Study of the Stone Age in the Republic of Armenia (Part 1 – Lower Palaeolithic)

Abstract

The area encompassing the modern Republic of Armenia lies within the Armenian highlands and is situated at the very core of a dynamic corridor between Africa and Eurasia. As such, Armenia proves critical for understanding the initial stages of human settlement and the formation of ancient civilisations in the Near East and beyond. Stone Age artefacts have been known to exist within the territory of Armenia since the end of the 19th century, and they indicate that the area attracted a variety of Stone Age populations, from early hominids to early complex societies of the Chalcolithic. Presented work is the first attempt to summarise the results and achievements of the Stone Age archaeology in Armenia which is counting its history more than a century.

The vegetation, climate, and fire history of a mountain steppe: A Holocene reconstruction from the South Caucasus, Shenkani, Armenia

“…Extensive archaeological exploration has documented the long history of human habitation in the Tsaghkahovit plain and Kasakh valley, with the earliest evidence dating to the Lower Paleolithic (Gasparyan et al, 2014). During the Holocene, the first signs of human occupation are Mesolithic hunting sites that were occupied for short periods in the lower Kasakh valley (Arimura et al, 2012).…”

Palaeoenvironmental and Chronological Context of Hominin Occupations of the Armenian Highlands During Mis 3: Evidence from Ararat-1 Cave

“…The techno-typological affinities of the Ararat 1 lithic assemblages are shared with other late MP assemblages in the Armenian Highlands and southern Caucasus (Adler and Tushabramishvili, 2004;Adler et al, 2006;Moncel et al, 2015;Frahm et al, 2016;Glauberman et al, 2020a, b;Malinsky-Buller et al, 2021;Malinsky-Buller et al, 2021). Similar technological organisation related to the differences between local (chert) and far travelled (obsidian) raw material have also been identified in other MIS 3-aged sites in the region, including Ortvale Klde, Georgia (Adler et al, 2006;Adler and Tushabramishvili, 2004;Moncel et al, 2015), Kalavan 2 (Malinsky-Buller et al, 2021) and Yerevan cave (Gasparyan et al, 2014;Gasparyan and Glauberman, 2022;Yeritsyan, 1972;Yeritsyan and Semyonov, 1971).…”

“…Several Palaeolithic sites have also been identified on the flanks of the Ararat Depression. These include the sequences of Aghavnatun-1 and Dalarik-1, both of which have yielded Lower Palaeolithic lithic artefact assemblages (Gasparyan et al, 2014;Gasparyan et al, 2014)., The open-air site of Barozh-12, located on the northwestern margins of the Ararat Depression has been systematically excavated by Glauberman et al (2020a, b). The site has yielded a high-density late MP obsidian artefact assemblage recovered from an alluvial-colluvial sequence dated to 60.2 ± 5.7 to 31.3 ± 4 ka.…”

“…Lower elevation sites such as Ortvale Klde (530 m asl), appear to be occupied more intensively due to the seasonal availability of migratory herds of prey (Adler et al, 2006). However, a growing number of high elevation sequences (e.g., Colonge et al, 2013;Gasparyan et al, 2014;Malinsky-Buller et al, 2021) do preserve archaeological evidence for more intensive occupations, leading some authors to suggest that elevation is unlikely to be the singular control on occupation intensity (Gasparyan and Glauberman, 2022). Rather, utilisation of local ecological niches and toolstone raw material sources were possibly more important factors in shaping subsistence and land use behaviours during MIS 3.…”