Pottery Neolithic: The Central and Southern Caucasus

latest fieldwork,then,indicates that Mesolithic traditions seem to have persisted in this region long after sedentary settlements with an agricultural economy appeared elsewhere in the southern Caucasus. The boundary between the Mesolithic and Neolithic in western Georgia therefore remains quite foggy.

The earliest Neolithic in western Georgia is situated in caves – Kotias Klde (Layer A), Samele Klde, Samertskhle Klde, Sagvardzhile, and Dzudzuana Klde (Layer A) – some of which have hitherto been labelled as ‘Eneolithic’ or even Early Bronze.35 These have not been published in any detail and the only firm absolute dates amongst them are five calibrated readings for Unit A at Dzudzuana, most of which fall within the seventh millennium BP.36 Remains at Dzudzuana include evidence of woodland clearance and cereals, and the manufacture of projectile points and sickle blades. Layer A2 at Kotias Klde revealed a shallow pit house with a chipped stone industry of transverse projectile points, various types of retouched denticulates, and fl ake scrapers that have been compared to the assemblages at Darkveti rock shelter and Paluri.37 Associated with this layer were two hearths, and 20 cm below them was the burial of an adult male, whose body appears to have had large stones intentionally placed on top of it. No chronometric dates are as yet available for Kotias Klde Layer A.

POTTERY NEOLITHIC: THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN

CAUCASUS

The clearest expression of a Neolithic farming economy is found in the KuraAraxes interfluve, where some 150 Pottery Neolithic sites dot the landscape (Figure 3.1).38 These early agricultural settlements have formed stratified mounds and are mostly located in the broad alluvial plains, occasionally on the top of undulating natural hills, in the valleys formed by the tributaries of the right bank of the Kura River, in particular the Khrami, Debed, and Akstafachai, in the Mil-Karabakh. Sites are spread along the ancient terraces of the Araxes River in Armenia, and extend into the Mugan steppes. Many are badly eroded or disturbed by modern land use and only a handful have been fully investigated and published in any detail. A good number of the settlements were established in proximity to each other, and were visible in the distance.

The Pottery Neolithic of the central and southern Caucasus is often referred to as the ‘Shulaveri-Shomutepe’ culture, after two key sites excavated in the

35Meshveliani 2013: 71.

36Bar-Yosef et al. 2011:Table 2.

37Meshveliani et al. 2007: 49–50.

late 1950s and early 1960s – Shulaveris Gora, on the Marneuli Plain in Georgia, and Shomutepe, situated in the Kazakh region of Azerbaijan.39 Three groups can be distinguished in terms of geography, architecture and artefacts:40

•One is located in the central region of south Caucasia, in the middle reaches of the Kura River, and incorporates the regions of western Azerbaijan and the neighbouring districts of Kvemo Kartli (Georgia). In addition to Shulavris Gora and Shomutepe Tepe, other notable sites include Imiris Gora, Dangreulis Gora, Khramis Didi Gora, Gadachrili Gora, Tsopi, and Arukhlo I in Georgia, and Göytepe, Hacı Elamxamlı Tepe, and Mentesh Tepe in north-western Azerbaijan.41

•The second large nucleation incorporates sites within the triangle delineated by the Nakhichevan region, Mil Plain, and the Mugan steppes. Kültepe I (Nakhichevan) was the first site to show variance from the Shulaveri-Shomutepe group.We can now add Alikemek Tepesi located further east in the Mugan steppes, and Kamiltepe and Ilanly Tepe in the Mil Plain in south-western Azerbaijan.The landscape around the Kara Çay,in particular,is peppered with Neolithic sites.42 Not surprisingly,this group of sites shows clear cultural contacts with northern Mesopotamia and Iran. They also developed an early metallurgical industry that was more advanced than that in Kvemo Kartli.43

•The third group is located in the well-circumscribed Ararat Plain of Armenia. Newly defined through recent systematic excavations at Aratashen and Aknashen-Khatunarkh, the region clearly has a rich Neolithic tradition with its own imprint.44 The early investigations at Tekhut and the ongoing work at Masis Blur help to define this cluster.45

Tamaz Kiguradze divided the cultural development of the ShulaveriShomutepe group into five phases derived largely from typology of stone tools.46 Even though the broad picture of the Shulaveri-Shomutepe tradition

39The Shulaveri and other Georgian sites were investigated by Aleksandr Dzhavakhishvili and Tariel Chubinishvili (Kiguradze 1986), whereas Shomutepe was excavated by Ideal Narimanov (1965, 1987).

40Munchaev (1982: 130) originally identified two (Shulaveri-Shomutepe and the Nakhichevan-Mil-Mugan groups). Following Narimanov, Kiguradze (1986: fig. 1) isolated seven smaller regions within these two broader zones, but this may be splitting the evidence too finely.

41Region-specific syntheses can be found Kiguradze 1976, 1986, and Kiguradze and Menabde 2004 (for Georgia), and Narimanov 1987, 1992 (for Azerbaijan). See also Nishiaki et al. 2015, Hamon et al. 2016, and Lyonnet et al. 2016 for recent evidence.

42Ricci et al. 2012.

43Narimanov 1987, 1992; Munchaev 1982.

44Badalyan et al. 2007 (Aratashen), 2010 (Aknashen-Khatunarkh).

45Martirosian and Torosian 1967: 52–62;Torosian 1976 (Tekhut); Martirosyan-Olshansky et al. 2013 (Masis Blur).

46Kiguradze 1976: 109; 1986: 95–102.