Investigating the Impact of Climatic Events on the Subsistence of Mesolithic and Neolithic Communities Around the Caspian Sea

Authors

1 Master of Prehistoric Archaeology, Faculty of Art and Architecture, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Art and Architecture, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran

3 PhD Student, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts and Architecture, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran.

Abstract

Climatic changes in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, which had a great impact on the transgression and regression of the Caspian Sea levels, were simultaneous with Mesolithic and Neolithic settlements around the sea. The frequent changes in the Caspian Sea level have directly and indirectly affected the early settlements of prehistoric societies around the Caspian Sea. The impact of these changes and the reaction of humans is the main subject of this research. Despite the importance of this issue, it has not been studied well related to Caspian Sea research, and it is necessary to explain a model for the response of these communities to climate change. In this paper, with an analytical approach, the subsistence of the communities around the Caspian Sea during the transgressions and regressions of the sea level has been discussed. The Khvalynian (18,000-12,000 BP) and Neo-Caspian (10,600-8,400 BP) transgressions caused marine species to play a significant role in the sustenance of these communities, among other resources. The Mangyshlak (12000-10500 BP) and 8.4k (8400 BP) regressions caused a large distance between the identified sites and the sea shores, and as a result, the use of marine resources in the residents’ sustenance decreased; but on the other hand, it caused the formation of rich ecosystems for new animals and plants such as gazelles, goats, and sheep. On the southeastern shores of the Caspian Sea, the beginning of Mesolithic settlements was almost simultaneous with the Khvalynian transgression and the proximity of the coasts to the sites, and these settlements continued until later periods. In the eastern Caspian Sea, settlements appear after the end of the Khvalynian transgression and during the Mangyshlak regression. During this period, the sea was still close to the settlements. While in the west, in the middle of the Khvalynian transgression, settlements were in the Upper Paleolithic, and in the north, there was no settlement until about 10,000 BP. While almost most of the communities in West Asia, at the end of the Pleistocene and Early Holocene, began the domestication and food production; the richness of the regions around the Caspian Sea could easily provide the sustenance needs of its communities and the first domestic species appeared only in the west and north at the Eneolithic period.

Keywords

Main Subjects


- Abbasnejad Seresti, R.; Asadi Ojaie, S. K.; Thornton, Ch. P. & Matthews, R., (2023). “A Reflection on Neolithization in the Plains of Behshahr and Neka in Eastern Mazandaran, Iran”. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4380796 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4380796
- Anthony, D. W., (2007a). “Pontic-Caspian Mesolithic and Early Neolithic societies at the time of the Black Sea flood: a small audience and small effects”. In: Yanko-Hombach, V., Gilbert, A.S., Panin, N., Dolukhanov, P.M. (eds) The Black Sea Flood Question: Changes in Coastline, Climate, and Human Settlement. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5302-3_14.
- Anthony, D. W., (2007b). The Horse, the Wheel and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Asadi Ojaei, S. K., (2023). “Archaeological Field Survey of Neolithic Settlements in Highlands and Lowlands of Eastern Mazandaran”. cultural heritage organization of Mazandaran, (Unpublished), (In Persian)
- Berthon, R., (2014). “Past, Current and Future Contribution of Zooarchaeology to the Knowledge of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Cultures in South Caucasus”. In: Sergi Makalatia Gori (eds.), Studies in Caucasian Archaeology, hal-02136934.
- Bezrodnykh, Y. P. & Sorokin, V. M., (2016). “On the age of the Mangyshlakian deposits of the northern Caspian Sea”. Quat. Res., 85: 245-254.
- Coolidge, J., (2005). Southern Turkmenistan in the Neolithic, A Petrographic Case Study. Oxford: Archaeopress.
- Coon, C. S., (1951). Cave Explorations in Iran, 1949. Philadelphia: The University Museum, University of Pennsylvania.
- Coon, C. S., (1952). “Excavations in Hotu Cave, Iran, 1951, A Preliminary Report”. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society,  96 (3): 231-270.
- Farajova, M., (2017). “About specifics of rock art of Gobustan and some innovative approaches to its interpretation (Firuz 2 shelter)”.Quaternary International, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.07.034.
- Farajova, M., (2018). “Reconstruction of the archaeological landscape of the Western Shore of the Caspian Sea at the end of Upper Pleistocene and Holocene”. Journal of Art of Orient, 7: 63-82. DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/aoto201804.
- Farshi Jalali, F., (2020). “Comparison of chronology of northern Iran based on excavation of Komishani site”. Ph.D. thesis, university of Tehran. (In Persian).
- Farajova, M., (2018). “Reconstruction of the archaeological landscape of the Western Shore of the Caspian Sea at the end of Upper Pleistocene and Holocene”. Journal of Art of Orient, 7: 63-82. DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/aoto201804.
- Fazeli Nashli, H., (2021a). “Stratigraphic Excavation of Hotu Cave”. Cultural heritage organization of Mazandaran, (Unpublished), (In Persian).
- Fazeli Nashli, H., (2021b). “Excavation of Kamarband Cave, Behshahr City”. Cultural heritage organization of Mazandaran, “Unpublished), (In Persian).
- Fazeli Nashli, H.; Cunningham, M. & Safari, M., (2017). “Preliminary Report of Archaeological Excavations at the pre-Neolithic Site of Komishani”. The 16th Annual Reports of Iranian Archaeology: 361-366. (In Persian).
- Fazeli Nashli, H., (2017). “Report of excavation at open site Komishanil”. Cultural heritage organization of Mazandaran, (Unpublished). (In Persian).
- De Groene, D.; Fazeli Nashli, H. & Matthews, R., (2023). “The Epipalaeolithic–Neolithic transition in north-eastern Iran: Zooarchaeological evidence from the southern shores of the Caspian Sea”. Antiquity, 1-16: doi:10.15184/aqy.2023.37
- Harris, D., (2010). Origins of Agriculture in Western Central Asia: An Environmental-Archaeological Study. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.
- Gorashchuk, I. V. & Komarov, A. M., (1998). “Mezoliticheskie okhotniki iuga Volga-Ural’skogo Mezhdurechn’ia [Mesolithic hunters of the southern Volga-Ural interfluve]”. In: Problemy drevnei istorii Severnogo Prikaspiia [Problems in the Ancient History of the Northern Caspian Region], I.B. Vasiliev, A. A. Vybornov, and P. P. Barynkin, (eds.): 14–30, Institut Istorii i Arkheologii Povolzh’ia. Samarskii gosudarstvennyi pedagogicheskii universitet, Samara. (In Russian).
- 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 costal paleoenvironment evolution along the Iranian Caspian shore”. Marine Geology, 361.
- Kakroodi, A. A., (2012). “Rapid Caspian Sea-level Change and Its Impact on Iranian Coasts”. Ph.D. thesis, Delft University of Technology.
- Kohl, P. L., (1984). “Central Asia: Palaeolithic Beginnings to the Iron Age (L’Asie centrale: des origines á l’àge du fer)”. Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations.
- Költringer, C.; Stevens, T.; Bradák, B.; Almqvist, B.; Kurbanov, R.; Snowball, I. & Yarovaya, S., (2020). “Enviromagnetic study of Late Quaternary environmental evolution in Lower Volga loess sequences, Russia”. Quaternary Research, 103: 49–73. https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2020.73.
- Korobkova, G. F., (1969). “Orudia truda i khaziaistva Neoliticheskikh plemen Srednei Azii (The Tools and the Economy of the Neolithic Tribes of Central Asia)”. Materialy i issledovaniya po arkheologii SSSR: 158. Leningrad: Nauka.
- Kuzmina, I. E., (1988). “Mlekopitayushchie severnogo prikaspiia v Golotsene [Mammals of the North Caspian in the Holocene]”. In: Arkheologicheskie kul’tury Severnogo Prikaspiia: mezhvuzovskii sbornik nauchnykh trudov [Archaeological Cultures of the North Caspian: Interdisciplinary Studies of Scientific Works], N. Ya. Merpert,( ed.): 173–188. Kuibyshevskii Gosudarstvennyi Pedagogicheskii Institut, Kuibyshev. (In Russian).
- Leroy, S. A. G.; Kakroodi, A. A.; Kroonenberg, S. B.; Lahijani, H. A. K.; Alimohammadian, H. & Nigarov, A., (2013). “Holocene vegetation history and sea level changes in the SE corner of the Caspian Sea: relevance to SW Asia climate Quat”. Sci. Rev. 70: 28-47.
- Leroy, S. A. G.; Chalie, F.; Wesselingh, F.; Sanjani, S.; Lahijani, H. A. K.; Athersuch, H.; Struck, U.; Plunkett, G.; Reimer, P. G.; Habibi, P.; Kabiri, K.; Haghani, S.; Naderi Beni, A. & Arpe, K., (2018). “Multiproxy indicators in a Pontocaspian System: a depth transect of surface sediment in the S-E Caspian Sea”. Geol. Belg. 21 (3-4): 143-165.
- Leroy, S. A. G.; Amini, A.; Gregg, M. W.; Marinova, E.; Bendrey, R.; Zha, Y.; Naderi Beni, A. & Fazeli Nashli, H., (2019). “Human responses to environmental change on the southern coastal plain of the Caspian Sea during the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods”. Quaternary Science Reviews, 218: 1-12.
- Lychagin, M. Y., (2010). “Geochemical indication of sediment formation environment caused by the Caspian Sea level fluctuation”. T. Yanina et al., (eds.), Proceedings of the international Conference on the Caspian region: environmental consequences of the climate change, October, Moscow, Russia: 14-16.
- Markov, G. E., (1966). “Raskopki pamiatnika piervobitnoi kulturi v zapadnom Turkmenistane: grota Dam Dam Cheshme 2 (Excavations of a Prehistoric Site in Western Turkmenistan: Dam Dam Cheshme cave 2)”. Nauchnie Soobshchenia, 5: 85-91.
- Masson, V. M. & Sarianidy, V. I., (1972). Central Asia, Turkmenia before Achaemenids. London: Thames and Hudson.
- McBurney C. B. M., (1964). “Preliminary Report on Stone Age Reconnaissance in North-Eastern Iran”. Proceeding of the Prehistoric Society, 30: 382-399.
- McBurney, C. B., (1968). “The Cave of Ali Tappeh and the Epi-Palaeolithic in N.E. Iran”. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 12: 385-413.
- Narochnitskiy, A. L., (1988). Istoriya narodov Severnoqo Kavkaza (History of the North Caucasus nations). Moskva 1988, Nauka (in Russian)
- Okladnikov, A. P., (1953). “Izuchenie pamyatnikov kamennogo veka v Turkmenii (Po dannym rabot IX otryada YuTAKE v 1952 g.) (A Study of Stone Age Sites in Turkmenia (using data from the work undertaken by 9th Brigade of YuTAKE in 1952)”. Izvestiya Akademii nauk Turkmenskoi SSR, 2: 28-32.
- Okladnikov, A. P., (1966). “Paleolit i mezolit Srednej Azii”. In: Masson, V. M. (Ed.), Srednjaja Azija v epohu kamnja i bronzy. Nauka, Moscow- Leningrad: 11–75.
- Perry, C. A. & Hsu, K. J., (2000). “Geophysical, archaeological, and historical evidence support a solar-output model for climate change”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97(23): 12433–12438.
- Rahimzadeh, N.; Khormali, F.; Gribenski, N.; Tsukamoto, S.; Kehl, M.; Pint, A.; Kiani, F. & Frechen, M., (2019). “Timing and development of sand dunes in the Golestan Province, northern Iran—Implications for the Late-Pleistocene history of the Caspian Sea”. Aeolian Research, 41: 100538
- Ramezanpour, H.; Garazhian, O. & Valipour, H., (2014). “Neolithic and Neolithization of the Eastern Mazandaran Lowlands, Based on New Archaeological Surveys”. Journal of Pazhohesh-ha-ye Bastanshenasi Iran,  3 (4): 97-116. https://nbsh.basu.ac.ir/article_566.html (In Persian)
- Ritchie, K.; Wouters, W.; Mirtskhulava, G.; Jokhadze, S.; Zhvania, D.; Abuladze, J. & Hansen, S., (2021). “Neolithic fishing in the South Caucasus as seen from Aruchlo I, Georgia”. Archaeological Research in Asia, 25: 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2020.100252.
- Rustamov, D., (2006). “Gobustan, the Ancient Centre of Azerbaijan Culture: Devoted to the 80th Anniversary of Archeologist Jafargulu Rustamov”. Nurlar, Baku. refhub.elsevier.com/S0140-1963(16)30238-5/sref11
- Sagona, A., (2017). The Archaeology of Caucasus. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139061254.
- Sigari, D., (2013). “Paleolithic rock art in Gobustan, Azerbaijan, the rock 44 of Böyük Das, Gobustan”. Journal of Iranian Archaeology, 4: 15–22.
- Sigari, D., (2016). “Portrayal of a sea in a semiarid environment: Boat engravings in Boyük Daş, Gobustan”. Journal of Arid Environments, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2016.12.012.
- Sigari, D.; Shirinli, S. & Abdullayev, R., (2019). “Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape (Azerbaijan)”. In: Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-12827-1.
- Shnaider, V.; Svetlana, Kyzy Saltanat, A.; Yanina, T. A.; Alexandra, B.; Natalia, B. & Solange, R., (2021). “The human cultures in South-Eastern Caspian region in final Pleistocene-Holocene period”. Archaeological Research in Asia, 28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2021.100318. 
- Svitoch, A. A., (2010). “The Neoeuxinian basin of the Black Sea and the Khvalinian transgression of the Caspian Sea”. Quat. Int., 225: 230–234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2009.03.005. 
- Vahdati Nasab, H., (2009). “First season of excavation at Komishan cave”. I.C.A.R., (Unpublished), (In Persian).
- Vahdati Nasab, H.; Jayez, M.; Nobari, H. N.; Nadooshan, K. K.; Ilkhani, H. & Mahfroozi, A., (2011). “Komishan Cave, Mazandaran, Iran: An Epi-paleolithic and later site on the southern Caspian Sea”. Antiquity, Project Gallery.
- Vahdati Nasab, H. & Nikzad, M., (2016). “A New Look at the Neolithization of the Southeastern of the Caspian Sea”. Journal of Pazhohesh-Ha-Ye Bastanshenasi Iran, 6 (11): 7-24. https://doi.org/10.22084/nbsh.2016.1736. (In Persian).
- Vahdati Nasab, H.; Nikzad, M.; Jayez, M.; Hashemi, M.; Knapp, Z.; Sykes, N.; Zareh Khalili, M.; Ilkhani Moghaddam, H.; Bakhtiari Nasab, F. & Olszewski, D., (2020). “Komishan Cave: A Mesolithic and later settlement on the Southeastern shore of the Caspian Sea, Iran”. ANES, 57:  97-125.
- Vasiliev, I. B.; Vybornov, A. A., & Komarov, A. M., (1996). The Mesolithic of the North Caspian Sea Area. Samara State Pedagogical University, Samara.
- Vybornov, A.; Kulkova, M.; Kosintsev, P.; Platonov, V.; Platonova, S.; Philippsen, B. & Nesterova, L., (2018). “Diet and Chronology of Neolithic-Eneolithic Cultures (from 6500 to 4700 cal BC) in the Lower Volga Basin”. Radiocarbon, 60(5): 1597-1610. doi:10.1017/RDC.2018.95. 
- Yanina, T. A., (2014). “The Ponto-Caspian region: Environmental consequences of climate change during the Late Pleistocene”. Quaternary International, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.01.045.