An introduction to ethnoarchaeology of pastoralists, Central Qara Dagh, Azerbaijan

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant professor in faculty of applied arts, Tabriz Islamic Art University

2 MA in Archaeology, freelance researcher, Islamic Azad University

3 Associate professor in faculty of applied arts, Tabriz Islamic Art University

Abstract

The paper is concerning preliminary survey of Qaradaq region of Eastern Azerbaijan in view of ecological, archaeological and ethnographic perspectives. The region under study is poor in fertile soil, underpopulated settlements and nomadic Ubas being its dominant landscape. Indeed, archaeological investigations show the lack of considerable archaeological records up to the Iron age. The main subject matter of the paper is to investigate primary reasons behind permanence of nomadic subsistence in the region up to now as well as its historical and ecological continuation. It has been shown that there is a permanence of cultural traditions for more than three thousand years on the basis of environmental and ecological factors along with the dominance of vertical pastoralism. The main hypothesis was that the endurance in ecological and environmental conditions as well as its particular limitations is the reason behind the permanence of long-term cultural traditions. Ethno-archaeology has been chosen to undertake such a research. archaeological and ethnographical investigations of Qaradaq has been shown once more the principal role of ecosystem in permanence or impermanence of different modes of human life and subsistence. It is clear that ecosystems such as Central Qaradaq in no way allow the formation of settlement systems and moving toward social and cultural complications to occur.

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