Part 2: Climate and Human Migration: Airyan (Aryan) Migration to Eurasia and Central Asia

The Genesis of Airyan:

• Who is Airyan (Aryan)?
• Where did Airyan (Aryan) come from?
• Where did they migrate to?

The Airyan language was the ancestral language of the Celtic, Italic, Germanic, Baltic, Slavic, Airyan (Iranian), and Indo-Airyan, Albanian, Armenian, Greek, and Tocharian languages.

The word Airyan is the designation for Iranic people:

Old Airyan language Airya, Avestan airiia

The population of Iran is extracted from آیريآ (airya) or آریآ (arya). The word means ”noble” in old Parsi. The name of the region or the country where these noble people lived was called آیریآن (airyan), or آریآن (aryan) .

“On the Nowruz of 1935, Reza Shah Pahlavi asked foreign delegates to use the term Iran, the endonym of the country, in formal correspondence” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Iran ]

“The gentilic ēr- and ary- in ērān and aryān derives from Old Iranian *arya- (Old Persian airya-, Avestan airiia-, etc.), meaning "Aryan", in the sense of "of the Iranians". This term is attested as an ethnic designator in Achaemenid inscriptions and in Zoroastrianism's Avesta tradition, and it seems "very likely" that in Ardashir's inscription ērān still retained this meaning, denoting the people rather than the empire.

Airyana (Middle Parsi Ērān, Iran) is the land of all Airya people. The Airya people are called Airyan.

The word Airya and Airyan are pronounced as eye-ree-au and eye-ree-on.

o Where did Airya come from? How did climatic change compel Airyan emigration?

o How are Airyan people related to the other Indo-Airyan-European populations?

Figure 1: Mount Bisotoun (Behistun) is in the Kermanshah Province

The earliest epigraphical reference to the word Airya was carved about 2600 years ago (Darius I the Great's inscription). Mount Bisotoun (Behistun) is in the Kermanshah Province, western Iran.

Genetic and fossil pieces of evidence suggest that early Homo sapiens evolved to humans between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago in East Africa (Fig.2). But, modern humans share a remnant of a common genome with both Neanderthals and Homo erectus.

Figure 2: Evolution of modern human started about 3 million years ago.

In general, emigration out of Africa during the last 100,000 years could be divide into 4 distinct periods:

1. From 100,000 years ago to the 30,000 years ago;
2. From 30,000 years ago to 10,000 years ago;
3. From 10,000 years ago to 2000 years ago.
4. From 2000 years ago to the present.

Each of these periods, the condition of the climate had a major effect on the pattern of emigration.

Homo sapiens have been present on the Iranian plateau for the last 100,000 years. Pieces of evidence of human presence on the Iranian plateau are from the Bakhtaran valley in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran (Fig. 3). The first well-documented evidence of human habitation was discovered in several excavated caves and rock-shelter sites dated to about 100,000 years ago.

The previously reported Section 1: Glaciation, Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf, European-Eurasian Glaciation, provides a description of the climate during the last 100,000 years.

Homo sapiens passages out of Africa to the Iranian Plateau and the Mediterranean Sea includes the following three regions (Figs. 3, 4):

1. The Red Sea crossing at the Bab-al-Mandab Strait separating present-day Yemen from Djibouti into the Arabian Peninsula and Iranian Plateau. The Persian Gulf was a shallow valley during the Glaciation and after the Glaciation Maximum period up to 6000 years ago.

2. Homo sapiens followed the Persian Gulf Valley along both the northern and the southern shore of the present Persian Gulf entering the Iranian Plateau by the Zagros Mountains. Then, they followed both the Eastern and the Western sections of the Zagros into Iranian and Anatolian Plateaus.

3. Home sapiens had followed the north coast of Red Sea into the Western coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Those times the Suez Canal was a dry land area. The Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, was opened on 17th of November 1869.

Figure 3: Eurasia, the Iranian Plateau, and Eastern North Africa

Once they crossed into southern Iran, they rapidly settled in coastal areas around the Indian Ocean. During a short temperate period about 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, they migrated into Europe, steppes of Central Asia, Southeast Asia and arrived in Australia about 50,000 years ago (Figs. 3, 4).

Figure 4: Human migration path (Google Map modified)

Once the temperate climate changed colder again, about 40,000 years ago, the glaciation advanced and covered most of the northern and the central regions of Europe and Asia. The herbivores and humanoids following food and pastures moved back from the Central and the Northern Europe and Asia to more temperate zones on the Iranian Plateau, coastal regions of the Mediterranean Sea, and temperate zones in southern Asia.

The temperature remained very cold from about 40,000 years ago to about 12,000 years ago. During this cold period, the Northern and the Central Regions of Europe and Asia could not support most herbivores and humanoids. The population of Homo sapiens decreased and disappeared in some cold regions.

Hunter-Gatherer Life

The Homo sapiens were nomadic hunter-gatherers formed into small groups; they were continually in search of food. The nomadic pastoralists’ lifestyle still persisted for some human populations up to modern time.

A small percentage of Bakhtiari are nomadic pastoralists, migrating between summer quarters (sardsīr or yaylāq) and winter quarters (garmsīr or qishlāq). Another nomadic pastoralist’s tribe on the Iranian Plateau is Qashqai. They were originally nomadic pastoralists and some continue to be today. The traditional nomadic Qashqai traveled with their flocks each year from the summer highland pastures north of Shiraz roughly 300 miles south to the winter pastures on lower (and warmer) lands near the Persian Gulf, to the southwest of Shiraz.

Pre-history of Airya culture

The first dynasty of Airya people is recorded in the Shahnameh, Avesta, and Iranian mythology. The prehistory is recorded in the Zoroastrian scriptures, the Avesta (in particular the Zamyad Yasht 19), in Middle Parsi texts Ferdowsi's epic book, the Shahnameh, and in the Hindu Scriptures, the Vedas.

Pishdadian dynasty was the first dynasty to rule Airyana. Hoshang was the second king to rule the Airyana. During Hoshang epoch:

· Airyan discovered fire;

· They discovered iron and the principles of iron-working using fire;

· The methods of agriculture and irrigation;

· They learned how to domesticate certain beasts as livestock and for use as draught animals;

· They learned how to make clothing from the furs of hunted animals.

King Freydun assigned responsibility for his kingdom between his three sons: Tur, Iraj, and Salm. Tur was assigned to his eldest son, the eastern lands with its capital in Turan. Iraj was assigned Airan and Hind. Previously, King Jamshid had expanded Airyana into the upper Indus. Salm was assigned the western kingdoms that stretched from Iran to present-day Eastern Turkey.

The transition from Nomadic to Agriculture

Part I of this report provided evidence for the prevailing environments on the Iranian Plateau and regions near the Persian Gulf for the period from 22,000 to 6,000 years ago.

About 12,000 years ago an early practice of agriculture was discovered. The practice transformed the social structure and created non-nomadic societies. This was the beginning for larger groups living in villages and towns.

They changed their environment by clearing areas (deforestation) for planting and watering the plants (irrigation). They were capable to produce surplus food to support densely populated settlements. They created the rights to ownership of land. They created a specialization for works ( the division of labor) and created centralized administrations and political structures.

The oldest prehistoric villages in the Middle East are from Sahneh in the west of Kermanshah, in Kermanshah province, dated to about 12,000 years ago. The evidence for early non-nomadic life during 10,000 to 9,000 years ago was discovered at Jarmo, Sarāb, upper Ali Kosh, and upper Gūrān of the Zagros Mountain region.

The hunter-gatherers on Western Iran survived the cold by living in the caves of the Zagros Mountains. The melting of the ice had a consequential effect on available water and re-vegetation. The Zagros region has been home to rich and complex flora. Remnants of the originally widespread oak-dominated woodland can still be found. The ancestors of wheat, barley, lentil, almond, walnut, pistachio, apricot, plum, pomegranate, and grape can be found growing wild throughout the mountains.

The hunting and gathering practice gradually was replaced with farming. The farming was the first step toward a better supply of foods; it created social stability and village-tribe communities. Oral communication was advanced and lead to the formation of common language. It expedited the transfer of experience between the members of tribe-village societies. Tribes, a social division of the population, consisted of families and communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties. They developed a common culture and dialect. City-States were created consisting of culturally homogeneous tribes sharing a common language, institutions, religion, and historical experience.

Figure 5: The Fertile Crescent

Archaeological data indicates that the domestication of various types of plants and animals evolved in separate locations worldwide, starting around 12,000 years ago. In Western Iran, about 10,000 years ago, agricultural communities such as Chogha Bonut (the earliest village in Susiana) were created. Evidence of transition creating non-nomadic societies was excavated at Āsīāb, Gūrān, Ganj Dareh (Ganj Darreh), and Ali Kosh in western Iranian, and at Karīm Shahīr and Zawi Chemi–Shanidar on the western side of Zagros Mountains.

Figure 5 shows the region called Fertile Crescent. Some of the earliest human civilizations evolved in the Fertile Crescent; it had an abundance of available water and optimum temperature for agriculture. The Fertile Crescent has been designated as the Cradle of Civilization, the birthplace of agriculture, urbanization, writing, trade, and science.

These pattern of agricultural and village lifestyles were practiced over much of the Iranian plateau by about 8000 years ago. Evidence of fairly sophisticated patterns of agricultural life had been identified in the following regions: lowland regions of Khuzestan, Tepe Sabz in Khuzestan, Hajji Firuz in Azerbaijan, Godin Tepe in northeastern Lorestān, and Tepe Sialk on the rim of the central salt desert, and Tepe Yahya.

The effect of climate on agriculture and migration

The Central Iranian Plateau has an average elevation of about 900 meters (2,953 ft.). Some of the mountains exceed 3,000 meters (9,843 ft.). The eastern part of the plateau at present time is covered by two salt deserts, the Dasht-e Kavir and the Dasht-e Lut (Fig. 6).

Figure 6: Topographic map of the Iranian Plateau

Figure 7 shows the extent of Caspian and the Black Sea following the melting of glacier ice fields. Figure 8 shows the approximate extent of Caspian Sea about 17,000 to 14,000 years ago.

Figure 7: Caspian and the Black Sea following melting of glacier ice and before the flooding of the Black Sea.

Figure 8: Caspian Sea, Black Sea and Ural Sea following the last glaciation.

At that time, the Asian monsoon rain reached deep into the central Iranian Plateau (Fig. 6), bringing heavy summer rains that formed numerous lakes. Some of these lakes had water up to about 300 years ago. At present time, these regions are desolate except for some scattered oases.

The favorable climate during 15,000 to 7,000 years ago created an environment for expansion of agriculture. Similarly, increased pastures and available vegetation permitted expansion of the range for nomadic herders throughout the Iranian Plateau and the central region of Asia.

The African Humid Period, from 11,000 to 5,000 years ago, was ended abruptly, with Sahara drying back into desert within a span of one to two centuries. About 7,000 years ago the climatic changed in North Africa through Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan and Indian Subcontinent. It adversely decreased the rainfall and precipitation in these regions. The transition to today's arid conditions occurred in several periods: from 6,700 to 5,500 years ago, and again a severe change from 4,000 to 3,600 years ago. The climate adversely affected the ancient civilizations in these regions; about 5,200 years ago, the population in these regions abandoned the towns-villages and migrated to cooler regions with adequate water and precipitation.

About 2,200 years ago another abrupt change in the climate had adverse effects on the biomass. According to carbon-14 dating, summer temperatures sharply increased, and precipitation decreased. A major consequence of these adverse climate changes decreased in food production for the entire Fertile Crescent, Central Iranian Plateau, and India. It created famine and disrupted socioeconomic development. The decrease in vegetation created stress on herbivores and available pastures for nomadic people. These people in search of food and pasture had to abandon severely affected areas. They migrated toward the northern regions of the Iranian Plateau, Eurasia and the Eastern regions of the Caspian Sea and the Russian Steppe (Fig. 9). These migrants brought along their skills. They were soldiers, farmers, pastoral nomadic people and urban dwellers.

Figure 9: The map of Eurasia, the Iranian Plateau, and the Arabic Peninsula.

The nomadic people expanded from the region near the West-Center of the Iranian plateau to the north of the Caspian Sea Basin, and to Eastern Afghanistan and Tajikistan. These Airyan tribes had certain common characteristics.

The nomadic tribes, mostly equestrian herdsmen, lived in voluntary confederated associations to regulate the use of pastures;

They organized a common defense against common threats;

Often products from their domesticated animals exceeded their communal nomadic needs. They bartered the excesses of the needed agricultural products they could not produce. They developed alliances with non-nomadic villages and towns;

They provided military protection to each other and their confederated non-nomadic people.

The Central Iranian Plateau is the region where Airya developed a cohesive population using a common proto-Airya language and Airya identification. The migration out of the Central region to Afghanistan, Baluchistan, India, and Central Asia carried along the language, techniques for herding, defense, and agriculture. Cross-migration from the outer regions of the Plateau to the Central region further spread local advances across the Airyana.

The Early Civilizations in the Southern and Southwestern Iranian plateau

The Southern Iranian Plateau on the Persian Gulf was on the crossing point from Africa to Asia. The Persian Gulf was a shallow dry valley up to 18,000 years ago. The valley had several small shallow lakes. The Arvand Rud, the river formed by the Kārun, the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers provided water to these lakes. The Persian Gulf valley had a thriving population. The valley may have supported early humans for over 100,000 years. These people could have been the ancestors of the Elamite, Sumerians, Jiroft, Dravidians, Harappans, and other cultures that had flourished on the Southern Iran, Baluchistan, and Pakistan-India.

Elam (Fig. 10) is one of the oldest regions in Iran with recorded non-Airya civilizations (4,700 years ago).

The northern territories of Elam extended to Central Iran. The village of Sedezh (Sedegh), “Three Forts”, near Gabae, at the present location of Isphan (Isfahan), was one of the several military summer camps for the Elam’s Northern territory.

The Elam kingdoms were located in Anshan (Fig. 10, 11). Elam culture influenced Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded Elam. Elam population and culture was gradually absorbed into the Parsua Achaemenid Empire before the end of Elamite Kingdom about 2540 years ago.

The Elamite language remained among the official languages during the Achaemenid period. Elamite is generally identified as a language isolate. An evidence of advances in the Elam civilization is shown in Figures 12 and 13 show.

Figure 10: The regional extent of territories of the kingdoms: Elam, Media, Akkad, Sumer, and Assyria.

The four periods of the history of Elam is:

• Proto-Elamite: 5200 – 4700 years ago (Proto-Elamite script in Susa)
• Old Elamite period: 4700 – 3600 years ago (earliest documents until the Eparti dynasty)
• Middle Elamite period: 3500 BC – 3100 years ago (Anzanite dynasty until the Babylonian invasion of Susa)
• Neo-Elamite period: 3100 BC – 2540 BC (characterized Assyrian and Median influence.
• Elam lost its independence, becoming the third "province" of the empire, after Parsua and Med by 2540 years ago.

Figure 11: The location of Elam relative to the Zagros Mountains and the Persian Gulf.

Figure 12: Relief of a woman being fanned by an attendant while she holds what may be a spinning device before a table with a bowl containing a whole fish.

Figure 13: Silver cup with the linear-Elamite inscription on it, National Museum of Iran.

The Early Civilizations in the North Western Regions of the Iranian Plateau

The timeline for some of the Airya cultures in Eurasia are:

• Cimmerians 320 to 2700 years ago,

• Scythians-Saka 2800 to 2400 years ago;

• Sarmatian 2500 to 2000 years ago;

• Alans 2500 to 1100 years ago.

The Airyan tribes expanded into Anatolian Plateau, the Crimean Peninsula, and the Pontic-Caspian steppe once the climate moderated about 10,000 years ago. Several smaller communities and civilizations evolved based on Hunter-Gatherer culture. One of the tribes established Hittite empire on Hattusa in north-central Anatolian plateau about 3600 years ago. About 2800 years ago, Cimmerians started migration out of the Pontic-Caspian steppe into Anatolia due to Sakas (Scythians) incursions into their territories. In 215-250 AD their power on the Pontic Steppe was broken by the Goths. The Hunnic defeat of the Goths on the Pontic Steppe around 375 AD was responsible for westwards migration of Germanic tribes. The Alans migrated westwards following the Germanic tribes.

A detailed list of ancient Iranian peoples or ancient Iranic peoples includes names of Indo-European peoples speaking Iranian languages or otherwise considered Iranian in sources from the late 1st millennium BC to the early 2nd millennium AD.

Figure 14: Sakas (Scythians) and Parthians Civilizations (100 BC)

Figure 14 shows the path of migration for the Airya Alans civilization. During the 4th–5th centuries AD, they migrated from their homeland in the North Caucasus and spread throughout Europe.

Figure 16: Weight from Jiroft, made of chlorite

I hope this work would generate additional areas of future research. The unfinished work would include data to expand our knowledge about the linkage between climates, wars, and human migrations. At present we do not have any archaeological evidence to support a hypothesis that Homo sapiens may have returned back to East Africa once the adverse climate had affected their environment on Eurasia and the Iranian Plateau.

The Emigration and Climate

In general, emigration during the last 100,000 years could be divide into four distinct periods:

From 100,000 years ago to the 30,000 years ago;

emigration out of Africa into Asia and Europe. Many Airyan carry a maternal genome (mtDNA) from this early emigration.

2. From 30,000 years ago to 10,000 years ago;

back migration out of cold and glaciated European and Asian territories to warmer regions in northern Africa and Asia. Those who had returned back from the glacial cold of northern Europe into the Middle East populated Eurasia including Airyana.

3. From 10,000 years ago to 2000 years ago;

relocation within European, African, and Asian territories from the hot and drought conditions into more hospitable environments of Europe and Russian Steppe.

4. From 2,000 years ago to the present emigration was a consequence of a combination of economic, social factors in addition to the adverse climatic change. The adverse climatic conditions resulted in the mass emigration of people in west-central Asis into the Middle-east and Eastern Europe changing the paternal genetic profile of the region.

Part 3: The Early Airyan Civilizations on the Iranian Plateau