The Caspian Sea basin is in a unique position of the cultural formation in Iran, for it goes through processes different from those of cultural stages due to Elburz Mountains more than 3,000 meters high. Furthermore, the Caspian coast includes the vas ...
The Caspian Sea basin is in a unique position of the cultural formation in Iran, for it goes through processes different from those of cultural stages due to Elburz Mountains more than 3,000 meters high. Furthermore, the Caspian coast includes the vast region of from south to north 1,200 kilometers long, from east to west 500 kilometers wide; therefore it is an independent Kulturkreise. Though the theory is generalized recently that they may move from East Africa to East Asia, the mistery of the link is in the Caucasia which connects the Black Sea with the Caspian Sea.
Paleolithic sites of the Caspian coast, which are discussed at the Iranian archaeological society lately, are found through this research. Under a long-range plan, archaeological investigations are necessary and the huge area need to be examined through international cooperation. It is considered that the outcome of the investigation on this region prevents the momentous evidence about the process of archeoanthropines' immigration.
The Caspian Sea of the historic age is an esssential strategic locality of the silk road on land or at sea connecting East Asia with Europe. It is also a dynamic region of cultural exchanges and passing of people. In the difficulty of the approach from other areas and the uncorcern, the Caspian Sea can have a cultural particularity for a long time.
The Greeks know primary products and people minutely by their colonies, which is found on books written by Herodotos, a Greek historian in BC 5. Though he writes the Caspian Sea as closed sea, most of Greeks regard it as the ocean connecting the Pacific. Although Alexander also knows that the Caspian Sea is closed, he considers that it is the sea connecting the Black Sea. He lets his subordinate to investigate the Caspian Sea. Usually, ancient Greeks think it as the sea connecting the Pacific even in the middle 8th century. It seems to be since Christian missionaries such as William visit Mongolia in the 13th century that the precise location and the geological concept are grasped. In the Islam age, prominent one among cultural characters of the Caspian Sea is the fact that the influx of the Islam is prevented in the area. This is the historical background that the Caspian Sea has the properties of the Persian culture before the Islam, which are different from the Islamic Iranian culture.
In the historical age, it is around from the 8th to the 13th century that the Caspian coast is prosperous, for the trade utilizing the coast is reinvigorated. The Abeskun habor is in the limelight as a trading center for silk. Derbent is flourish through producing fibers and red dyes. In addition, the coast has the stage of new development, trading the slaves taken from Caucasia.
As discussed above, the Caspian coast is quite prosperous as an essential locality of international trades via the Silk Road on which Europe goes for Central Asia, India, and China by way of the Black Sea. It also means the reception and the distribution of various cultures, institutions, and information in the interface between the East and the West culture. This is the creative background of the Caspian culture. The importance of the Caspian Sea in the formation and the development of Iranian culture before the Islam, is confirmed by this study.