A comprehensive study of ancient agricultural terraces of mountainous Dagestan was performed with the use of methods of soil science, archaeology, geography, landscape Geochemistry and GIS technologies. For the first time new data on the scope and history of agricultural development of mountainous areas were obtained. It was found that the total area of terraced fields reaches 1500 km2 . The lower boundary of terraced area is located at 900 m; the upper boundary in some areas is located at 2400 m. The main types of terraces were estimated. It was demonstrated that in the first place the river floodplains and terraces, which did not require additional ground work, were used as agricultural plots. But suitable areas for creating terraces on the slopes began to reduce. First terraces were created on the lowlands in the northern slopes where the most fertile soil existed. In these places, the upper fertile soil was cut off and horizontal step on the slope was created. Later during the annual plowing, a small plot adjacent to the edges of terrace was plowed, resulting in increased length of terraced fields. Simultaneously there was erosion of the terrace adjacent to the area where the soil was cut, causing a terrace to grow. At a later stage the steepest southern slopes that were particularly susceptible to erosion were terraced. Presumably, the greatest population pressure occurred in the first half of the 20th century when all slopes were terraced. As a result, the mountainous Dagestan had a unique landscape, where the whole surface, except badlands, was covered by terraces.

Рассмотрена история становления земледелия в горном Дагестане.