The paper presents the results of interdisciplinary research carried out at the Kobuleti Early Holocene site. Typological and use-wear analyses of stone artifacts helped to define the main branch of the economy of humans at the site. Palynological studies were conducted to reconstruct the paleoenvironment. The investigated plant spores proved that the climate in the Early Holocene was warm. Definition of an absolute date by means of the radiocarbon method (14C) represents an innovation conducted in the study of the Stone Age in Ajara.
Recently new investigations of Sosruko site have been conducted. Unfortunately, the materials of the site have not been interpreted in the proper way. The main task of the article is to clarify the origin of stone industries of the Sosruko complexes. We suggest that complexes of the Layers M1 and M2 are related to the Kobuleti Culture of the Transcaucasia. This cultural phenomenon appeared in beginning of the 10th millennium BC as a result of the migration of the carriers of the M’lefaat Culture from the Middle East. Transcaucasia was not the end point of the M’lefaatian migration. Its further expansion resulted to the appearance of the Kukrek Culture in the Steppe zone of Ukraine and Moldova. The common elements of this material culture include the usage of pressing flaking, the presence of bullet-like cores, backed bladelets, bilateral burins, and the sporadic usage of microburin technique for manufacturing of the truncated facetted points. Some of the late materials from the M1 layer are associated with the Darkveti culture of the Transcaucasus. This culture appeared at the beginning of Boreal. The migration of carriers of the Darkveti Culture to Eastern Europe, which started in the 8th millennium BC, led to formation of the Matveev Kurgan and Grebeniki Cultures in the basins of Don, Dnieper, South Bug and Dniester. The common elements of these three cultures are the presence of the flat one- or two-platform monofrontal cores for obtaining the pressing blades and bladelets, symmetric trapezes. The materials from the layers M3 and M4 of Sosruko site demonstrate complete similarity with the Shan-Koba Culture of the Final Pleistocene – Early Holocene. The connection of the Shan-Koba Culture with the Karein B Culture in the South-West of Asia Minor is also considered. We see the similar geometric complexes in both cultures, the presence of low trapezes, symmetric lunates, triangles. Carriers of both cultures use the microburin technique for geometric microliths manufacturing. The migration of the Asia Minor inhabitants began during Bølling interstadial. The migrants reached the Central Caucasus in Allerød. The migration flows at the end of Pleistocene and the beginning of Holocene were the prelude of the Neolithization processes of Eastern Europe and Transcaucasia. The Shan-Kobian migration started a succession of movements of the Near East and Middle East populations to the East Europe and to Caucasus. The migrations of the carriers of the M’lefaat (Kobuleti) and Darkveti cultures led to the appearance of the global zones of informational continuity (Cultural-Historical Regions) in the frames of which the Neolithic innovations were spread in the area. The materials from the Sosruko Grotto give us an opportunity to reveal the chronology of the very beginning phases of the Neolithization in Eastern Europe.
The issue of studying the global migration of the population of the Near and Middle East to the territory of Eastern Europe at the end of the Pleistocene and at the beginning of the Holocene is analyzed in the paper. At the turn of Pleistocene-Holocene the stone industries with similar characteristics in Iran, Iraq, Georgia and Ukraine one can observe. These industries are called M’lefaatian, Kobuletian, Kukrekian. These industries were characterized by using the pressing technique to produce blades, bladelets and microblades; using bladelets with abrupt retouch to make complex bone arrowheads. At the very end of the Pleistocene, the migration of the M’lefaatian population began. The stone industry of the first wave of migrants was associated with elements of the Zarzian industry. In the future, waves of M’lefaatian migrants poured innovative technologies related to the production of stone vessels, grooved tools, pottery into the territory of Western Georgia and Ukraine. The most important role in the development of Eastern European culture was the change in the funeral rite at the Boreal-Atlantic border, when the funeral traditions of M’lefaatian fell into the territory of Ukraine. The migration process ends with the transition to the Neolithic and to farming in the second half of 7th thousand BC. Analysis of the synchronous development of M’lefaatian, Kobuletian, Kukrekian allows us to conclude that the migration of the M’lefaatian population has been permanent in nature for 3—4 thousand years. Small population groups created a constant influx of population into the territory of Georgia and Ukraine. Some groups made shuttle migrations. All this created the conditions for a constant exchange of innovative technologies for the population of the Northern Black Sea Region and the Middle East. The result of this process was the transition of M’lefaatian migrants to a Neolithic lifestyle. The study of M’lefaatian migration creates the conditions for studying the patterns of transition to the Neolithic in the South Caucasus and Eastern Europe.
In the 1970–1980s the fieldwork in the Kobuleti Village revealed more than 30.000 artefacts associated with the Early Neolithic period. However, recent fieldwork in Kobuleti, carried out by the authors, demonstrated that the cultural layers of the site belong to the Early Holocene period. The stone industry of the site has indicated the use of blank removal. The conic and bullet shaped cores were used in order to get bladelets and microblades. The complex of flint and obsidian tools consists of numerous retouched blades, bladelets and microblades, burins, and chisels. There are series of bladelets and microblades with abrupt retouch. Generally speaking, the typology of the complex indicates that the site was used as a temporary hunting camp.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2025 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.