Rivers and Water: Persian Persian Landscapes

The both grandiose chains of mountains of Persia, the Alborz Mountains, which form a circle round the south shore of Caspian Sea, and the Zagres chain, along the NW-S E direction, look onto the vast Dasht-e-Kavir. Desert. A lot of impressive landscapes, civilizations and human settlements (extraordinary villages and towns) were originated along the fluvial valleys, where the snows and the waters sloped down from the mountains flow into the rivers before disappearing in the desert. The ancient Persia is still present and manifest itself in the contemporary landscapes of these remote regions where the populations are still well rooted into such a dynamical and flowing life environment. Here waters, plants and fruits provide the fundamental resources and support sedentary and semi nomad people who live together in this 'steady and flowing realm': the first in traditional villages, the second along the valleys. Semi nomad tribes and their animals follow their rhythmic seasonal itineraries and meet every season the sedentary people in their village sharing in peace their common steady and flowing realm. Their history is continuously becoming, weaved by the hands of each woman and by the wisdom of the whole nomad group as a complex marvellous carpet, and it is enriched by the seasonal meetings with the sedentary populations in the villages. At the present this intact wonderful condition is menaced of destruction. A big dam could be built at the end of this valley.