A bioarchaeological investigation of three late Chalcolithic pits at Ovçular Tepesi (Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan)

Berthon, Rémi; Decaix, Alexia; Kovács, Zsófia Eszter; Neer, Wim Van; Tengberg, Margareta; Willcox, George; Cucchi, Thomas

doi:10.1179/1749631413y.0000000005

Cited by 20 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Each of them was approximately 60 cm in diameter and more than 150 cm deep. In total 800 litres of sediments have been collected, floated, and sorted with a 1 mm‐mesh (Berthon et al ., in press; Kovács et al ., in press). The filling of the pits, and indirectly the small mammals remains, have been radiocarbon dated between 4350 and 3970 calibrated years BC.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the trail of Neolithic mice and men towards Transcaucasia: zooarchaeological clues from Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan)

Cucchi

Kovács

Berthon

et al. 2013

Biol J Linn Soc Lond

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Transcaucasia comprises a key region for understanding the history of both the hybrid zone between house mouse lineages and the dispersal of the Neolithic way of life outside its Near Eastern cradle. The opportunity to document the colonization history of both men and mice in Transcaucasia was made possible by the discovery of mouse remains accumulated in pits from a 6000‐year‐old farming village in the Nakhchivan (Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan). The present study investigated their taxonomy and most likely dispersal path through the identification of the Mus lineage to which they might belong using a geometric morphometric approach of dental traits distances between archaeological and modern populations of the different Mus lineages of South‐West Asia. We demonstrate that the mouse remains trapped in the deep storage pits of the dwelling belong to the Mus musculus domesticus from the Near East, with dental shapes similar to current populations in Northern Syria. These results strongly suggest that the domesticus lineage was dispersed into Transcaucasia from the upper Euphrates valley by Neolithic migration, some time between the 7th and 5th millennium BC, providing substantial evidence to back up the scenario featuring near‐eastern stimuli in the emergence of agriculture in the South Caucasus. The domesticus mitochondrial DNA signature of the current house mouse in the same location 5000 years later, as well as their turnover towards a subspecies musculus/castaneus phenotype, suggests that early domesticus colonizers hybridized with a later musculus (and maybe castaneus) dispersal originating from south of the Caspian Sea and/or Northern Caucasia. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the trail of Neolithic mice and men towards Transcaucasia: zooarchaeological clues from Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan)

Cucchi

Kovács

Berthon

et al. 2013

Biol J Linn Soc Lond

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“…(Decaix et al 2016) and the fifth millennium B.C.E. (Berthon et al 2013) in Azerbaijan, and in the third to second millennia B.C.E. in Syria, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan (Willcox 1991b).…”

Section: Arboriculture and Cash Crops At Paykendmentioning

confidence: 99%

Qarakhanids on the Edge of the Bukhara Oasis: Archaeobotany of Medieval Paykend

et al. 2021

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The urban center of Paykend was an exchange node just off the main corridor of the Silk Road in the Bukhara Oasis on the edge of the hyperarid Kyzyl–Kum Desert. The city was occupied from the end of 4 century B.C.E. to the mid–12 century C.E.; our study focuses on the Qarakhanid period (C.E. 999 – 1211), the last imperial phase of urban occupation at Paykend before its abandonment. In this study, we present the results of an analysis of archaeobotanical remains recovered from a multifunction rabat, which appears to have comprised a domicile, military structure, center of commerce, and/or a caravanserai, a roadside inn for travelers. We shed light on how people adapted a productive economy to the local ecological constraints. By adding these data to the limited Qarakhanid archaeobotany from across Central Asia, we provide the first glimpses into cultivation, commerce, and consumption at a Silk Road trading town along the King’s Road, the central artery of ancient Eurasia.

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“…Hence, forthcoming interpretations are subject to further investigation in order to enlarge the Chalcolithic sample with recent faunal studies. In addition, Ovçular Tepesi, a Chalcolithic site from Nakhichivan, has revealed rare hunting activities, focused mainly of roe deer (Berthon et al, 2013).…”

Section: Chalcolithic (5000-3500 Cal Bc)mentioning

confidence: 99%

The diversity of Late Pleistocene and Holocene wild ungulates and kites structures in Armenia

Chahoud

Vila

Bălășescu³

et al. 2016

Quaternary International

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A bioarchaeological investigation of three late Chalcolithic pits at Ovçular Tepesi (Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan)

Cited by 20 publications

References 10 publications

On the trail of Neolithic mice and men towards Transcaucasia: zooarchaeological clues from Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan)

On the trail of Neolithic mice and men towards Transcaucasia: zooarchaeological clues from Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan)

Qarakhanids on the Edge of the Bukhara Oasis: Archaeobotany of Medieval Paykend

The diversity of Late Pleistocene and Holocene wild ungulates and kites structures in Armenia

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