زمین، سال ششم، بهار و تابستان، شماره‌های 23-24، صص: 67-78.
- رمضان‌پور، حسین، گاراژیان، عمران و ولی‌پور، حمیدرضا، 1392، «نوسنگی و نوسنگی‌شدن در سرزمین‌های پست شرق مازندران بر‌اساس بررسی‌های باستان‌شناختی»، فصلنامه‌ی پژوهش‌های باستان‌شناسی ایران، شماره‌ی 4، دوره‌ی سوم، بهار و تابستان، صص: 97-116.
- ضیغمی، مجید، ۱۳۸۸، «طبقه‌بندی و گونه‌شناسی سفال‌های عصر نوسنگی تپه پوکردوال گرگان»، پایان‌نامه‌ی کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، واحد تهران مرکز.
- عباسی، قربانعلی، 1387، «گـزارش کاوش‌های باستان‌شناختی تپه‌ی پوکردوال گرگان»، تهران، پژوهشکده باستان‌شناسی (منتشر نشده).
- عباسی، قربانعلی، 1390، گزارش پایانی کاوش‌های باستان‌شناختی نرگس‌تپه گرگان، تهران: انتشارات گنجینه‌ی نقش جهان.
- فیضی، وحید، عزیزی، قاسم، علی‌محمدیان، حبیب، محمدی، حسین، شمسی‌پور، علی‌اکبر، 1393، «بازسازی آب‌وهوای کواترنر پسین با استفاده از پذیرفتاری مغناطیسی و ژئوشیمی عناصر اصلی لس‌های منطقه آزادشهر»، پژوهش‌های ژئوموفورلوژی کمّی، سال سوم، شماره‌ی 3، صص: 1-21.
- قازانچایی، رضا، پاشاییِ اول، عباس، خرمالی فرهاد، و ایوبی، شمس‌الله، 1387، «بررسی برخی خصوصیات میکرومورفولوژیک توالی لُس-پالئوسول منطقه‌ی ناهارخوران گرگان»، علوم زمین، دانشگاه علوم کشاورزی و منابع طبیعی، شماره‌ی دوم، خرداد-تیر، صص: 58-66.
- قمری‌فتیده، محمد، وحدتی‌نسب، حامد، و موسوی، سید مهدی، 1394، «نوسانات آب دریای مازندران از هزاره‌ی سوم تا هزاره‌ی اخیر و تأثیر آن بر پراکنش مراکز استقراری در جنوب‌شرق دریای مازندران»، پژوهش‌های جغرافیای طبیعی، دانشگاه تهران، شماره‌ی 47، صص: 56-37.
- کِسَلخه، سعیده، خرمالی، فرهاد، کیانی، فرشاد، و بارانی‌مطلق، مجتبی، 1391، «خصوصیاتِ فیزیکوشیمیایی و میکرومورفولوژیِ پوسته‌هایِ زیستی (گل‌سنگ) در تپه‌های لُسی آلاگُل استان گلستان»، مجله‌ی پژوهش‌هایِ حفاظتِ آب و خاک، جلد نوزدهم، شماره‌ی اول، صص: 1-18.
- ماهفروزی، علی، 1382، «گزارش مقدماتی بررسی‌ها و کاوش‌های باستان‌شناختی در شرق مازندران»، گزارش‌های باستان‌شناسی 2، صص: 263-304.
- ملک‌شهمیرزادی، صادق، 1378، ایران در پیش از تاریخ (باستان‌شناسی ایران از آغاز تا سپیده‌دم شهرنشینی، تهران، (معاونت پژوهشی پژوهشکده‌ باستان‌شناسی)، انتشارات میراث فرهنگی.
- ملک‌شهمیرزادی، صادق و نوکنده، جبرئیل، 1379، آق تپه، تهران: (معاونت پژوهشی پژوهشکده‌ی باستان‌شناسی)، انتشارات میراث فرهنگی.
 
- Akhani, H., Djamali, M., Ghorbanalizadeh, A. & Ramezani, E., 2010, “Plant biodiversity of Hyrcanian relict forest, N Iran: An overview of the flora, vegetation, palaeoecology and conservation”, Pak J Botany, 42: 231-258.
- Bobek, H., 1953, “Zur eiszeitlichen Vergletscherung des Alborzgebirges, Nordiran”, Carinthia 2:97–104.
- Boomer, I., Aladin, N., Plotnikov, I. & Whatley, R., 2000, “The Palaeoliminology of the Aral Sea; a Review”, Quat Sci Rev 19(13): 1259-1278.
- Chalié, F., Escudié, A. S., Badaut-Trauth, D., Blanc, G., Blanc-Valleron, M.-M., Brigault, S., Desprairies, A., Ferronsky, V.I., Giannesini, P.-J., Gibert, E., Guichard, F., Jelinowska, A., Massault, M., Méliéres, F., Tribovillard, N., Tucholka, P. & Gasse, F., 1997, “The glacialepostglacial transition in the southern Caspian Sea”, Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences de Paris 324 (IIa), 309-316.
- Chepalyga, AL., 2007, “The late glacial flood in the Ponto-Caspian basin”, In: Yanko-Hombach V, Gilbert AS, Panin N, Dolukhanov PM, Eds. The Black Sea flood question: Changes in coastline, climate and human settlement, Dordrecht: pp. 119-48.
- Coolidge, J., 2005, Southern Turkmenistan in the Neolithic, a Petrographic Case Study, Archaeopress (Publishers of British Archaeological Reports).
- Coon, Carlton S., 1952, “The Human Skeletal Remains from Hotu Cave, Iran”, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 96, No. 3 (Jun. 20, 1952): 258-269
- Coon, Carleton S., 1957, Seven Caves: Archaeological Exploration in the Middle East, Jonathan Cape.
- Deshayes J., 1967, “Céramiques peintes de Tureng Tépé”, Iran 5: 123-131.
- Dolukhanov, P. M., 1986, “Foragers and farmers in west-Central Asia”, Hunters in Transition, M. Zvelebil. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press: 121-132.
- Dolukhanov, P. M., Chepalyga, A.L., Shkatova, V.K. & Lavrentiev, N.V., 2009, “Late Quaternary Caspian: Sea-Levels, Environments and Human Settlement”, The Open Geography Journal, 2009, 2: 1-15.
- Dolukhanov, P.M., Chepalyga, A.L. & Lavrentiev, N.V., 2010, “The Khvalynian transgressions and early human settlement in the Caspian basin”, Quaternary International 225, 152–159.
- Fazeli Nashli, H., 2009, “The Neolithic to Chalcolithic transition in the Qazvin Plain, Iran: chronology and subsistence strategies”, Archaologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan 41, No. 41: 1-21.
- Frechen, M., Kehl, M., Rolf, C., Sarvati, R. & Skowrone, A., 2009, “Loess chronology of the Caspian Lowland in Northern Iran”, Quaternary International 198: 220–233.
- Gregg, Michael W., Christopher P. T., 2012, “A Preliminary Analysis of Prehistoric Pottery from Carleton Coon’s Excavations of Hotu and Belt Caves in Northern Iran: Implications for Future Research into the Emergence of Village Life in Western Central Asia”, Intl. J. Humanities (2012) Vol. 19 (3): (56-94).
- Harris, D. R. & Gosden, C., 1996, “The beginnings of agriculture in western Central Asia: The origins and spread of agriculture and pastoralism in Eurasia”, D.R. Harris, London, UCL Press Limited: 370-389.
- Harris, D.R., 1998, “The Spread of Neolithic Agriculture from the Levant to Western Central Asia”, The origins and spread of agriculture and crop domestication: The Harlan Symposium, Edited by A.B. Damania et al. aleppo, Syria, ICARDA: 65-82.
- Harris, D.R., 2010, Origins of Agriculture in Western Central Asia: an environmental-archaeological study, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.
- Kakroodi, A.A., Kroonenberg, S.B., Hoogendoorn, R.M. Mohammd Khani, H., Yamani, M. Ghassemi, M.R. & Lahijani, H.A.K., 2012, “Rapid Holocene sea-level changes along the Iranian Caspian coast”, Quaternary International 263: 93-103.
- Kakroodi, A.A., Leroy, S.A.G., Kroonenberg, S.B., Lahijani, H.A.K., Alimohammadian, H., Boomer, I. & Goorabi, A., 2015, “Late Pleistocene and Holocene sea-level change and coastal palaeoenvironment evolution along the Iranian Caspian shore”, In Marine Geology, Volume 361, Pages 111–125.
- Kehl, M., Sarvati, R., Ahmadi, H., Frechen, M. & Skowroneck, A. 2005, “Loess Paleosol-sequences along a climatic Gradient in Northern Iran”, In: Eiszeitalter U. Gegenwart 55: 149-173.
- Khormali, F., Abtahi, A. & Stoops, G., 2006, “Micromorphology of calcitic features in highly calcareous soils of Fars Province, Southern Iran”, Geoderma 132: 31–46.
- Kohl, P. L., 1984, Central Asia: Palaeolithic beginnings to the Iron Age, Paris, Editions Recherche sur les civilisations.
- Leroy, S.A.G., Marret, F., Gibert, E., Chalié, F., Reyss, J.-L. & Arpe, K., 2007, “River inflow and salinity changes in the Caspian Sea during the last 5500 years”, Quaternary Science Reviews 26: 3359–3383.
- Libby, Willard F., 1955, Radiocarbon dating, 2d ed., University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
- Mangerud, J., Jakobsson, M., Alexanderson, H., Astakhov, V., Clarke, G.K.C., Henriksen, M., Hjort, C., Krinner, G., Lunkka, J.-P., Moller, P., Murray, A., Nikolskaya, O., Saarnisto, M. & Svendsen, J.I., 2004, “Ice-dammed lakes and rerouting of the drainage of northern Eurasia during the last glaciation”, Quaternary Science Reviews 23: 1313–1332.
- Mashkour M., Chahoud, J., Mahforouzi, A. & Biglari, F., 2010, “The faunal remains of Komishan, an epipaleolithic settlement in Northern Iran”, Journal of Iranian Archaeology 1 (1): 30-45.
- Mamedov, E. D., 1980, “Izmenie klimata Sredneiaziatskikh pustin v Golotsene”, Kolebania uvlazhnennosti Aralo-Kaspiskogo regiona v Golotsene. B. V. Andrianov, L. V. Zorin and R. V. Nikolaeva. Moscow, Academy of Sciences: 170-174.
- Masson, V. M. & Sarianidi, V. I., 1972, Central Asia: Turkmenia before the Achaemenids, London, Thames and Hudson.
- Masuda, S., 1974, “Tepe Sang-e Chakhamaq”, Iran XII: 222-223.
- Masuda, S., 1976, “Report of the archaeological investigations at Shahrud 1975”, In Firuz Bagherzadeh (Ed.). IVth Annual Symposium on Archaeological Research in Iran, Tehran.
- McBurney, C.B.M. & Rosemary P., 1969, “The Cave of Ali Tappeh and the Epi-Palaeolithic in N.E. Iran”, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, Vol 34, 1969, pp. 385-413.
- Rezvani, H. & K. Roustaei, 2017, “Preliminary Report on Two Seasons of Excavations at Tappeh Deh Kheir, In the Neolithic of the Iranian Plateau Recent Research”, Edited by Kouroush Roustaei & Marjan Mashkour, Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence, and Environment, Pp. 15-51.
- Roustaei, K., Mashkour, M. & Tengberg, M., 2015, “Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and the beginning of the Neolithic in north-east Iran”, Antiquity, Volume 89, Issue 345: 573-595.
- Rychagov, G. I., 1977, The Pleistocene History of the Caspian Sea.,D.Sc. Thesis, Moscow State University.
- Sidorchuk, A.Y.U., Panin, A.V. & Borisova, O.K., 2009, “Morphology of river channels and surface runoff in the Volga River basin (East European Plain) during the Late Glacial period”, Geomorphology 113: 137–157.
- Stronach, D., 1972, Yarim Tappeh In Excavations in Iran, the British Contributions: 21-23. Organizing Committee of the Sixth International Congress of Iranian Art and Archaeology, Oxford.
- Swineford, A, & Frye, J.C., 1945, “A mechanical analysis of wind-blown dust compared with analyses of loess”, American Journal of Science, Vol. 243 No. 5: 249-255.
- Thornton, Christopher., P., 2013, “Sang-i Chakhmaq: A New Look”, In Roger Matthews and Hasan Fazeli Nashli (Ed.). The Neolithisation of Iran, University of Oxford, Archaeopress, 241-256.
- Vahdati Nasab, H., Jayez, M., Hojabri Nobari, A., Khademi Nadooshan, F., Ilkhani, H. & Mahfroozi, A., 2011, “Komishan Cave, Mazandaran, Iran: an Epipalaeolithic and later site on the southern Caspian Sea”, Antiquity Volume 085 Issue 328.
- Yanina, Tamara A., 2014, “The Ponto-Caspian region: Environmental consequences of climate change during the Late Pleistocene”, Quaternary International 345: 88-99.

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics