The Caucasus Mountains are an alpine range curving from ancient Colchis (Georgia), up between the Black and Caspian Seas. In the north the Caucasus extend to the Pontic-Caspian Steppe, where horses are first domesticated c. 3500 BCE.
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The term Caucasus applies to the mountains, as well as Ciscaucasia and Transcaucasia. Ciscaucasia borders on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia, is a geographical region on the border of Europe and Asia.
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The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, also known as the Caucasian States. The territory includes the south Caucasian or lesser Caucasus mountains.
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Located in the North Caucasus, Mount Elbrus is the highest mountain in Russia and Europe. It's in the western part of the North Caucasus. The dormant volcano rises 5,642 m (18,510 ft) above sea level. Elbrus has two summits, both volcanic domes.
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On clear days the Caspian sea can be seen from Mount Elbrus. Circassians call the peak Uash-ha Makhua, meaning mountain of happiness. The name Mingi Taw used by some indigenous groups means "Eternal Mountain" in Turkic languages.
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Up to 500 million ya the Caucasus ranges and the Caspian Sea, like the Pontic regions, form part of the mother ocean Tethys. In the early-mid Cenozoic, c. 66 million ya, the Indian, African, Australian and Arabian tectonic plates shift north to collide with the Eurasian plate.
The collision causes upthrust of the Alpide belt, creating European Alps, Himalayas, Zagros, Caucasian and Ural Mountains. Tectonic plates are crushed and subducted. Tethys forms the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and Paratethys mega-lake covering most of Europe.
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Seas including the Black Sea, Caspian and Aral are thought to be crustal remains of the Paratethys. The waters are home to massive mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, sharks, thousands of species of ammonites, bivalves, and fish both living and extinct such as pycnodonts.
In an event called the Khersonian crisis near the end of the Miocene period, sudden changes in environmental factors and sea levels occur, causing extinction of unique fish and other sea life. Today fossils of prehistoric sea creatures are found in the mountains.
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Volcanoes erupt at the margins of the Anatolian plateau. In the south Caucasus volcanic activity is especially intense in the Armenian Highlands east of the Black Sea. Volcanic mountains rise around Lake Van and in Van province.
Greater Ararat is the highest peak in Turkey, at an elevation of 5137 m (16,854 ft). Also in Van province are Tendurek, and Nemrut, apparently named after King Nimrod who rules in the Bronze Age c. 2100 BCE. Nimrod, King of Akkad, is grandson of Sargon the Great.
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Other major volcanoes of the Caucasus include Mt. Kazbek, Shavnabada and Mount Khabarjina (aka Kabardzhin) in Georgia. Mount Aragats is an isolated four-peaked volcano in Armenia. Implements of obsidian, or volcanic glass, are found dating to c. 4000 BCE.
The volcanic zone extends over a large area from southern Georgia into Armenia and southwestern Azerbaijan. Geologic features include volcanic plateaus, lava flows, volcanic lakes and volcanic cones. The northern silk roads cross the Greater Caucasus to the sea.
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The area of the Caucasus is a diversity of cultures, languages and climates. The mountains attract castle-builders and herders alike. Merchants use the treacherous mountain passes to bring wares, news and trappings of civilization to the known world.
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South slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountains support beech, oak, maple and ash forests. The south-western slopes are mixed Colchian forests. Spruce, fir and beech predominate at higher elevations.
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Tusheti shepherds of Georgia have been herding livestock to seasonal grazing grounds, a for over 10,000 years. This type of semi-nomadic pastoralism, or transhumance, is still practiced today in many parts of the world.
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The last volcanic eruptions in Turkey are Mount Tendürek (Turkish: Tendürek Dağı) in 1855 and nearby Ararat in 1840 CE. In the Hebrew Bible, 7th century BCE, Ararat is the mountain where Noah's Ark comes to rest after a great flood. This is however disputed.
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The watershed along the Greater Caucasus range is considered a dividing line between Europe and SW Asia. On peripheries of Turkey, Iran and Russia, the Caucasus region has long been an arena for political, military, religious, and cultural rivalries and expansionism.
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In history, the Caucasus is part of Iran. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian Empire conquers the territory from Qajar Iran. This sets off a series of revolts and hostile actions against the Russians.
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In the Caucasian village of Galgai-Yurt, resistance is significant enough for the Russian empire to send several punitive expeditions in the the 19th century. One significant battle immortalizes the conflict in the above 1840 painting by Mikhail Lermontov.
In anthropological history, the territory of the Caucasus region is inhabited by Homo erectus since the Paleolithic Era. Hominini fossils dating back 1.8 million years are uncovered at the Dmanisi archaeological site in Georgia.
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The site yields the earliest undisputed proof of early humans outside the African continent. The five skulls at Dmanisi are the oldest hominin remains ever found outside Africa.
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Between 4000 - 2000 BCE the Neolithic / Bronze Age Kura-Araxes culture covers a vast area of modern-day territories including part of the S. Caucasus, NW Iran, NE Caucasus, and as far east as Syria. The name comes from the Kura and Araxes river valleys.
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There's an overlap of the Kura-Araxes and Mesopotamian Uruk cultures. Interactions may go back to the Middle Uruk period (4000 - 3100 BCE). Kura-Araxes are also in contact with Anatolian cultures.
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Economy of the Kura-Araxes revolves around farming and breeding of livestock, especially sheep and cattle, supplemented by hunting and fishing. The people grow grain and cultivate fruit trees. Implements to make flour are found during excavations.
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They raise cattle, sheep, goats, dogs, and later, horses. Before the Kura-Araxes period, horse bones were not found in Transcaucasia. Beginning about 3300 BCE they're common, showing signs of horse domestication. Metal working begins by 3000 BCE.
Landscape of the Caucasus Mountains changes according to height above sea level and proximity to major water bodies. Environments range from from subtropical lowland marshes and forests to glaciers and highland semideserts, steppes, and alpine meadows in the south.
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According to Pliny, the name Caucasus comes from a Scythian term, Croucasis, meaning 'shimmering with snow'. Parts of the Caucasus mountains are known for heavy snowfall. Historically, the southern mountains are mined for copper, arsenic and antimony.
Territories bordering the Caspian Sea in the northern hills of the Greater Caucasus are the fabled place of origin for the warrior women Amazons. They're in Greece in the 2nd century BCE, and thought to come from Thracian or Scythian lands northwest of the Black Sea.
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The controversial Amazon culture is a society of women only, who are said to meet with the Gargareans (Gargari), a male-only society, to have sex for reproduction purposes. In legend the Amazons live near the Gargari, at the west coast of the Caspian Sea.
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The Amazons are documented at the Black Sea by 9th century BCE, though they appear in local legend before that. They feature in Homer's account of the c. 1200 BCE Trojan War.
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Similarly the Amazons appear in the adventures of Jason and the Argonauts, thought to be set slightly early c. 1300 BCE. They're connected with the Isle of Ares or Aretias Island in the Black Sea, today identified as Giresun Island, with ruins dating back to c. 2000 BCE.
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