ABSTRACT
D aghestan is mainly rock. Its masons and builders have always been well known outside its borders. Up to a certain altitude, forests cover the mountains, supplying timber for public buildings, homes and furniture.
This woodwork complemented the stone buildings to form the familiar surroundings which preserved the identity of a village. The peoples of Daghestan have survived attritive earthquakes, the civil war and the war against the Red Army in the early 1920s, migration and Soviet attempts to move the villagers to the coastal towns in the 1960s and 1970s - all because of the enduring strength of the home and family. The largest village groups have over ten thousand inhabitants, the smallest under four hundred. However, Daghestan's turbulent history resulted in waves of emigration: in the 1740s, after Nadir Shah's invasion, from the 1800s to the 1870s, during the CaucasianRussian Wars and before the Revolution, and many now live in Turkey, Jordan and Iraq.
