Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T08:20:49.960Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dzudzuana: an Upper Palaeolithic cave site in the Caucasus foothills (Georgia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Ofer Bar-Yosef ,
Anna Belfer-Cohen ,
Tengiz Mesheviliani ,
Nino Jakeli ,
Guy Bar-Oz ,
Elisabetta Boaretto ,
Paul Goldberg ,
Eliso Kvavadze  and
Zinovi Matskevich
Ofer Bar-Yosef
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Anna Belfer-Cohen
Affiliation:
The Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel
Tengiz Mesheviliani
Affiliation:
National Museum of Georgia, 3 Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi 0105, Georgia
Nino Jakeli
Affiliation:
National Museum of Georgia, 3 Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi 0105, Georgia
Guy Bar-Oz
Affiliation:
Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel
Elisabetta Boaretto
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Dating and Cosmogenic Isotopes Laboratory, Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel; Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel
Paul Goldberg
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 347, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Eliso Kvavadze
Affiliation:
Institute of Paleobiology, National Museum of Georgia, 3 Rustaveli Avenue 0105 Tbilisi, Georgia
Zinovi Matskevich
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The report announces the important radiocarbon-dated sequence recently obtained at Dzudzuana Cave in the southern Caucasus foothills. The first occupants here were modern humans, in c. 34.5–32.2 ka cal BP, and comparison with dated sequences on the northern slope of the Caucasus suggests that their arrival was rapid and widespread. The rich, well-dated assemblages of lithics, bone tools and a few art objects, coloured fibres, pollen and animal remains deposited at Dzudzuana through 20 millennia provide an invaluable point of reference for numerous other sites previously excavated in western Georgia. Detailed information has been placed in a supplementary excavation report online. The data support the significance of these excavations for a better understanding of modern human dispersals.

Keywords

GeorgiaCaucasusMiddle PalaeolithicUpper Palaeolithiclithicsmodern humans
Type
Debate
Information
Antiquity , Volume 85 , Issue 328 , June 2011 , pp. 331 - 349
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, D. S. 2002. Late Middle Palaeolithic patterns of lithic reduction, mobility and land use in the southern Caucasus. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Adler, D. S. & Bar-Oz, G. 2009. Seasonal patterns of prey acquisition during the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic of the southern Caucasus, in Hublin, J. J. & Richards, M. P. (ed.) The evolution of hominid diets: integrating approaches to the study of Palaeolithic subsistence: 127–40. Dordrecht: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adler, D. S. & Tushabramishvili, N. 2004. Middle Palaeolithic patterns of settlement and subsistence in the southern Caucasus, in Conard, N. (ed.) Middle Palaeolithic settlement dynamics: 91–132. Tubingen: Kerns.Google Scholar
Adler, D. S., Bar-Oz, G., Belfer-Cohen, A. & Bar-Yosef, O. 2006a. Ahead of the game: Middle and Upper Palaeolithic hunting behaviors in the southern Caucasus. Current Anthropology 47:89–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adler, D. S., Belfer-Cohen, A. & Bar-Yosef, O. 2006b. Between a rock and a hard place: Neanderthal-modern human interactions in southern Caucasus, in Conard, N. (ed.) Neanderthals and modern humans meet: 165–87. Tübingen: Kerns.Google Scholar
Adler, D. S., Bar-Yosef, O., Belfer-Cohen, A., Tushabramishvili, N., Boaretto, E., Mercier, N., Valladas, H. & Rink, W. J. 2008. Dating the demise: Neandertal extinction and the establishment of modern humans in the southern Caucasus. Journal of Human Evolution 55:817–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Amirkhanov, H. A. 1986. Verkhnij paleolit Prikuban'ja [The Upper Palaeolithic of the Kuban area]. Moscow: Nauka (in Russian).Google Scholar
Bader, N. O. 1965. Cultural variability at the end of the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic of the Caucasus. Sovetskaya Arkheologiya 4:3–16 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Bader, N. O. 1984. The Late Paleolithic of the Caucasus, in Boriskovski, P. I. (ed.) Paleolit SSSR [The Palaeolithic of the USSR]: 272–301. Moscow: Nauka (in Russian).Google Scholar
Bar-Oz, G. & Adler, D. S. 2005. Taphonomic history of the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic faunal assemblage from Ortvale Klde, Georgian Republic. Journal of Taphonomy 3:185–211.Google Scholar
Bar-Oz, G., Belfer-Cohen, A., Mesheviliani, T., Jakeli, N. & Bar-Yosef, O. 2008. Taphonomy and zooarchaeology of the Upper Palaeolithic cave of Dzudzuana, Republic of Georgia. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 18:131–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bar-Yosef, O. 2004. Eat what is there: hunting and gathering in the world of Neanderthals and their neighbours. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 14:333–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Behre, K.-E. 1981. The interpretation of anthropogenic indicators in pollen diagrams. Pollen et Spores 23:225–45.Google Scholar
Belfer-Cohen, A. & Goring-Morris, A. N. 2003. Current issues in Levantine Upper Palaeolithic research, in Goring-Morris, A. N. & Belfer-Cohen, A. (ed.) More than meets the eye: studies on Upper Palaeolithic diversity in the Near East: 1–12. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Belfer-Cohen, A. & Grosman, L. 2007. Tools or cores? Carinated artefacts in Levantine Late Upper Paleolithic assemblages and why does it matter, in Mcpherron, S. P. (ed.) Tools versus cores: alternative approaches to stone tool analysis: 143–63. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Berdzenishvili, N. Z. 1972. On the question of the initial stage of the Upper Palaeolithic of Georgia, in Masson, V. M. (ed.) Kamennyj vek Srednej Azii i Kazakhstana. Tezisy dokladov soveschanija [The Stone Age of Central Asia and Kazakhstan]: 23–5. Tashkent: FAN (in Russian).Google Scholar
Bourlon, L. & Bouyssonie, A. 1912. Grattoirs carénés, rabots et grattoirs nucléiformes, essai de classification des grattoirs. Revue Anthropologique 22:475–86.Google Scholar
Cohen, V. Y. & Stepanchuk, V. N. 1999. Late Middle and Early Upper Paleolithic evidence from the East European Plain and Caucasus: a new look at variability, interactions and transitions. Journal of World Prehistory 13:265–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golovanova, L. V., Cleghorn, N. E., Doronichev, V. B., Hoffecker, J. F., Burr, G. S. & Sulergizkiy, L. D. 2006. The Early Upper Paleolithic in the northern Caucasus (new data from Mezmaiskaya Cave, 1997 excavation). Eurasian Prehistory 4(1-2): 43–78.Google Scholar
Heptner, V.G., Nasimovich, A. A. & Bannikov, A. G. 1989. Mammals of the Soviet Union, Volume 1: ungulates. Leiden: E. J. Brill.Google Scholar
Korkia, L. D. 1998. Zedapaleolituri kultura sakartvelos chrdiloaghmosavlet shavizghvistsirethshi [Upper Palaeolithic culture of the north-eastern Black Sea littoral of Georgia]. Tblisi: Metsniereba (in Georgian with Russian summary).Google Scholar
Kozlowski, J. K. 1970. The Upper Palaeolithic of Transcaucasus and the Near East. Part I. Prace komisyi archeologiczney PAN (oddzial w Krakowie) 9:14–124 (in Polish).Google Scholar
Kozlowski, J. K. 1972. The Upper Palaeolithic of Transcaucasus and the Near East. Part II. Swiatowit 33:7–47 (in Polish).Google Scholar
Kvavadze, E., Bar-Yosef, O., Belfer-Cohen, A., Boaretto, E., Jakeli, N., Matskevich, Z. & Meshveliani, T. 2009. 30 000-year-old wild flax fibers. Science 325(5946): 1359.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liubin, V. P. 1989. Palaeolithic of the Caucasus, in Boriskovski, P. I. (ed.) Paleolit Kavkaza i Severnoj Azii [The Palaeolithic of the Caucasus and northern Asia]: 9–142. Leningrad: Nauka (in Russian).Google Scholar
Meshveliani, T. 1989. About the early stages of the Upper Palaeolithic cultures in western Georgia. Sakartvelos sakhelmtsipo muzeumis moambe 90(B): 13–31 (in Georgian with Russian summary).Google Scholar
Meshveliani, T., Bar-Yosef, O., Belfer-Cohen, A., Djakeli, N., Kraus, A., Lordkipanidze, D., Tvalchrelidze, M. & Vekua, A. 1999. Excavations at Dzudzuana Cave, western Georgia (1996-98): preliminary results. Préhistoire Européenne 15:79–86.Google Scholar
Meshveliani, T., Bar-Yosef, O. & Belfer-Cohen, A. 2004. The Upper Palaeolithic in western Georgia, in Brantingham, P. J., Kuhn, S. L. & Kerry, K. W. (ed.) The Early Upper Paleolithic beyond western Europe: 129–43. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press.Google Scholar
Meshveliani, T., Bar-Oz, G., Bar-Yosef, O., Belfer-Cohen, A., Boaretto, E., Jakeli, N., Koridze, I. & Matskevich, Z. 2007. Mesolithic hunters at Kotias Klde, western Georgia: preliminary results. Paléorient 33(2): 47–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Navarro, C., Carrion, J. S., Navarro, J., Munuera, M. & Prieto, A. R. 2000. An experimental approach to the palynology of cave deposits. Journal of Quaternary Sciences 15:603–619.Google Scholar
Nioradze, M. G. & Otte, M. 2000. Paléolithique supérieur de Georgie. L'Anthropologie 104:265–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olszewski, D. I. & Dibble, H.L. (ed.). 1993. The Paleolithic prehistory of the Zagros-Taurus. Philadelphia (PA): University Museum Press.Google Scholar
Solecki, R. 1958. The Baradostian industry and the Upper Palaeolithic in the Near East. Ann Arbor (MI): University Microfilms International.Google Scholar
Tushabramishvili, D. M. 1984. The Palaeolithic in Georgia. Sakartvelos sakhelmtsipo museumis moambe 37(B): 5–27 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Tushabramishvili, D. M. & Vekua, A. K. 1982. Paleolit Gruzii. Chetvertichnaja sistema Gruzii [The Palaeolithic of Georgia. The Quaternary system of Georgia]. Tbilisi: Metsniereba (in Russian).Google Scholar
Tushabramishvili, N., Lordkipanidze, D., Vekua, A., Tvalcherlidze, M., Muskhelishvili, A. & Adler, D. S. 1999. The Palaeolithic rock-shelter of Ortvale Klde, Imereti region, the Georgian Republic. Préhistoire Européenne 15:65–77.Google Scholar
Vereshchagin, N. K. 1967. The mammals of the Caucasus: a history of the evolution of the fauna. Jerusalem: Israel Program for Scientific Translations.Google Scholar
Zamiatnin, S. N. 1957. The Palaeolithic of western Transcaucasus I: the Palaeolithic caves of Imeretia. Sbornik Muzeja antropologii i etnografii 17:432–99 (in Russian).Google Scholar