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Highland fortress-polities and their settlement systems in the southern Caucasus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 August 2014

Emily Hammer
Emily Hammer*
Affiliation:
*The Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, 1155 East 58th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Recent survey work in western Azerbaijan has revealed that hilltop fortresses of the Bronze Age and Iron Age may have been parts of larger walled complexes and could have functioned as the urban centres of small independent polities. On the Şərur Plain long lengths of stone wall link the major fortress Oğlanqala it to its smaller neighbour Qızqala 1, with evidence of a substantial settlement on the lower ground between the two. The southern Caucasus lies beyond the core area of Near Eastern states but these new discoveries suggest that major centres of power arose here, controlling both the fertile plains and strategic trade routes through mountainous terrain.

Keywords

AzerbaijanUrartuOğlanqalaQızqala 1Middle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeEarly Iron Agestate formation
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 88 , Issue 341 , September 2014 , pp. 757 - 774
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2014

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