Kashafrud or Kashafrud River is a river that flows from the Hezar Masjed Mountains in Razavi Khorasan Province in northeast of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. After passing from the vicinity of the cities of Radkan and

Chenaran Chenaran ( fa, چناران; also Romanized as Čenārān, Chanārān, Chinārān, and Cenârân) is a city and capital of Chenaran County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 41,735, in 10,179 families. Che ...

in Razavi Khorasan Province and then passing north and east of the city of Mashhad, the Kashfrud joins the Harirud River at the frontier of Iran and

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

Geography

The Kashaf Rood

River A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

is 240 km. in length and originates from mountain ranges of Hezar Masjed and Binalood. The main town on the river is the city of Mashhad. The town of

Tus Tus or TUS may refer to: * Tus (biology), a protein that binds to terminator sequences * Thales Underwater Systems, an international defence contractor * Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language, ISO 639-3 code Education * Technological Univ ...

is also on the river. The river is irrigated, and known since the Middle Ages for its fertility.

History

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

passed through the valley of the Kashaf River. The

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

entered the valley in 650AD. Sultan Abu Said built a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

on the river. The Geographer

Al-Tusi Al-Tusi or Tusi is the title of several Iranian scholars who were born in the town of Tous in Khorasan. Some of the scholars with the al-Tusi title include: * Abu Nasr as-Sarraj al-Tūsī (d. 988), Sufi sheikh and historian. *Aḥmad al Ṭūsī ( ...

was from the Kashafrud valley. The army of Genghis Khan attacked the region of the Kashafrud in 1220 AD.

Kashafrud Basin

Kashafrud Basin is an archaeological site in

, known for the

Lower Palaeolithic The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears ...

artifacts collected there; these are the oldest-known evidence for human occupation of Iran. On the basis of their

geological Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other E ...

contexts, this collection is more than 800,000 years old.Dennell, R. (2008). The paleolithic settlement of Asia. Cambridge University Press. Thus, Kashfarud is one of the oldest

human settlements In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of cities ...

in Iran. A number of

stone tools A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...

discovered by Kashafrud are displayed in the Paleolithic Hall of the

National Museum of Iran The National Museum of Iran ( fa, موزهٔ ملی ایران ) is located in Tehran, Iran. It is an institution formed of two complexes; the Museum of Ancient Iran and the Museum of Islamic Archaeology and Art of Iran, which were opened in 1937 ...

References

Landforms of Razavi Khorasan Province Rivers of Iran {{Iran-river-stub