Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T07:24:42.010Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The chalcolithic of the Near East and south-eastern Europe: discoveries and new perspectives from the cave complex Areni-1, Armenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2012

Gregory E. Areshian ,
Boris Gasparyan ,
Pavel S. Avetisyan ,
Ron Pinhasi ,
Keith Wilkinson ,
Alexia Smith ,
Roman Hovsepyan  and
Diana Zardaryan
Gregory E. Areshian
Affiliation:
1Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California Los Angeles, 308 Charles E. Young Drive North, A210 Fowler Building/Box 951510, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1510, USA (Author for correspondence, email: [email protected]; [email protected])
Boris Gasparyan
Affiliation:
2Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, 15 Charents Str., Yerevan 0025, Armenia
Pavel S. Avetisyan
Affiliation:
2Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, 15 Charents Str., Yerevan 0025, Armenia
Ron Pinhasi
Affiliation:
3Department of Archaeology, University College Cork, Connolly Building, Cork, Ireland
Keith Wilkinson
Affiliation:
4Department of Archaeology, University of Winchester, Winchester SO22 4NR, UK
Alexia Smith
Affiliation:
5Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, 354 Mansfield Road, Storrs, CT 06269-2176, USA
Roman Hovsepyan
Affiliation:
2Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, 15 Charents Str., Yerevan 0025, Armenia
Diana Zardaryan
Affiliation:
2Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, 15 Charents Str., Yerevan 0025, Armenia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The archaeological exploration of a cave in the southern Caucasus revealed evidence for early social complexity, ritual burial and wine-making in the early fourth millennium. The marvellous preservation of wood, leather and plants offers a valuable contrast to the poorer assemblages on contemporary tell sites. The authors make the case that the Areni-1 cave complex indicates connections between the urbanisation of early Mesopotamia and the Maikop culture of south Russia.

Keywords

CaucasusArmeniaChalcolithicfourth millennium BCMaikopUrukcavestoragewine-makingpreserved shoe
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 86 , Issue 331 , March 2012 , pp. 115 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2012

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

Abdi, K., Biglari, F. & Heydari, S.. 2002. Islamabad Project 2001: test excavations at Wezmeh Cave. Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan 34: 171–94.Google Scholar
Andreeva, M. V. 1977. Kvoprosu ojuzhnykh svjazjakh maikopskoj kul'tury. Sovetskaja Arkheologija 1: 50–55.Google Scholar
Areshian, G.E. 1991. Adabluri peghumner, E, in Tiratsian, G. (ed.) Hayastani Hanrapetut'yunum dashtayin hnagitakan ashkhatank'neri ardyunk'nerin nvirvac gitakan nstashrjan, 1989-1990 (Concise Reports of the Conference Devoted to the Results of Archaeological Fieldwork in Armenia, 1989-1990): 8–11.Yerevan: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of Armenia.Google Scholar
Areshian, G.E. 1996. Haykakan leŕnashkharhi ĉartarapetut‘yunE neolit’-ēneolit'yan darashrjanum, in Areshian, G. E., Ghafadaryan, K. K., Hovhannisyan, K. L. & Sahinyan, A. A. (ed.) Haykakan ĉartarapetut'yan patmut'yun: 19–32. Yerevan: Gitut'yun Press.Google Scholar
Buikstra, J. E. & Ubelacker, D. E.. 1994. Standards for data collection from human skeletal remains. Fayetteville (AR): Arkansas Archaeological Survey.Google Scholar
Burton-Brown, T. 1951. Excavations in Azarbaijan, 1948. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Burton-Brown, T. 1979. Kara Tepe. Woodstock: West End House.Google Scholar
Djavakhishvili, A. I. 1973. Stroitel'noe delo i arkhitektura poselenij Juzhnogo Kavkaza v V-III tys. do n. e. Tbilisi: Metsniereba Press.Google Scholar
Dyson, R. H. 1985. Comments on Hissar painted red ware, in Huot, J.-L., Yon, M. & Calvet, Y. (ed.) De l'Indus aux Balkans: recueil à la mémoire de Jean Deshayes. Paris: Editions Recherche sur les civilizations.Google Scholar
Fazeli, H., Coningham, R.A.E. & Batt, C. M.. 2004. Cheshmeh-Ali revisited: towards an absolute dating of the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic of Iran's Tehran Plain. Iran 42: 13–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fazeli, H. N. & Sereshti, R. A.. 2005. Social transformation and interregional interaction in the Qazvin Plain during the 5th, 4th, and 3rd millennia BC. Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan 37: 7–26.Google Scholar
Ghirshman, R. M. 1938. Fouilles de Sialk près de Kashan, Volueme 1 (Musée du Louvre, Département des Antiquités Orientales, Série Archéologique 4). Paris: Paul Geuthner.Google Scholar
Henrickson, E. F. 1985. An updated chronology of the Early and Middle Chalcolithic of the Central Zagros highlands, western Iran. Iran 23: 63–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henrickson, E. F. 1989. Ceramic evidence for cultural interaction between the ‘Ubaid tradition and the Central Zagros highlands, western Iran, in Henrickson, E. & Thuesen, I. (ed.) Upon this foundation: 368–98. Copenhagen: Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Museum Tusculanum Press.Google Scholar
Hovsepyan, R. & Willcox, G.. 2008. The earliest finds of cultivated plants in Armenia: evidence from charred remains and crop processing residues in pisé from the Neolithic settlements of Aratashen and Aknashen. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 17: 63–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ivanov, I. & Avramova, M.. 2000. Varna necropolis: the dawn of European civilization (Treasures of Bulgaria 1). Sofia: Agat'o Publishers.Google Scholar
Ivanova, M. 2007. The chronology of the ‘Maikop culture’ in the north Caucasus: changing perspectives. Aramazd (Armenian Journal of Near Eastern Studies) 2: 7–39.Google Scholar
Jacquat, C. & Martinoli, D.. 1999. Vitis vinifera L.: wild or cultivated? Study of grape pips found at Petra, Jordan: 150 BC-AD 40. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 8: 25–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiguradze, T. & Sagona, A.. 2003. On the origins of the Kura-Araxes cultural complex, in Smith, A. & Rubinson, K. (ed.) Archaeology in the borderlands: investigations in Caucasia and beyond (Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Monograph 47): 38–94. Los Angeles (CA): Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.Google Scholar
Korenevskij, S. N. 2009. Poselenie eneoliticheskoj epokhi Predkavkaz'ja, Jasenevaja Poljana arkheologicheskoe nasledie P. A. Ditlera, in Arkheologija Adygei: 45–83. Maikop: Poligraf-Jug Press.Google Scholar
Korenevskij, S. N. & Lovpache, N. G.. 2009. Pogrebenie eneoliticheskoj epokhi v Unakozovskoj peschere predgornoj Adygei, in Arkheologija Adygei: 84–91. Maikop: Poligraf-Jug Press.Google Scholar
Kroll, S. 1990. Der Kultepe bei Marand. Eine chalkolithische Siedlung in Iranisch-Azarbaijan. Archaeologische Mitteilungen aus Iran 23: 59–71.Google Scholar
Kruc, W. A. 1994. ‘Osiedla-giganty’ oraz niekotóre problemy demograficizne kultury Trypolskiej. Archeologia Polski 39(1-2): 7–30.Google Scholar
Kushnareva, K.K.H. 1997. The southern Caucasus in prehistory: stages of cultural and socioeconomic development from the eight to the second millennium BC (University Museum Monograph 99). Translated by Michael, H. N.. Philadelphia (PA): University Museum, University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Levy, T. E. 2007. Journey to the Copper Age: archaeology in the Holy Land. San Diego (CA): San Diego Museum of Man.Google Scholar
Lyonnet, B. 2000. La Mésopotamie et le Caucase du Nord au IVe et au début du IIIe millénaire av. n. è.: leurs rapports et les problèmes chronologiques de la culture de Majkop. Etat de la question et nouvelles propositions, in Marro, C. & Hauptmann, H. (ed.) Chronologies des pays du Caucase et de l'Euphrate aux IVe -IIIe millénaires (Varia anatolica 11): 299–320. Paris: Institut françis d'etudes anatoliennes d'Istanbul.Google Scholar
Lyonnet, B. 2007. La culture de Mäkop, la Transcaucasie, l'Anatolie orientale et le Proche-Orient: relations et chronologie, in Lyonnet, B. (ed.) Les cultures du Caucase (VIe IIIe millénaires avant notre ère): leurs relations avec le Proche-Orient: 133–61. Paris: CNRS.Google Scholar
Majidzadeh, Y. 1981. Sialk III and the pottery sequence at Tepe Ghabristan: the coherence of the cultures of the Iranian central plateau. Iran 19: 141–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moorey, P.S.R.. 1988. The Chalcolithic hoard from Nahal Mishmar, Israel, in context. World Archaeology 20: 171–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munchaev, R. M. 1975. Kavkaz na zare bronzovogo veka. Moscow:Nauka.Google Scholar
Munchaev, R. M. 1994. Maikopskaja Kul'tura, in Kushnareva, K. & Markovin, V. (ed.) Rannjaja i srednjaja bronza Kavkaza: 158–225. Moscow: Nauka.Google Scholar
Narimanov, I. H., Akhundov, T. I. & Aliev, H. G.. 2007. Leylatepe: settlement, tradition, a stage in ethno-cultural history of south Caucasus. Baku: National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography.Google Scholar
Schick, T. (ed.) 1998. The cave of the warrior: a fourth millennium burial in the Judean desert (Israel Antiquities Authority 5). Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherratt, A. 1997. Economy and society in prehistoric Europe: changing perspectives. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Tala'i, H. 1983. Stratigraphical sequence and architectural remains at Ismailabad: the central plateau of Iran. Archaeologische Mitteilungen aus Iran 16: 57–68.Google Scholar
Wright, H. T., Neely, J. A., Johnson, G. A. & Speth, J.. 1975. Early fourth millennium developments in southwestern Iran. Iran 13: 129–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar