Cows in masks signal the migration and a ceremony. Farmers put masks on their cows as they travel from one Yayla home to another.<br /> Turkeys Black Sea coast has the highest peaks close to a sea anywhere in the world. The migration from summer fishing to highland shepherding has always been a part of the culture.  Mountain homes are called Yaylas (YIY-luz), and most families have more than one. <br />  <br /> Families fish at the coast, but as the temperatures rise, they move to a succession of homes higher in the mountain range.  These homes are community property and were bequeathed during the Ottoman period. <br /> <br /> Evidence shows that after the ice age, the Bosporus channel was the last to give way to the rising ocean and the Black Sea was the last to fill.  When the water flooded in, Neolithic people ran as much as two miles a day for over a year.  Today's residents are desendants of the people who ran away from the great flood. This bit of history burns in our collective memory still as Noahs flood or the flood from the epic of Gilgamesh.
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