ABSTRACT
The Caucasus Mountains have often been compared with the Pyrenées because of their asymmetry and steep southern slopes, their lofty deeply trenched eastern mass, their central ice-capped barrier bristling with high peaks, and their western division which gradually narrows and loses height, but gets more and more rain as it goes towards the sea. As in the Pyrenées, difficulties of communication, and the consequent isolation due to the relief explains the fact that the Caucasus region forms a veritable human patchwork. This isolation has resulted in a long-dated insecurity which is reflected in the form of dwelling and has made its conquest so difficult. Lastly, like the Pyrenées it is an almost impassable barrier, which has forced most migrating nations to go round the ends, and yet it does not separate peoples, for nearly all those found on one slope are represented on the other. 1
