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The reason for such exodus by the Aryan tribe was the pressure applied by the yellow-skinned tribes in the north, sudden drop of temperature, increased tribal population and drying of pastures and their quest for new and fresh pastures. During the migration, these tribesmen were confronted with natives such as Amardes, Tappuris, Caducians, Ilamates and ugly looking negroes and were forced to war with them. The description of such battles has nowadays ceased to be historical and factual and has become fable. Thus the Iranian fabulous epics such as the Shahnameh refer to such battles as wars between the Iranians and the divs. Also the wars that were fought between the Iranians and the Sogdians northeast of the country and around the Caspian Sea is also known as war with Turanians.

The first symptom of such immigration and the changes that these new tribes effected in Iran was the appearance of dark gray earthenware which did not exist in these regions before their arrival. The Aryan tribesmen entered the new regions along with their families, herds, war horses and shepherd dogs, and were gradually employed as mercenaries by native governors to defend and patrol villages. After several centuries these new tribes gradually replaced the natives in Iran. The symptoms of such new arrivals and replacement are notable in the following changes. The dead which were formerly buried in the house floors, were transferred to a distance of approximately hundred meters from the city and were buried in graveyards. Of course these people continued to bury the various equipment and belongings of the dead person under the ground along with the dead persons. The disk of the sun, mountain goat, a horse or horseman images on the tombstones and alternative use of unbaked brick and stones on the walls were indications of the Aryan community. The Aryans fabricated swords, daggers, spears and bows with bronze or iron.

A careful study of the historical hills in that period specially the graveyard in Tappeh Silk distinctly point to rich and poor classes of ancient Aryans based on the ornaments that were buried with the dead or heavy stones carrying the image of angels that covered the tombs of richer persons. On the contrary the graves of the medium and poor class lacked such ornaments. This new custom of burials which wholly differed from burial of earlier settlers, is another indication about the arrival of a new race of people in the Iranian plateau. Influenced by the local languages and religious customs caused the mixture of the Aryan (Iranian) and the native cultures, and gradually assimilated the earlier settlers in Iran. The method of the life of the Iranian shepherds was also mixed with the customs of native villagers and farmers and led to a new social life called "shepherd farmers." This rapidly contributed to the growth of the economy and wealth in the new community.

Of political features of that period one can refer to the repeated incursions by the Assyrian government into the Iranian mainland to obtain iron, horses, slaves, and precious metals and stones which were used by the natives at those times. In Tappeh Silk which had become an Aryan town, one of the governors had built a magnificent castle over the hill. This was a well fortified castle equipped with a palace, residential quarter and a graveyard. This governor built a wall that circled the castle along with watchtowers for patrolling and a moat. Of course such architecture called for flatting of the land to lay the foundation of the palace and residential quarters for nobles and the Aryans needed a group of workers such as masons, stone workers and bricklayers, etc. which were naturally performed by the tamed natives. In this new community the governors not only warred with neighboring local rival governors but were in continuous war with big western kingdoms such as the Assyrians.

An Aryan prince used to live with his courtiers and companions. He governed the farmers and his income came from his estates and war pillage. The community was divided into several categories including governors or princes, nobles, free citizens or landowners and slaves, but the peasants during this period enjoyed more liberty in Iran compared with those who lived in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Because petty landowners exited in the Iranian villages.

Besides agricultural development, the early Iranians paid due attention to extraction of mines and dug out copper, iron, and lapis azuli. Meanwhile the ruling governor supported and encouraged commerce, and ornamental gold and silverware or precious stones or fabrics were traded. As a result the economy was based on two foundations: farming and commerce. But the economy did not flourish continuously because warlike tribes such as the Assyrians which lived west of Iran, always attacked and plundered the region and caused a lot of unrest. This was because Mesopotamia and the Assyrian Empire were always in need of raw material. The Assyrians were unable to receive such minerals and resources from Asia Minor or Caucasus because that region was governed by the strong Urartu Empire. As a result they were compelled to plunder such items from their eastern frontiers and Iran which was not governed by a united central government.

Meanwhile since the Ilamite kingdom had been weakened and destroyed as a result of repeated wars with the Chaldians and Assyrians, the Assyrians were further emboldened. Eventually in a battle with Assurbanipal in the year 645 B.C. the Ilamite king was defeated and his country and Susa, his capital, were captured and plundered by the Assyrian army.

During such times the movement of the Aryan tribes within Iran had not been completed. At those times the new comers built small scattered towns mostly at the western regions and posted their cavalry to protect them. Of course the small cavalry which was formed of 200 or 300 horsemen were unable to defend the strong and warlike Assyrian army. As a result when attacked by the Assyrians the citizens and their small armies fled and sought refuge in the mountains. Thus for a long time the Aryans and the natives in the western regions and specially at the foot of Zagros Mountain were agitated and harassed by the invaders. During these incursions the Assyrian army plundered corn and goods along with horses and cattle and if they faced defenders they enslaved them and carried them back to their homes.

For example an Assyrian almanac has recorded that during the attack by Tiglathpukeser III in the year 745 B.C. against scattered Parsi and Median tribes west of Iran, the Assyrians captured 60,000 slaves and seized immense number of cows and sheep. In this almanac for the first time, the Assyrian scribes refer to Parsis as Parsuvans in the year 844 B.C. and Medes as Madays in 836 B.C. At that period the Parsis were living west and southwest of Urmia Lake and the Medes were settled southeast of the lake near Hamedan. But later obsessed by repeated Assyrian incursions and persecuted by the northern Urartu government, the Parsis moved towards the Bakhtiari mountain range and east of Shushtar and settled in a region called Parsuash or Parsumash around 700 B.C.

Therefore, due to the reasons mentioned above and the special nature of the Iranian vast plateau when towns and villages were scattered and disunited, the country was unable to resist united against enemy attacks or if they resisted such resistance was scarce and feeble. The idea to resist the Assyrian oppression by consolidation was first developed among the Aryans and specially the Medians who lived northwest of Iran and were more exposed to continued Assyrian incursions.

Until that time rivalry between rival feudal Iranian tribes, their scattered nature and lack of unity among them, served as a winning card for the aggressive Assyrians. Dayaukku, one of the leaders of the Median tribes, who had become known as a judge among tribesmen from the beginning, succeeded to unite six Median tribes with each other and form the first Aryan government in Iran around eight century B.C. He placed his seat in Hegmataneh which means the place of congregation. Thus Dayaukku succeeded to unite the scattered Median tribes and form a single nation. After the unification of the tribes and establishment of an Iranian kingdom northwest of Iran, the southern Persians laid the foundation of the glorious Achaemenid empire.

I am Dariush, the great king, the king of kings
The king of many countries and many people
The king of this expansive land,
The son of Wishtaspa of Achaemenid,
Persian, the son of a Persian,
'Aryan', from the Aryan race
"From the Darius the Great's Inscription in Naqshe-e-Rostam"

he above scripture is one of most valid written evidences of the history of the Aryan race, and as can be seen, Darius I (Dariush in persian), the Achaemenian king, in the 5th century BCE, declares himself a Persian and form the Aryan race. Herodotus, the father of history, writes (in his book: "History of Herodotus") at the same times: "In ancient times, the Greeks called Iranians "Kaffe", but they were renowned as Aryans among themselves and their neighbors". In another part of his book, Herodotus writes that the Medians were known as Aryans during a certain period. So in two of the oldest written human documents, the race of the Iranians have been mentioned as Aryan.

On the other hand, in many contemporary books, one reads that the Aryans were not original residents of the land of Iran, and that they migrated to Iran from Central Asia or somewhere in the north of Europe. The point is that if some of the oldest written records of the human history confirm that the residents of the Iranian Plateau were Aryans, why should some claim otherwise?

We will discuss the origins of the Iranian race, and we will try to shed light on some unknown corners of history, which has been mixed with ignorance and lies.

We want to extract the facts out of centuries and millennia and out of paleontological studies, old and new, to prove that Iran is the original land of the Aryan race, that this people has never migrated to any other land, and it has defended its homelands for centuries on end.

There are all numerous reasons that the Aryan race has undergone its evolution from the primitive man to the white man in the Iranian Plateau. These reasons can be categorized as historical, geographical, mythological, anthropological and linguistically.

Against the reasons we will discuss, no valid evidence has been produced to prove that the Aryans migrated from Central Asia or any other place to Iran. What European historians have written in this regard is based on unscientific and unproven hypotheses influenced by anti-Iranian and political ideas.

The reason for the migration of Aryans from Iran to other places of the world should be searched in climatic events. At the end of Ice Age, as a result of excessive rainfall on the Alborz and Zagros Mountains and the melting of the ice accumulated on the mountains, the rivers flowing through the Iranian Plateau were much larger than they are today. Therefore there was a large lake in the place where to day is the Central Desert. One of the most interesting mythological texts says in this regard:

"...In the second phase of the creation of the world, Ahura Mazda created the waters, and the waters flowed towards Farakhekrat Sea which covers one third of the world from the southern outskirts of Alborz." With the continuous warming of the earth and the decrease in rainfall, this lake gradually dried up and the peoples living around it, who had a common language and Aryan culture, was forced to migrate from Iran. The routes of this great migration are an evidence for the central position of Iran, for the Aryan peoples have set Iran as the center and set out on migration in any direction.

As a matter of fact, many Western historians have declined to accept the politicized version of history, admitting that Iran was the origin of the Aryan race.

Hegel writes in his book The Philosophy of history: "The principle of evolution begins with the history of Iran". Another prominent orientologist says that: A large part of our cultural and material legacy was unveiled in southwestern Asia the center of which was Iran." Petri, in a famous speech, said that "When Egypt had only just begun the art of pottery, the people of Susa (in Iran) were painting beautiful pictures on ceramics." this shows that the Iranian civilization was 3,000 years ahead of that of Egypt, dating back at least to 12,000 years ago. In other words, when Central Asia was totally buried under thick layers of ice, Iranians were creating pictures on earthenware, which indicates their art and creativity.

Considering the existence of this 12,000 years-old civilization in Iran, would it not be unlikely that 6,000 years ago, a group of people spontaneously crossed the ice covered Siberian lands, suddenly wiping such a civilization off the earth. The word Aryan has roots in world that Iranians called themselves by Ayria, meaning free, noble and steady. The world Iran is derived from this very root, having been transformed from to Ayran Iran, meaning the land of the Aryans. This is the most ancient term applied to the Iranian Plateau, and such a term has never been detected anywhere else in the world, e.g. Europe or Turkistan.

The myth of Aryan's migration to Iran implies that a people have come to Iran from a remote land, giving their name to an already inhabited land which had no name, and that no trace of their name has been remained in their name has been remained in their original homeland. In historical records, Central Asia has been mentioned as the land of Sakas, Masagets, Touran, Soghd, Kharazm, Khiveh, and Turkistan, none of which words has any relation to the word Aryan.

Paleontology is one of the sciences that confirm the formation of the white race in Ian. The Homo sapiens evolved from its Neanderthal ancestors in a 30,000- year process between 50,000 to 20,000 years ago. In the Hutu and Kamarband caves near Behshahr, Iran, bones of men from different historical periods have been found, showing that a kind of human race has continuously dwelled in this area and evolved, meaning that there has been no migration.

In Babylonian and Assyrian sources, one of the largest ancient Iranian tribes has been mentioned as Kas Su, Kassi and Kashi, which in ancient languages and also in the modern language of the people of Gilan means fair-eyed and fair-faced. The name of central city of Kashan (Kassan) is a relic of this ancient Aryan tribe. Many relics of the Kassi tribe has also been found in the Khorramabad region, including paintings in the cave of Dusheh which date back to 15,000 BC. In these paintings, people can be seen riding horses. This is a very valid evidence against the erroneous theories which say that the Aryans brought the horse form Central Asia to Iran around 4,000 BC. Like its ancient riders, the horse is indigenous to Iran since at least 17,000 years ago.

Geology and meteorology confirm the evolution of man in the Iranian Plateau. The supporters of the theory of the migration of the Aryans from the north to Iran assume that with the fall in the temperature during the ice age, men were forced to migrate from the north (Central Asia) to the south (Iran). But the homo race was formed at the end of the third ice age, i.e. when the weather was gradually warming from the south to the north. Therefore, it would have been natural for people to migrate from south to north, and not the other way round. In fact, Central Asia was not habitable for men for thousands of years after the ice age, it only became so in the historic age as a result of the melting and receding of the arctic ice cap. Later groups of Iranians and Chinese migrated to these areas and formed the Turk race through cross breeding. The Indians are a hybrid of early Dravidians and the white Iranian race, a fact, which is evident from their dark skin.

So why have some European historians said that the origin of the Iranians is Central Asia? Because in 1833, an Oxford University professor used the term Aryan to describe a group of languages with common origins. Although he later admitted that parts of his theory were erroneous, the theory of an Aryan race was used by a group of romanticist writers and western historians in quest for an ancient identity.

The Germans, eyeing vast expanses of land in Central Asia, called themselves Aryans and cried for a return to the homeland. They used the Swastika, which, as a "wheel of Mithra (Sun/Fire)" used to be the arm of the Iranians since ancient times, as a Nazi symbol, to have an alibi to invade Russia.

The French, British, Russians and recently Americans found different reasons to call themselves Aryans.

By: M. Sadeq Nazmi-Afshar