Investigating the spatial organisation of Bronze and Iron Age fortress complexes in the South Caucasus

Erb‐Satullo, Nathaniel L.; Jachvliani, Dimitri; Kalaycı, Tuna; Puturidze, Marine; Simon, Katie

doi:10.15184/aqy.2018.191

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Given its location in the active continental Arabia-Eurasia collisional zone this region is characterized by strong seismic activity (Ismail-Zadeh et al, 2020), forming a natural hazard also for former regional societies (Varazanashvili et al, 2011). Here and in the neighboring regions of eastern Turkey and northwestern Iran, the Late Bronze to Early Iron Ages between about 3.5 and 2.8 ka were characterized by large fortified permanent settlements and an increasing sociopolitical hierarchy and complexity, leading to the development of the region's first territorial polities with complex bureaucracies (Smith, 2005;Sagona, 2018;Erb-Satullo et al, 2019;Herrmann and Hammer, 2019). One important settlement center during that time was the Shiraki Plain in the semi-humid to semi-arid southeastern Caucasian lowlands that is largely devoid of settlements today (Figure 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human-environmental interactions and seismic activity in a Late Bronze to Early Iron Age settlement center in the southeastern Caucasus

et al. 2022

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Long-term human-environmental interactions in naturally fragile drylands are a focus of geomorphological and geoarchaeological research. Furthermore, many dryland societies were also affected by seismic activity. The semi-arid Shiraki Plain in the tectonically active southeastern Caucasus is currently covered by steppe and largely devoid of settlements. However, numerous Late Bronze to Early Iron Age city-type settlements suggest early state formation between ca. 3.2-2.5 ka that abruptly ended after that time. A paleolake was postulated for the lowest plain, and nearby pollen records suggest forest clearcutting of the upper altitudes under a more humid climate during the Late Bronze/Early Iron Ages. Furthermore, also an impact of earthquakes on regional Early Iron Age settlements was suggested. However, regional paleoenvironmental changes and paleoseismicity were not systematically studied so far. We combined geomorphological, sedimentological, chronological and paleoecological data with hydrological modelling to reconstruct regional Holocene paleoenvironmental changes, to identify natural and human causes and to study possible seismic events during the Late Bronze/Early Iron Ages. Our results show a balanced to negative Early to Mid-Holocene water balance probably caused by forested upper slopes. Hence, no lake but a pellic Vertisol developed in the lowest plain. Following, Late Bronze/Early Iron Age forest clear-cutting caused lake formation and the deposition of lacustrine sediments derived from soil erosion. Subsequently, regional aridification caused slow lake desiccation. Remains of freshwater fishes indicate that the lake potentially offered valuable ecosystem services for regional prehistoric societies even during the desiccation period. Finally, colluvial coverage of the lake sediments during the last centuries could have been linked with hydrological extremes during the Little Ice Age. Our study demonstrates that the Holocene hydrological balance of the Shiraki Plain was and is situated near a major hydrological threshold, making the landscape very sensitive to small-scale human or natural influences with severe consequences for local societies. Furthermore, seismites in the studied sediments do not indicate an influence of earthquakes on the main and late phases of Late Bronze/Early Iron Age settlement. Altogether, our study underlines the high value of multi-disciplinary approaches to investigate human-environmental interactions and paleoseismicity in drylands on millennial to centennial time scales.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human-environmental interactions and seismic activity in a Late Bronze to Early Iron Age settlement center in the southeastern Caucasus

et al. 2022

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“…From a more general demographic perspective, the proliferation of settlements, fortresses, and graves during the Late Bronze Age reveal, if anything, a trend toward population growth as previously mobile populations aggregated around fortified strongpoints 53 – 57 . Late Bronze Age settlement sites are far more numerous than those of the Middle Bronze Age across both the Middle Kura and Middle Araxes zones.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fortresses, rather than large kurgans, are the most prominent monumental constructions, and the largest and most substantial of these, with massive cyclopean walls, are not as common in the Kura River lowlands as they are farther south and west 55 . The social organization of fortresses communities is much discussed 53 , 61 , 62 , and it is not yet clear whether fortresses reflect the translation of the Middle Bronze Age social hierarchy from the burial environment to the built environment of living communities, or whether they represent a turn away from the more extreme patterns of social hierarchy. While rich graves do occur in the period 1500–800 BC in the South Caucasus 63 , 64 , in many areas there is a deemphasis on mortuary display of extreme hierarchy in the Late Bronze Age relative to the preceding period, which some have suggested reflects a “social leveling” process 48 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technological rejection in regions of early gold innovation revealed by geospatial analysis

Erb‐Satullo

2021

Sci Rep

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In research on early invention and innovation, technological “firsts” receive enormous attention, but technological “lasts”—instances of abandonment and rejection—are arguably more informative about human technological behavior. Yet, cases of technological discontinuance are largely ignored in studies of early innovation, as the lack of robust datasets makes identification and analysis difficult. A large-scale geospatial analysis of more than 4500 gold objects from the Caucasus, an early center of gold innovation, shows a precipitous decline at 1500 BC in precisely the places with the earliest global evidence of gold mining (c. 3000 BC). Testing various causal models reveals that social factors, rather than resource limitations or demographic disruption, were the primary causes of this rejection. These results indicate that prior models of technological rejection and loss have underestimated the range of conditions in which they can occur, and provide empirical support for theories of innovation that reject notions about the linearity of technological progress.

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“…The quantity of surface-collected slag and other metallurgical debris was small in comparison with contemporary South Caucasus smelting sites, which frequently contain tons of debris (cf. , and a magnetometry survey failed to identify any major buried concentrations of the slag (Erb-Satullo, et al, 2019). Either the bulk of the debris was disposed of off the hill, or, more likely, the metallurgical activities did not produce large quantities of slag.…”

Section: Survey and Excavation At Mtsvane Goramentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The site is situated on a prominent hill overlooking a major route of travel between the Kura River Valley and Lesser Caucasus highlands (figure 1). The hilltop was fortified with an encircling wall that is clearly visible on both aerial photographs and digital slope models (Erb-Satullo, et al, 2019).…”

Section: Survey and Excavation At Mtsvane Goramentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct evidence for the co-manufacturing of early iron and copper-alloy artifacts in the Caucasus

Erb‐Satullo

Jachvliani

Kakhiani

et al. 2020

Journal of Archaeological Science

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Models for iron innovation in Eurasia are predicated on understanding the relationship between the bronze and iron industries. In eastern Anatolia, South Caucasus, and Iran, the absence of scientific analyses of metallurgical debris has obscured the relative chronology, spatial organization, and economic context of early iron and contemporary copper-alloy industries.Excavation and surface survey at Mtsvane Gora, a fortified hilltop site close to major polymetallic ore sources in the Lesser Caucasus range, recovered metallurgical debris dating to the 8th-6th centuries BC. Optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy and wavelength dispersive spectrometry revealed evidence for both iron and copper-alloy metallurgy, including smithing and alloying. Metal particles trapped within clear iron smithing slags were contaminated with copper, arsenic, and tin, suggesting that iron and copper-alloy working took place in the same hearths. The discovery of a small fragment of unprocessed material consisting of pyrite and jarosite, minerals typical of major nearby polymetallic ore deposits, links the secondary smithing and alloying at Mtsvane Gora with nearby mining activities, though the nature of those connections remains unclear. While the earliest iron in the region probably predates the Mtsvane Gora assemblage, the remains date to a period when iron use was still expanding, and they are at present the earliest analytically confirmed, radiocarbon-dated iron metallurgical debris in the Caucasus. The remains are therefore significant for understanding the spread of iron innovation eastward from Anatolia and the Levant. When considered in light of evidence from other Near Eastern sites, the results support a model for innovation in which early iron manufacturing was at least partially integrated with the copper-alloy metallurgical economy.

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Investigating the spatial organisation of Bronze and Iron Age fortress complexes in the South Caucasus

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 14 publications

References 23 publications

Human-environmental interactions and seismic activity in a Late Bronze to Early Iron Age settlement center in the southeastern Caucasus

Human-environmental interactions and seismic activity in a Late Bronze to Early Iron Age settlement center in the southeastern Caucasus

Technological rejection in regions of early gold innovation revealed by geospatial analysis

Direct evidence for the co-manufacturing of early iron and copper-alloy artifacts in the Caucasus

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