1. The Latest Neandertals of
the Southern Caucasus: New Data from the Recent Reexcavation of Ortvale Klde,
the Georgian Republic
Daniel S. Adler (Department of Anthropology, Harvard University), Nicholaz Tushabramishvili (Department of Archaeology, Georgian State Museum), and G. Bar-Oz
(Department of Anthropology, Harvard University)
The Middle Paleolithic record of the southern Caucasus documents the persistence of Neanderthal populations until approximately 35,000 years ago. Although research has been conducted here for many decades, our understanding of these archaic hominids and their relationship to populations in neighboring regions has suffered from a dearth of well-excavated, analyzed, and dated sites. The recent re-excavation, analysis, and dating of the Middle-Upper Paleolithic rockshelter of Ortvale Klde, located in western Georgia, has lead to a clearer understanding of Late Middle Paleolithic patterns of lithic reduction, land- use, and mobility. Preliminary analysis of lithic assemblages from this site demonstrate that Neanderthals shared more technological affinities with their neighbors to the south then they did with those located elsewhere. These and other data suggest that Neanderthals occupying this region were members of a larger prehistoric social and mating network demarcated by the Caucasus Mountains to the north and the Zagros and Taurus Mountains to the south. The chronometric dating of Ortvale Klde via AMS, TL, and ESR suggests that Neanderthal occupation of this region came to an abrupt end just prior to the onset of the Denekamp Interstadial. These last Neanderthal occupations were followed closely in time by the appearance of Upper Paleolithic industries.
2. Recent Archaeological
Research in the Khanuy River valley, central Mongolia
Francis Allard (Department of Anthropology,
University of Pittsburgh) and Jean-Luc
Houle (Department of Anthropology, Université de Montréal)
Initiated in 2001, The Khanuy Valley International Collaborative Project on
Early Nomadic Pastoralism in Mongolia aims to clarify the circumstances of the early
stages of nomadic pastoralism in Central Mongolia. The Khanuy river valley is known
for its impressive deer stone sites and stone built ritual/burial 'khirigsuur', one of which
the project has recently dated (by AMS) to the early first millennium BC The talk
presents the results of the 2001 Pilot Project, whose activities included excavations of
human burials, stone mounds and stone circles at one prominent khirigsuur, a full
coverage survey of a portion of the valley, interviews of local nomads, as well as the
mapping of a newly discovered Xiongnu cemetery. The talk considers the possible
pastoralist associations of the archaeological sites in the valley, the ritual nature of the
animal deposits, and the meaning of the striking structural consistency that exists among
the many khirigsuur. We also discuss the objectives of the upcoming 2002 field season,
which will include the initiation of a search for settlement evidence.
3. Sequences of signs:
Eurasian archaeology from a perspective of cultural semiotics
Gregory E. Areshian (Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California Los Angeles)
Cultural semiotics provides a methodology for the integration of local and microregional
approaches in archaeology as well as for an interdisciplinary synthesis of
archaeology, cultural anthropology, linguistics, art history, and folklore. The record of an
archaeological field project may be viewed as a reflection of a cultural metatext. The data
pertaining to the Bronze Age of Caucasia offer an opportunity for semiotic exploration.
The adornments of a jar from Getashen (ca. 1900-1750 BC), a cistern from Horoztepe
(ca. 2500-2000 BC), and a bowl from Khanlar (ca. 1500-1300 BC) depict a scene of
mediated pursuit during which stags were chased by wild goats followed by a pair of
wolves. Belonging to the Trialeti culture, the Getashen jar is associated with two
decorated silver goblets found in the Korukhtash (Trialeti) and Karashamb barrows. The
narrative scenes depicted on the goblets expand the semiotic sequence linking it to the
mythological cycle of ‘life-death-resurrection’. Such a reconstruction is verified by the
data from the Khanlar tombs where this sequence is represented by animal and human
remains. The comparison of this mythological narrative with linguistic and folkloric data
allows us to reconstruct a ritual- mythological metatext which finds itself embedded
within the Indo-European tradition.
4. Between the Steppe and
the Sown: Signs of Community in the Prehistoric Black Sea
Alexander A. Bauer (Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania)
During the Early Bronze Age in the Black Sea region, distinct ‘coastal cultures’
emerge that are often defined archaeologically as ‘variants’ of the better-known steppe
cultures to the north and agricultural communities to the south. Their proximity to the
Black Sea is rarely considered to indicate a maritime orientation, but rather happenstance.
It is argued in this paper, however, that these cultures’ location along the Black Sea
littoral is of central importance and suggests the development of an economy around the
maritime landscape/seascape, and including fishing, and sea-borne communication and
trade. While the evidence for interaction does not suggest an intensive trade in
commodities, it does suggest that an interaction network was developing along the Black
Sea littoral at this time. Taking inspiration from recent conceptualizations of culture as
locatable within contexts of social interaction and discourse, this study explores the
possibility that adaptation to the maritime environment and the long-distance
communication across it may have encouraged the development of a broader ‘seafaring
community’ with its own cultural practices. The material both distinct and common to
these Black Sea ‘coastal cultures’ can then be seen as signs at once reflecting and
maintaining these community bonds.
5. Pan-Regional Interaction
vs. Ecologically Induced Local Change: An Examination of the Rapid Transition
from the Late Neolithic to that of Paleo-Metal among Maritime Populations of
the Primorye Region of the Russian Far East
Jim Cassidy (Department of Anthropology, University of California Santa Barbara)
Archaeology is frequently faced with the need to reconcile existing data sets with
emerging theoretical perspectives. The reconstruction of historical and chronological
questions in Russian archaeology has often been addressed through the typological
systematization of major cultural elements. In contrast, questions that address highly
specific issues raised in cultural ecology demand the retrieval of qualitatively different
forms of data. A focus on the reconstruction of prehistoric climates, landscapes,
subsistence practices and settlement patterns requires the use of pre-selected fine- grained
field methods, and often the recovery of relevant ecofactual materials.
The transition from the Late Neolithic to a Bronze Epoch in the Primorye Region
of the Russian Far East has been a topic of debate for half a century. Traditional methods
of analysis have invoked models of pan-regional diffusion and migration to explain
widespread cultural changes between 4,000 and 3,500 years ago. This paper will explore
some of the strengths and weaknesses of these theoretical arguments as they pertain to
prehistoric coastal cultures of Primorye on the Sea of Japan. Data collected over the last
four field seasons pertaining to the local archaeology and ecology will be explored for
alternative explanations of perceived punctuated culture changes during this time period.
6. The Saka/Scythian Problem
Revisited: Lessons from Southeastern Kazakhstan
Claudia Chang (Department of Anthropology, Sweet
Briar College
The Eurasian steppe populations of the first millennium BC have been identified
by historians and archaeologists as the same Saka/Scythian military confederacies
described by the Greek historian Herodotus and from the inscriptions of Darius I at
Bisutun. Although little is known about the nomadic Iron Age populations of
Southeastern Kazakhstan, it is assumed that these prehistoric peoples were
Saka/Scythians, Yuezhi, and/or Wusun peoples. I question whether such textual accounts
best characterize the identity and life ways of the Iron Age pastoral populations of
Semirechye (the Ili River Basin). Our archaeological evidence from surveys and test
excavations suggests that the Iron Age people of Southeastern Kazakhstan from ca. 700
BC to 100 AD were agro-pastoralists or even farmers practicing cereal cultivation
(wheat, millet, and barley) in addition to animal husbandry. David Christian’s (2000)
hypothetical model asserting that the Silk Route had a trans-ecological function will be
tested using our recent archaeological data collected from 1994-2001 under the auspices
of the collaborative Kazakh-American Talgar Project.
Reference Cited:
Christian, David. 2000. Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History.
Journal of World History, Volume 2, pp. 1-16.
7. Paleoecological research
in southwestern Crimea
Carlos E. Cordova (Department of Geography,
Oklahoma State University) and Paul H.
Lehman (Department of Geography, University of Texas at Austin)
This paper presents the preliminary results of a current geoarchaeological study in
the Heraklean Peninsula and adjacent areas in southwestern Crimea. The purpose of this
study is to reconstruct the local landscapes during the different phases of the Holocene
based on palynological analyses in association with sediment and paleosol sequences.
Palynological analyses of deposits within the agricultural hinterland (Chora) of the
ancient city of Chersonesos provide information on the transformation of plant
communities in the Heraklean Peninsula during the Greek colonization (4th – 2nd centuries
BC) and later periods.
The most remarkable aspect shown by paleoecological data from dated sequences
in southwestern Crimea is that after ca. 7,500 years BP the region underwent a process of
landscape mediterranization, which was characterized by the arrival of numerous plant
species typ ical of Mediterranean climate. It is not clear yet whether this process occurred
through natural migration or human intervention. It is possible that landscape
mediterranization of southern Crimea was caused by a combination of three main factors:
(1) rapid warming occurred during the Atlantic paleoclimatic stage, (2) the refilling of the
Black Sea basin after the Great Flood, and (3) migration of human populations from areas
farther south.
8. Petroglyphs of the
Chinese northwest: Between religion and territory
Paola Demattè (Art History Department, Rhode Island School of Design)
This paper discusses major petroglyph sites in the Yinshan (Inner Mongolia)
and Helanshan (Ningxia Province) ranges, which were documented during a recent
survey. As archaeological remains indicate, these areas have been for millennia both
militarized borders and osmotic trading zones connecting the cultures the pastoral people
of Northern Asia and the Chinese world. From the Neolithic down to the later dynastic
phases (ca. XIX cent.), petroglyphs form a significant part of the material and symbolic
culture of the populations who at various times occupied this transitional zone.
Prehistoric rock engravings have often been perceived in the modern world as spiritual
manifestations, often with shamanistic overtones. By using newly gathered data, this
paper moves away from interpretations which see rock art as a wholly shamanistic
phenomenon, introducing territory and iconography as key elements for the
understanding of local geographies, cultural interactions, an the agencies of identity. The
location of the sites indicates that petroglyphs were next to travel routes and may have
served as territory markers and meeting paces. In addition, the scattering of marked rocks
in key places of the region, points to the possibility that petroglyphs were markers of
identity essential for a people who identified with these spaces, but were engaged in a
dialectic contention with the expanding agricultural world. The sense of identity can be
perceived also in the subject matter (wild and domesticated animals, hunting and herding
scenes, faces) which seems to emphasize a sense respect, or even pleasure, for pastoral
and nomadic life, thus apparently confirming the petroglyphs crucial role in the cultural
self-definition of these peoples.
9. Landscape, subsistence
and metallurgical production during the Bronze Age in the mining and
metallurgical complex of Kargaly (Southern Urals, Orenburg, Russia)
Pedro Díaz-del-Río (Department of Anthropology,
Northwestern University), Jose
Antonio López Sáez, Pilar López García, MªIsabel
Martinez Navarrete, Angel L.
Rodríguez Alcalde, Salvador Rovira Llorens, Juan M.
Vicent García, and Ignacio de
Zavala Morencos)
This contribution arises from a Russian-Spanish project directed by N. E.
Chernykh (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow). Chernykh thinks that Bronze Age
societies in Eurasia constitute 'Metallurgical Provinces', resulting from interactions in
which metallurgy is crucial due to the near absence of copper ore in extensive regions of
the continent.
Kargaly is the most important mining district of both the Bronze Age
Circumpontic and Euroasiatic Provinces. The Spanish members of the team investigate
both metallurgical technology and production and the environmental context and impact
of these activities.
Analytical methods show a primitive metallurgy. Smelting experiments have
evaluated the efficiency of copper recovery and charcoal consumption that feed
theoretical models of copper production and its environmental impact.
The paleoenvironmental research consisted of both sampling programs of archaeological
sites and natural deposits supported by radiocarbon dates and the contextualization of that
evidence by studying the present-day landscape.
The methodology places the practice of palynology within the framework of
Landscape Archaeology combining study of the pollen rain with mathematical modeling
of the landscape. To put it into practice we used modern methods of observation of the
Earth, such as satellite imagery, grounded in the use of Geographical Information
Systems (GIS) and global positioning (GPS) technology.
10. The Djungar Mountains
Archaeology Project
Michael Frachetti (Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania)
The Djungar Mountains form part of the southeastern border between the
Republic of Kazakhstan and Western China (Xinjiang). The mountain range boasts
elevations from 900 to nearly 4000 meters above sea level, with glacially fed rivers that
carve wide, grassy valleys from east to west. Ethnographically, Djungaria is host to
mobile pastoralists practicing vertical transhumance - seasonal migrations up and down
the grassy river corridors. Yet archaeologically, this region has only begun to be
seriously documented and studied. The Koksu River valley, located in the south of the
Djungar region, offers rich and abundant sources for archaeological investigations. The
valley contains hundreds of unrecorded burial kurgans, settlement complexes, and
thousands of ancient rock engravings dating from the Bronze Age (perhaps earlier?).
By combining state of the art GIS techniques with systematic field recovery in
this region, the Djungar Mountains Archaeology Project [DMAP] will provide a rich
archaeological data source for the study of pastoralism in the Eastern Eurasian Steppe
Zone, as well as pique new questions concerning the study of nomadic societies in
general. The primary objectives of the field survey are: 1) To produce a comprehensive
map of the archaeological landscape of the Koksu River Valley; 2) To establish a
scientifically based chronology for the Bronze Age of the Eastern Eurasian Steppe Zone;
and 3) To record and model the ways by which ecological and social strategies of Bronze
Age mobile pastoralists are impressed on the landscape, and to understand the degree of
mobility and temporal cycle of prehistoric societies in upland steppe regions.
11. Trade ceramic from Bohai
sites of Russian Primorye
E. I. Gelman
Until recently specialists in Far Fast glazed pottery and porcelain did not know
anything about Chinese trade ceramics, found to the north of China and Korea.
Nevertheless, during the past 50 years Russian archaeologists have excavated ancient
cities and settlements of the Bohai (698-926), Chin (1115-1234) and East Xia (1215-
1233) states in the territory of Russian Primorye. As a result of this research, collections
of trade ceramics, made in kilns in China and Korea at these time, were recovered.
This paper is concerned with to samples of Yueh ware, Ding ware and Xing ware
of the Tan period, found in Bohai state sites. There are at this time about 30 fragments of
Yueh ware, few samples of Ding ware and Xing ware. They were recovered during
excavations at seven sites: Kraskinskoye, Nikolaevskoye-II, Novogorgeevskoye,
Maryanovskoye, Aurovskoye and Gorbatka ancient walled towns and the
Novogordeevskoye and Sinie Skaly settlements. The Sinie Skaly site (on the coast of sea
Japan) is the eastern border of the diffusion of Chinese trade ceramics in Primorye. And
the northernmost point where these samples were found is Maryanovskoye ancient
walled town (basin of the Ussuri river).
All samples were studied in order to understand the technology of their
production. Petrography, chemical and zond analysis were used for investigation of body
and glaze.
The routes of the distribution China ceramics were trade roads, along rivers and
the coast. River roads were used later in the time of the Chin and Eastern Xia.
12. Sensing the Shadow Empire: New Light on the
Problem of the Khazar State
Irina Reznik Harris (Department of Archaeology, Boston University)
In the seventh-eighth century AD the territory of the NW Caspian Region
witnessed the appearance of the nomadic Khazar Empire, which lasted until the tenth
century AD. The Khazars were Turkish nomads who migrated from Central Asia and
occupied the territory between the Lower Volga and Daghestan. Although multiple
historical and geographic accounts of the Arabs, Persians, and Byzantines mention the
economic prosperity and military strength of the Khazar imperial state with its important
trade-center on the Lower Volga River, archaeologists have yet to present corresponding
archaeological evidence to confirm such information. So far archaeologists have had
little success in pinpointing the Kha zar element in the broad "Saltovo-Majaki
archaeological-cultural unity," which presumably corresponds to the remains of the
Khazar Empire. Most archaeological evidence of the "Saltovo-Majaki Culture" comes
from the Don Region. Such evidence does not conform to the information provided in
the aforementioned written accounts pertaining to the Empire's "core" in the NW Caspian
Region. The Khazar problem is aggravated by inadequate archaeological research in the
latter region. I would like to demonstrate how the application of anthropological method
to the historical record and the use of geographical methods (Remote Sensing and GIS) to
archaeological and environmental data can provide new explanations for the Khazar
problem.
13. The role of irrigation
in societal relations: A view from Urartu
Toby Hartnell (Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of
Chicago)
Irrigation has long been considered a hallmark of Urartian civilization and
recent survey and excavation in Turkey and Iran has greatly improved our archaeological
understanding of its implementation. Early Urartian kings proudly announced their
irrigation works and associated agricultural improvements in dedicatory inscriptions
scattered throughout the empire. Typically, modern scholarship has associated the
achievements of the empire with a domineering imperial court that formed the nexus of a
tightly regulated imperial economy. While such a state-centric view has often been touted
as the most sympathetic to the available historical sources, this paper will specifically
address the implications of recent archaeological and ethnographic investigations for our
understanding of other sectors of the food economy, with particular reference to the
possibility of other beneficiaries of the new agricultural improvements and the role of the
pastoral economy.
14. Xeroradiographic
Analysis of Kuro-Araxes Ceramics
MaryFran Heinsch (Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago)
The Kuro-Araxes horizon is defined in large part by a pottery type. This type
describes similarities within a limited range of ceramic attributes including surface luster,
vessel morphology and decoration. While these attributes are important indicators of a
number of production techniques, they represent an insufficient sample of the entire set of
social practices linked to the construction of these vessels. Xeroradiographic analysis
offers a more complete description of pottery attributes as it identifies methods by which
the walls of these vessels were constructed. To date, this technique has not been
employed in the description of Kuro-Araxes type pottery.
Recently, a small sample of Kuro-Araxes period pottery was submitted to
SCMRE for xeroradiographic analysis. This analysis was undertaken as a pilot project for a future anticipated project. Preliminary findings suggest that there is variation in the
construction of Kuro-Araxes wares that are typologically similar. Further, there is some
indication of overlap in production techniques between Kuro-Araxes wares and other
contemporary wares from the same sites. These early results suggest that a broader
examination of Kuro-Araxes wares will reveal greater variation within this type than was
earlier supposed, prompting re-interpretation of the social processes underpinning their
production.
15. The Megalithic Landscape
of the Mongolian Steppe: models for regional development during the Bronze and
Early Iron Age
William Honeychurch (Museum of Anthropology,
University of Michigan) and Chunag
Amartuvshin (Institute of History, Ulaanbaatar)
The Bronze and Early Iron Age landscape of the Mongolian steppe (13th-6th c.
BC) was marked by megalithic monuments known as "khirigsuurs" consisting of large
stone mounds surrounded by circular or rectangular stone enclosures. These features
have been recorded throughout the territory of Mongolia and southern Buriatiia and are
likely related to the kurgan cultures of Tuva and the Altai. Excavations and typological
analyses have provided evidence for the range of variability in khirigsuur mounds as well
as for their chronology, however their place in early steppe society is still a substantial
mystery. A recent full coverage survey in the Egiin Gol region of northern Mongolia and
a reconnaissance of two areas in the Mongolian Gobi have provided spatial data on the
distribution of khirigsuurs across these differentiated social and physical environments.
This paper presents a comparative spatial analysis of these datasets and suggests that the
khirigsuur mounds provide important evidence for the organization of early steppe
territories in relation to productive resources, ceremonialism, and the growth of local
systems of status marking. These patterns can best be explained as the result of local
processes occurring within a context of developing
regional interaction.
16. New research concerning
the so-called Maikop Treasure
Aleksandr Leskov (University of Pennsylvania Museum)
The so-called Maikop Treasure is the biggest archaeological collection in world
from the north cost of the Black Sea area and the Northern Caucasus (except Russia and
Ukraine). The earliest part of this collection dates from the 3rd millennium BC The latest
part dates from the 15th century AD. More than 2000 artifacts help us to understand the
history of the nomad tribes during 4500 years. Now this collection belongs to two
museums in Berlin and to two museums in the USA.
In my paper I would like to give information about the history of this collection
and thanks to new material from my excavations, I will suggest chronological limits for
each group of materials which belong to the Maikop treasure: 1. The Bronze Age (3rd-
2nd millennium BC), 2. The beginning of the Iron age (8th-7th centuries BC), 3. Scythian
times ( 6th, 5th, and 4th centuries BC), 4. Sarmation times (2nd-4th centuries AD), 5.
Middle Ages (7th-8th, 10th-11th, 14th -15th centuries AD). Toward the end I would like
to explain the importance of material from this wonderful collection.
17. Why Were There Siberian
Artifacts Inside the Ancient Dynastic Chinese Borders?
Katheryn M. Linduff (University of Pittsburgh)
As a student of Chinese art history and archaeology, I was amazed to find
materials that were clearly not Chinese well within the borders of early dynastic China
(Xia c. 2006 – 1550; Shang c. 1550 – 1050 BCE; Western Zhou c. 1050 – 771 BCE).
These materials were identified as southern Siberian in type and décor and their presence
in these early Chinese contexts had fueled debates such as those about the origins of
bronze production and the primacy of Siberia or China in that invention. Speculation
about the relationship between the two peoples essentialized ways of life: the
agricultural, sedentary and politically centralized peoples in China, and those in southern
Siberia where mobile herders were thought to have been roaming across great tracts of
open steppe. The ‘steppe and the sown’ model also alleged that these lifestyles were
exclusive, self-generating, and incompatible, and even the artifacts commissioned by
each set of patrons were looked upon as stemming from opposing traditions. Although
there are significant differences between the lifestyles and artifacts produced by each,
these peoples were frequently in contact with each other and the residue of that
interaction in the form of bronze artifacts resides in many archaeological settings
excavated in China over the past two decades. Why those materials were deposited in
such settings and what they say about the relationship between these peoples is what
interests me here.
Both ancient as well as modern authors have found convenient ways of framing
the relationship between peoples at the frontiers of the early Dynastic Chinese and those
to their north and west. The most common explanation for the large numbers of objects
of Siberian prototype in Chinese settings was that they were collected as war booty, such
as in the royal cemetery at Anyang, for instance, where they provided a show of power
and authority over a ‘foreign’ enemy. But even though the lifeways may be viewed as
exclusive, recent archaeological investigation in northern China suggests that the
supposed cultural, and even ecological, borders were far less rigid and hostile and far
more fluid than ancient and even modern authors have proposed. This paper suggests
that communication at the frontiers was not only frequent, but also opportunistic and
diverse in purpose. These relationships in the second and early first millennium BCE
depended especially on local economic, political and probably personal factors as will be
exemplified in these cases:
1. Diffusion of Ideas, Technology: Huoshaogou, Gansu. (c. 1900-c. 1600 BCE)
2. Surplus Extraction: Zhukaigou, Inner Mongolia. (c. 1500-1250 BCE)
3. Marriage Alliance: Anyang, Henan. (1250 – 1050 BCE)
4. Military Control/Ethnogenesis: Yuhuangmiao cemetery, Yanqing county, Beijing
district. (c. 8th – 5th c. BCE)
The presence of ‘outsider’ artifacts provided visual markers of and kept clear the
identity of non-Chinese peoples who occupied the frontiers of dynastic China in the
second and first millennia BCE. Likewise, the use of these ‘foreign’ artifacts in each
context would seem to underscore choices made by their owners and provided for them a
strategic political, occupational, economic or personal advantage within the context of a
society that was consciously constructing Chinese cultural homogeneity.
18. Problems Concerning the
Definition, Origin and Spatial-Temporal Correlation Between the Catacomb and
Kuro-Araxes "Cultures"
Rabadan Magomedov (Institute of History, Archaeology, and Ethnography,
Makhachkala, Dagestan)
This report consists of a diachronic comparison of two Eurasian Bronze Age
archaeological formations—the Catacomb and Kuro-Araxes "cultures", initially defined
respectively by V.A. Gorodtsov and B.A. Kuftin. The comparison reveals both individual
distinctions between these "cultures", and, more generally, features that unite them: the
Catacomb "culture" is known primarily from mortuary data, while the Kuro-Araxes
"culture" is known primarily from settlement data. However, both "cultures"—in terms of
the sizes of the areas they encompass, the presence of precisely defined local variants,
and also the complexities and ambiguities of their historical developments—cannot be
considered as simple archaeological cultures, but are better treated as Culture-Historical
Communities (or CHCs). Both these CHCs form part of the so-called Circumpontic
supercontact zone. The Catacomb CHC., which is connected to the northern arc of this
zone, is primarily characterized by a stockbreeding economy, while the Kuro-Araxes
CHC, which is located in the southern arc of the Circumpontic zone, is best known as an
early farming culture. The level of development of these "cultures" also closely relates to
the fact that they are not synchronous: the Catacomb CHC dates to the Middle Bronze
Age, and the Kuro-Araxes CHC basically is connected to the Early Bronze Age.
Questions concerning the origins of these cultures and their genetic relations are also very
complex. The correlation of these cultures and the archaeological cultures that preceded
them in the territories they occupied are not so clear to us, and this uncertainty is
reflected in the numerous hypotheses concerning the genetic origin of the Catacomb and
Kuro-Araxes "cultures". Some of these hypotheses are also closely connected to
nationalistic reconstructions of the ethnic histories of modern peoples. The author
provides a critical analysis of the various points of view related to the genesis of the
Catacomb and Kuro-Araxes CHCs and offers his own opinion on these issues.
19. The earliest human
occupation of Eurasia: A brief note on recent geoarchaeological research at
Dmanisi (Georgia)
Carolina Mallol (Department of Anthropology, Harvard University)
The Lower Paleolithic site of Dmanisi, located in the Kvemo-Kartli province of
the Georgian Republic, has yielded human remains dated to approximately 1.78 million
years ago. These finds represent the earliest evidence of human outside of Africa and the
first evidence of humans in Eurasia. The site, which occupies an area rich in
volcanogenic sediments, revealed a stratigraphic sequence consisting of tuffaceous,
loamy sands disposed in two units (A and B) separated by an erosional contact. Well preserved human remains, stone tools and complete bones of large animals, discovered
between 1991-2001, have been found throughout this sequence as well as within a
number of erosional gullies that crosscut the lower unit (A). Although the time range
represented by the Dmanisi sequence appears to be very narrow, there is not a clear
understanding of the site formation processes in terms of the agents of accumulation. The
remains could either be geogenic (a result of transport by water), or have been deposited
by carnivores or humans. This problem is being addressed by the combined study of
lithic and bone spatial distributions and the microscopic analyses of the archaeological
sediments. The results so far obtained suggest a non-anthropogenic agent of
accumulation.
20. Nomads and the State in
the Tsakahovit Plain, Armenia
Belinda H. Monahan (Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University)
Traditionally, relations between nomads and the state have been seen as a conflict in
which the state struggles to exert its control over the nomads, while the nomads strive to
remain autonomous or to overturn the state. The combatants in this struggle are
separated not only by subsistence strategies—sedentary agriculturalists on the side of the
state against the pastoral nomads, but also often by ethnicity and status, with the nomads
viewed as oppressed or marginalized by agriculturalists and the state. This model of
conflict between state and nomad does not seem to fit the situation in twelfth century BC
southern Caucasia. Emergent states in the Tsakahovit plain occupied fortresses atop
steep hills surrounding the plain, while much of the population controlled by these states
may have been pastoral nomads. This paper will explore the relationship between the
newly formed state and its inhabitants, examining the ways in which the state was
integrated into the pastoral economy, and the ways the state exerted authority over its
subjects.
21. Settlement Patterns and
Social Organization in the Copper Age of Northern Kazakhstan
Dr. Sandra Olsen (Carnegie Museum of Natural History)
Recent research at the settlement of Krasnyi Yar (3700-3100 BCE), northern
Kazakhstan, demonstrates that the Copper Age Botai culture developed a stable economy
with considerable social organization. The preceding Neolithic Atbasar people were
nomadic hunters, living in temporary camps or small family residences of two or three
houses. In contrast, the Botai occupied villages of 50 to over 150 houses. The three sites
that have been investigated are Botai, Krasnyi Yar, and Vasilkovka. Aerial photography
and remote sensing reveal that Botai communities consisted of concentrated rows of
uniformly- sized houses organized around open plazas. These large permanent settlements focused on a horse economy and lack evidence for agriculture. The Botai social organization and population density fit better with a model of horse hunting supported by horse herding than with hunting alone. The Bronze Age brings another shift in settlement patterns when pastoral nomadism begins in Kazakhstan. Nomadism arises from the introduction of domestic cattle and sheep. These herbivores cannot be sustained during winter months in northern Kazakhstan without fodder, so either agriculture or long
meridianal migrations became manditory with the advent of bovid husbandry. Evidence
for social organization in the Botai culture will be presented, emphasizing current
excavations at Krasnyi Yar.
22. Relationship Between
Eastern Anatolian High Plateau and Transcaucasia During The Middle Bronze Age:
In The Light of New Evidence
Aynur Özfirat (Yüzüncü Yil University, Kampüs-Van, Turkey
Among the Near Eastern Cultures represented by painted pottery in the early second
millennium BC one is particularly characteristic of Transcaucasia. Its spread into
Anatolia must be brought into discussion. All the material in the Turkish museums as
well as that from excavations and especially our survey reveal us as much as possible of
the archaeological identity of early second millennium BC on the Eastern Anatolian high
plateau. It is the western border f this culture, unknown through lack of excavation and
research, that remain in need of definition. A line drawn from Hakkari in the south
westward around the basin of Lake Van and northward through Mus, Erzurum and Artvin
might serve to limit the spread of this culture in the west with local characteristics like
Trialeti, Sevan-Uzerlik, Karmir Berd and Van-Urmia.
Just as in Transcaucasia our greatest puzzle here as well is that the great
majority of the finds from our survey come from large cemeteries which some of them
kurgans. But also there are some settlements. The most important traces of the painted
pottery culture under discussion here were located -as is typical of the neighboring
countries as well- in upland mountain pastures.
23. Investigations of the
technology and value of Bronze Age metalwork in Samara, Russia
David Peterson (University of Chicago), Pavel Kuznetsov (Institute for the History and
Archaeology of the Volga), and Oleg Mochalov (Institute for the History and
Archaeology of the Volga)
The Samara Bronze Age Metal Project was organized by archaeologists from the
University of Chicago and the Institute for the History and Archaeology of the Volga
(Samara, Russia), in order to investigate the links between the production, circulation,
and consumption of copper and copper-based artifacts, and how those activities
influenced developments in the technology and sociocultural valuations of metalwork
over the course of the Bronze Age (circa 3500 – 1000 BC) in the Samara oblast, within
the Middle Volga and Pre-Ural regions of central Russia. The goal of this research is an
account of long-term developments in one form of material culture—metal—not as the
passive byproduct of technological evolution, changes in style, or archaeological culture,
but as occurring instead within the dynamic relationship between metallurgy,
metalworking, and the use and significance of metal objects, in which changes in each
were linked to broader social transformations. This paper discusses the preliminary
results of an archaeological field survey in the Kamyshla raion of northeastern Samara
August 2001 for evidence of Bronze Age copper production, and an upcoming program
of intensive instrumental analyses of the materials and techniques that were used to make
metal artifacts collected by previous investigations.
24. Maritime Adaptation in
the Southern Part of the Russian Far East during Ancient Times
Alexander Popov (Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, Far Eastern State
University, Vladivostok)
Complex research strategies of archaeological sites in the Far East are rare
phenomena, especially research that includes paleo-ecological data. However, the
southern part of the Russian Far East is an area of great diversity in climate, biology,
geology, and geo- morphological structure, and it is very important that these processes be considered. This focus can be especially valuable in the analysis of littoral areas where
ancient people were impacted by processes of sea level fluctuation and tectonic
movement in their settlement patterns. It was such special natural conditions that
influenced ancient populations who lived in the southern part of the Russian Far East.
This presentation will focus on investigations into the natural conditions and causative
factors that influenced the formation of the maritime adapted Boisman Neolithic culture
(7,500 – 5,000 years BP) and the Yankovsky Early Iron Age culture (2,900
– 2,300 years BP). Additionally, this paper will address some of the reasons
pertaining to why ancient populations abandoned the exploitation of marine resources in
this region. This research is the result of multi-component and multi- level investigations
in the Boisman-2 site through the joint investigations of Russian, American and Japanese
researchers over the last five years.
25. Pastoral Ecologies and
Economies During the Late Bronze Age in the Middle Volga Region, Russia
Laura Popova (Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago)
There have been few archaeobotanical studies that have focused upon the Late
Bronze Age (1,700 - 1,000 BC) in the middle Volga region, Russia. Without a more
complete understanding of the paleobotanical record, the nature of the economies and
ecologies of Late Bronze groups in Russia will be left to speculation. This conference
paper will call for a reformulation of archaeobotanical research in Russia that focuses on
a broader range of questions and embraces a larger corpus of paleobotanical and
paleoecological techniques.
The economy of Late Bronze Age groups (the Srubnaya archaeological
complex) in the Eastern European Steppe is usually described as a complex mixture of
stock breeding and farming, more settled in some steppe regions and more nomadic in
others. The few archaeobotanical studies that have been conducted in Russia dealing
with the Late Bronze Age have mostly focused on how groups have adapted to a specific
ecological niche (presence or absence of farming, and seasonality of movements) and
how that adaptation has changed their technological level. By focusing on logistic
mobility within and between particular landscapes and places, and strategic manipulation
of different resources, concepts of cultural ecology and culture history will be confronted.
26. Cultural transformation
in the Black Sea Steppe between Eneolithic and Bronze Age: migrations or
economic changes?
Yuri Rassamakin
The transition from the Eneolithic to the Bronze Age in the Black Sea Steppe
(second half of the IV Mill.BC – beginning of the III Mill.BC) ca be determined as a
period of the formation of the Yamnaya Cultural- Historical Unity (according to N.Ya.
Merpert). The uniformity of the burial ritual and material culture in the steppe and foreststeppe
regions from Donau to Ural is characteristic for this huge unity. The basis of the
economic of the Yamnaya Unity population was the semi-nomadism or nomadism
according to opinion of many scholars.
The existence of many local cultural groups or cultures (Dereivka, Kvityana,
Lower Mikhailovka, Usatovo, Konstantinovsk, Repin Cultures etc.) is typical for the Late
and Final Eneolithic in the Pontic Steppe (befor formation of the Yamnaya Unity). We
can speak about mixed economic for these local cultures with different types of the
animal husbandry, agriculture, hunting and fishing, river bank gathering. The local
ecological features on the Donau, Dnieper, Don and influences from the neighbouring
agricultural societies (the Cucuteni-Tripolye Culture and the Maykop-Novosvobodnaya
Unity) have determined the proportions of the different parts within this mixed economic.
The analysis of the archaeological materials allows to believe the cultural formation of
the new Early Bronze system (the Yamnaya Unity) was not a result of the active nomad
migrations from the East (Volga or Caspian steppe area), as many researchers are writing.
It was an adaptive transformation of the Late Eneolithic local economic systems under
influence of the changed ecological factors (increase in aridity). This adaptation needed
the development of more mobile forms of the animal herding and stimulated the creation
of the more similar economic systems between different regions. As result the cultural
similarity was formed which we know as the Yamnaya Cultural-Historical Unity.
27. Examining the landscape
across divides: new approaches to the Greek colonization of the Black Sea
Jane Rempel (Interdepartmental Program in Classical Art and Archaeology, University of
Michigan)
As classical archaeology as a whole matures and embraces theoretical and
methodological approaches from other disciplines, the north coast of the Black Sea has
become a microcosm of this evolution, especially as it relates to investigations of
landscape. The rural territory of the ancient Greek colonies in this region has been the
focus of considerable research for the past 50 years, including that of more recent
international collaborations. Current investigations, however, face two main obstacles.
The first is relatively straightforward and methodological: the ‘archaeological maps’ that
have been created through intensive non-systematic surveys by regional experts are
detail-rich but idiosyncratic. The marrying of these valuable but opaque data sets with
the systematic imperatives of archaeological survey and spatial analysis can be
problematic. The second obstacle is more pernicious, and stems from theoretical lacunae
that have plagued classical archaeology. Research in this colonial landscape has
traditionally focused on locating Greek settlements and understanding the organization of
their territories; evidence fo r non-Greek occupation of the landscape has received much
less attention and is most often treated separately. New modes of considering this
landscape are clearly in order, and this challenge has been accepted in some new research
in the region. This paper examines these new approaches, both methodological and
theoretical, assesses their victories and limitations, and suggests future directions for
research.
28. Over the mountains and
through the grass: visual information as “text” for the “textless”
Karen S. Rubinson (Department of Anthropology, Barnard College)
On the steppe and in Caucasia, objects which appear to illustrate elements of these
cultures without writing receive great attention and are used to explain many areas of
cultural activity, including local developments and international relationships. This
process is not unique to Eurasia, but it is generally a fundamental element of discussion
and analysis of cultures in these areas, if and when objects decorated with human and
animal images have been excavated.
Winter, Marcus, Davis, and Conkey have effectively framed and advanced the
discussion of art historical analysis as text within the ancient world. They have noted,
implicitly or explicitly, that the known historical/cultural relationships affect both the
description of style and the understanding of it. In the steppe and Caucasia, the
examination and explanation of objects decorated with imagery seems often to depend on
ones view-point; a classic example of this is the dating of the material from Pazyryk by
those who give primacy to Chinese data vis-à-vis those who have studied West Asian art
and archaeology. In this paper, I will try to further systematize the approach to looking at
visual representation on objects with the hope of making the process of description and
explanation less subjective.
The paper will address the following questions: why do we trust visual similarities?; what
are the assumptions we make about the process of visual comparison?; should we treat
visual similarities between materials of cultures which are physically and/or
chronologically proximate differently from visual similarities between materials of
cultures which are physically and/or chronologically distant?; what are the relative
worths of style and iconography in understanding cultural interaction?
29. Before Argishti: The
roots of complex societies in Caucasia as seen from the Tsakahovit Plain,
Armenia
Adam T. Smith (Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago)
The primary impediments to an archa eological account of the roots of complex societies
in Caucasia have been an underdeveloped sense of the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age sociopolitical
traditions and a reluctance to theorize their historical relationships to better
known regional successor polities (e.g., Urartu, Colchis, Iberia, Armenia). In the absence
of systematic investigations of the pre-Urartian roots of political authority, social
hierarchy, and economic and ideological production, complexity in the region has too
often been read as an import to the region rather than the result of enduring
autochthonous processes and local approaches to decision- making. This paper will
discuss the origins of complex societies in Caucasia in reference to a regional survey
conducted in the Tsakahovit Plain of western Armenia in 1998 and 2000. These
investigations have been focused on defining the scale and scope of Late Bronze Age
polities through analyses of both the shifting landscape associated with the emergence of
new political formations and the transformation of patterns of resource exploitation and
exchange. The results of systematic survey and test excavations will be discussed in
reference to ongoing sourcing studies of both Late Bronze Age obsidians and ceramics.
30. Innovation, Change and
Cont inuity: Considering the Agency of Rusa II in the
Production of 7th century
Urartian Art
Tugba Tanyeri-Erdemir (Department of Archaeology, Boston University)
In the 7th century BC, the Urartian kingdom appears to have experienced a
period of artistic revival under the rule of Rusa II (c. 685-645 BC). This dynamic king
seems to be responsible for the building of five major citadels located in the modern day
countries of Armenia, eastern Turkey, and northwestern Iran. Archaeological evidence
collected in the past few decades from sites built by Rusa II-- namely Karmir-Blur,
Adilcevaz, Bastam and Ayanis-- along with a better understanding of the already
excavated material from Toprakkale suggests that the material culture produced during
the reign of this monarch was considerably different from and more innovative than his
predecessors. There appears to be a certain change in the quantity and quality of the
artistic production in this period.
This paper aims to investigate Rusa II's agency in bringing about this change
and how he might have used material culture as an active component in the renewal,
reproduction, and modification of his rule. Through a stylistic and iconographic analysis
of the material culture, I will be examining how artistic productio n was instrumental in
constructing his legitimacy and authority.
31. Contexts of Complexity:
Metallurgy in Early Bronze Age Transcaucasia
Laura Anne Tedesco (Department of Anthropology, New York University)
Metallurgy, its origins and development, is of long-standing interest to
archaeologists examining emergent complex civilizations of Southwest Asia and Europe.
The archaeological record of metallurgy, as production debris or finished artifacts, is
consistently and effectively employed for addressing questions of craft specialization, for
understanding hierarchical and heterarchical social structures, and for ascertaining metals'
use in social and economic exchange. This project investigates the copper-base
metallurgy of Transcaucasia during the Early Bronze Age (c. 3500 - 2000 BCE) with the
aim to characterize metallurgy's relative importance as an indicator of social and
economic complexity in the region.
The Caucasus have long been admired as a metallurgical heartland in
archaeological literature of the West, yet very little of the vast body of supporting data
has been considered in Western models. This project examines a portion of the existing
corpus of copper-alloy artifacts' elemental analyses conducted by Russian, Armenian,
Azerbaijani, and Georgian specialists. While building off of the available data, this
project, however, brings a second generation of analysis to the table. Through the
analytical techniques of metallography, X-Ray Fluoresence and SEM microprobe,
original data will be presented regarding manufacturing sequences, alloying techniques,
and ore sourcing on a corpus of 25 previously unexamined Early Bronze Age artifacts.
Taken together, these data are drawn upon to support a model characterizing the social
and economic significance of metallurgy for Transcaucasia.
32. Resource Movements on
the Tsakahovit Plain: A New Model of Late Bronze Age Politica Organization in
Southern Caucasia (Results of Ceramic Analysis, Project ArAGATS)
Tiffany Thompson (Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago)
Prior to the rise of the Urartian Empire in southern Caucasia and eastern Anatolia,
Late Bronze Age polities of unknown name, size, or duration flourished in the highlands
and produced a landscape rich in archaeological remains. These complex polities are the
subject of the joint Armenian-American research Project ArAGATS (Archaeology and
Geography of Ancient Transcaucasian States) which seeks to understand the roots and
forms of socio-political complexity in pre-Urartian Transcaucasia with an emphasis on
local traditions and developments. The last two field seasons of Project ArAGATS
(1998, 2000) have focused on the Tsakahovit Plain in western Armenia and have
consisted of a systematic survey of the foothills surrounding the plain and excavations of
a small number of burials and test soundings in the three of the large Late Bronze Age
fortress centers Tsakahovit, Gegharot, and Hnaberd. Preliminary findings of Project
ArAGATS indicate that the Late Bronze Age polity/polities that inhabited the Tsakahovit
Plain not only transformed the landscape but also manipulated patterns of resources
exchange and access. Though the complex social, economic and political system of the
Tsakahovit Plain in the Late Bronze Age has only begun to be sketched, ceramic analysis
has helped us to begin framing an outline for the relationships among (or between) the
political centers of the plain.
33. Changing of geographic
environment and marine resources exploitation of Middle Holocene in the Peter
the Great Bay
Yuri E. Vostretsov (Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the People of
the Far East, Vladivostok)
Cultural evolution of prehistoric population in the coastal zones of different
regions of the world sometimes show similarity of reactions to environment changes.
Several phases of environmental dynamics in coastal areas may be delineated in
connection with marine resource exploitation and cultural traditions. The first phase
covering the interval from 10,000 to 6500-6000 y BP, was intensive rise of sea level. This
phase is characterized by a relativity linear increase in the attraction of coastal zone for
occupation.
The second phase covers interval from 6500 to 5000 y BP. It was second part of
climatic optimum, when there were the most productivity and favorable conditions for
living on the coast. That phase is characterized by lagoon and bay adaptations and
exploitation of marine resources in the Peter the Great bay and over the region of the sea
of Japan. At the peak of marine transgression, the Boisman archaeological tradition, the
local and chronological variant of the comb- impressed ceramic tradition of the Western
part of the sea of Japan was expanding.
The available data make it possible to reconstruct a complicated technological
complex oriented toward exploitation of a wide range of resources in highly productive
areas of the coast, such as lagoons and shallow bays connected with estuaries.
The third phase covers interval from 5000 to 2300 y BP, when relative
stabilization of sea level close to the modern one and straightening coast line took place.
It is characterized by shifting of subsistence systems from lagoon and bay resources
exploitation to the open sea and the appearance of specialized use of marine resources
and possible the appearance of fox millet cultivation. It should be noted that the
prevalence of mollusk gathering was connected this the peak of marine transgression and
the beginning marine regression in the Middle Holocene.
Demographic data such as the increase in the number of coastal sites, widening of
exploited niches, as well as the increase in the number of dwellings, at the sites and the
area of these dwellings testify to a greater adaptive success of Zaisanovsky and late
Yankovsky groups. This success was based on the change to a more specialized fishing
and the slow advance of agriculture.
The fourth phase beginning near 2300 y BP and connected with sharp fall of sea
level, which destroyed marine economies throughout the of the sea of Japan, and the
beginning of the domination of cultivation economies.
It is impotant to note the similarity of ecological situations about 4700 y BP and
2300 y BP and the socio-cultural consequence connected with destruction of the marine
economies, and appearance of new cultural groups with new agricultural subsistence
systems.
34. Russian Far East in
cultural interactions process in Eurasia during Neolithic and Bronze Age (in
light of ceramics studying)
Irina S. Zhushchikhovskaya (Institute of History, Archaeology & Ethnography of Peoples
of Far East, Far Eastern Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok)
1. Western part of Primorye region located within the limits of Russian Far East is
bordering with “steppe corridor”- most important Eurasian road of peoples’ movement in
the past. Archaeological records of Late Neolithic and Paleometallic period of Primorye
region give the evidences of probable two stages of cultural interactions between the
habitants of Russian Far East and the population of more western continental regions of
Eurasia.
2. First stage corresponds to Late Neolithic and is represented by the ceramics of
Zaisanovka culture’s sites located in western and south-western Primorye region and
dated about the middle of 2nd mil. BC. Complex of technological, morphological and
design features has close analogues in the ceramics of Andron cultural community of
Bronze age of south-eastern Siberia and in the ceramics of some Late Neolithic sites of
Manchuria. Research data allow to suppose that western Primorye region was marginal
eastern zone of cultural traditions distributed over vast area.
3. Second stage corresponds to Paleometallic period, Bronze age of the end of
2nd – first half of 1st mil. BC. Ceramics tradition of Bronze age’s sites was of imported
origin in Primorye region. Probably it may be connected with the traditions of Bronze
age’s cultures of south-western Siberia. This is confirmed by the data of bronze items
analysis.
35. Perspectives on
Chalcolithic Turkmenistan: The Global and the Local in the Kopet Dag
Lauren Zych (Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago)
In the early third millennium BC, small- scale villages were scattered along the
foothills of the Kopet Dag Mountains in Turkmenistan. Within the local chronology,
these sites belong to the third period of the Namazga sequence, and yet they play an
important role in larger processes occurring simultaneously in the greater Near East.
Historically, much emphasis has been placed on evidence for interaction with
neighboring Iran and Baluchistan, and as a result internal transformations and social
changes have been considered only in relation to external processes. Attaining a more
balanced approach requires a reorientation towards the local. Developing new questions
with a new perspective will bring greater depth of understanding to the study of this
archaeological culture.