126 Transition to Settled Life

were predominately manufactured from fine quality dark red flint, though grey, brown, and honey-coloured flint and quartz were also used. Cores were reduced to a small size, suggesting that every effort was made to maximise the available stone. Typologically, the varied tools sit comfortably within an Epi-Palaeolithic repertoire: round, end, and semi-circular scrapers were used for leatherand wood-working, and blades (occasionally segmented) and micro-blades for other activities. Scrapers show evidence of retouching, but not the blades. Debitage could be linked to the production of the microblades, suggesting that other tools were knapped elsewhere on the site, though the limited area of excavation precluded discerning the function of the space. Radiocarbon samples from the fireplaces dated this level to 6505–6345 cal BC.

A thin layer of organic soil separates the lowest level from the next level (Horizon 2), which shows a marked cultural shift that the excavators assigned to the Early Neolithic. Hearths are again a feature, but this time associated with fl at stones and a large number of animal bones, which have not been studied as yet. Lithic typology and stone resources change. Cores are common and narrow, and found in proximity to hearths.They were used to fashion blades and micro-blades that are often segmented, some into trapezes; scrapers have all but disappeared. Honey-coloured flint is used, suggesting a shift in resource access. Horizon 2 is dated to the first quarter of the sixth millennium BC.

Higher up the sequence, above a sterile layer, is Horizon 3. Apart from a few flecks of charcoal, it yielded no evidence of fireplaces or posts, and only few animal bones. The most important discovery was a coarse straightsided jar, ensuring a Pottery Neolithic attribution for the level.The container had a rough surface, perfunctorily polished on the outside, and pairs of small knobs placed under the rim. Both form and fabric of this vessel recall those from Chokh in Dagestan, which had an agricultural community; the period is radiocarbon dated to the first half of the sixth millennium BC. Looking regionally, we can say that Cmi has parallels with sequences on both sides of the Caucasus, but it can be best compared with Darkveti, which also shows a change in lithic typology between late Mesolithic and early Neolithic, though it is not a blueprint of those periods at Cmi.129

CONTACT AND EXCHANGE: OBSIDIAN

The southern Caucasus, especially Armenia, like Anatolia, is rich in obsidian; however, when obsidian studies of the Near Eastern and Mediterranean sources began in the mid-1960s, the south Caucasian flows were barely studied. Since the 1990s, a series of techniques including X-ray florescence, neutron activation and fission-track dating, have been used to analyse well over a thousand samples.Twenty-three obsidian sources, stretching across more than

129 Rostunov et al. 2009: fig. 19.

Figure 3.16. Map showing the main obsidian sources (after Badalyan 2010, drawn by C. Jayasuriya).

300 km of the rugged Lesser Caucasus ranges, have been identified within five discrete obsidian-bearing regions (Figure 3.16).130 All except two of the sources (Chikiani and Kelbadzhar) are within the modern Republic of Armenia, and a good number of these are in fairly remote locations. Equally significant are the studies that propose exchange models, which attempt to explain the social and economic patterns behind the procurement and consumption of raw materials.131 Using a Geographic Information System, one study found, not surprisingly, that communities procured obsidian from the source closest to their base.132 This ‘time-distance’ model argues that the distance factor should not be calculated as the crow flies, but instead on the maximum time acceptable to procure the raw material.

Intense volcanism and the effects of tectonic and seismic activity have shaped the Armenian landscape. Geologically speaking, the region comprises two volcanic zones – western and eastern – punctuated by a series of extrusive dome-shaped volcanic cones, around which cluster distinctive obsidian sources.133 The northernmost sources are located in the Dzhavakheti Range. These are the Chikiani outcrops on the eastern shore of Lake Paravani in

130Studies include Keller and Seifried 1990;Keller et al.1996;Blackman et al.1998;Badalyan et al. 2004b: 437–57; Cherry et al. 2010. See also Badalyan 2010: n. 1.

131Badalyan et al. 2004b: 457–64; Badalyan 2010.

132Barge and Chataigner 2010.

133Karapetyan et al. 2010.

southern Georgia and the Eni-Ël source in the Ashtosk region of northwestern Armenia. Chikiani obsidian is of the highest quality and was much prized – homogenous throughout, its trace elements do vary according to gradual evolution of the lava flows between 2.6 and 2.3 million years ago. Although this abundant source is situated just under 2,500 m asl, it was easily accessible, notwithstanding the climatic restrictions of winter. But the communities in the surrounding villages did not have to visit the source itself, for the Khrami River, which cuts a course through the Djavakheti Range, distributes large quantities of obsidian cobblestones down its course. Chikiani obsidian has a wide geographical distribution, extending from sites in western Georgia on the Black Sea to the shores of the Caspian. An alluvial deposit is located near Shirakavan, comprising small river pebbles that have been carried downstream from a source near Kars. Curiously, although this secondary source is abundant and the environs (in the Shirak Plain) were well settled in late prehistory, the source does not appear to have been used.The massive Mt Aragats and its plateau have several obsidian outcrops within their rhyolite complex: Pokr Arteni, Mets Arteni, Satani Dar, and Aragats.The most abundant and highest quality obsidian comes from Pokr Arteni and Aragats, both of which are quite accessible. On the whole, however, obsidian from this Arteni complex had a limited distribution.

Some of the highest sources in Armenia and also the oldest are located in the Tsakhunyats Range, north of the Aragats massif. At least six flows have been identified, distinguished by their high barium content and superior quality: Damlik Tumb,Ttvakar, Kamakar,Arkayasar,Aïkasar, and Dalar. Harsh winters preclude access to these primary sources between mid-November and early May, but below them is a tangle of steep gorges and torrential streams that carry the obsidian along the Marmarik and Kasakh Rivers, thereby creating readily available secondary deposits.

Another cluster of sources comprise the so-called Hrazdan-Abovyan group situated in the Gegam Plateau, including flows from the Gutansar, Fontan, Alapars, and Hatis volcanoes, in the western region, and the Spitaksar and Gekhasar cones (the Martuni group) along the southern edge. Of these, the Gutansar source is very rich, often represented by huge blocks of obsidian of a very high quality. Gutansar obsidian has a wide distribution that goes well beyond its immediate hub between the eastern Ararat Plain and Lake Sevan. It travelled down the full length of the Zagros Mountains to settlements in south-western Iran.134 Four deposits (Akunk, Zerborian, Xian-Xian, and Kaputan) form the Hatis source, which is less extensive than neighbouring Gutansar. Easily identifiable by its feldspar inclusions, Hatis obsidian was utilised from early prehistory.The most recently formed flows are found around

134 Badalyan et al. 2004b: 452.