1,721,347 research outputs found
The Talyshis: An Iranian people divided by the Araxes
No full textThis paper examines the Talyshi people, an Iranian ethnic group divided by the Araxes River between Azerbaijan and Iran. The division, a result of the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813), placed the Talyshis within two distinct political and cultural paradigms. The northern Talyshis, under the successive rule of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and Azerbaijan, were confronted with a Turkish political and cultural orientation that contrasted with their Iranian linguistic and cultural heritage. This orientation led to significant shifts in identity, with the Talyshis becoming minorities within a Turkic-speaking, Turkish-oriented Azerbaijan. Southern Talyshis who remained in Iran experienced a more consistent cultural development within the Iranian paradigm, despite political changes. This study examines the impact of these divisions on Talyshi identity, language preservation and socio-cultural adaptation. It discusses the challenges of assimilation and cultural preservation faced by the Talyshis, their linguistic characteristics, and the revival of Talysh self-awareness and nationalism in the face of external pressures. The paper uses a comprehensive analysis of historical, linguistic and ethnographic data to provide insights into the resilience of Talysh identity amidst political and cultural change
Preliminary results of the excavations at Qaraçinar (Azerbaijan) and new data on the “Kura-Araxes - Early Kurgans” transition on the Eastern Piedmont of the Lesser Caucasus
No full textThe factors that determined the disappearance of Kura-Araxes communities around the middle of the third millennium are unknown, and the dynamics of socio-cultural transformation during the second half of the third millennium are still unclear throughout the South Caucasus. In this paper, we summarize the state of the art related to the social and cultural developments of the third millennium in western Azerbaijan (namely along the valley of the Kura River), which is still fragmentary and very heterogenous in terms of nature of the archaeological evidence. Next, we present data from new excavations and research conducted at Qaraçinar (Goranboy district) on the eastern piedmont of the Lesser Caucasus within the framework of the ANR-DFG KUR(A)GAN project. Qaraçinar documents an occupation that dates to both the Kura-Araxes and Bedeni periods and that has never previously been documented in the region. In the final section of this paper, the absolute dates of Qaraçinar are compared with those of the ‘Martqopi’ kurgans of the Kura River Valley to reconstruct a novel cultural sequence of western Azerbaijan following the end of the Kura-Araxes period
The post-Kura-Araxes period in the Southern Caucasus: Reflections on definitions and terminology, and a view from Shida Kartli
No full textOne of the main problems in the study of the post-Kura-Araxes period in the Southern Caucasus is the persisting lack of precise and shared definitions of the different local “cultures” of the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. The paper highlights several cases of ambiguous and conflicting definitions, thereby suggesting how they may have originated and how they may be solved. In particular, it focuses on the definition of the period’s different ceramic assemblages (“Late Kura-Araxes” vs “Martqopi” and “Bedeni”, etc.), on funerary customs and on landscape occupational patterns. Insufficient appreciation of the fine-chronological variability of material culture at a regional/sub-regional level is another important source of problems. As a first step toward solving these difficulties, the paper presents some still partially unpublished data from sites in the Georgian province of Shida Kartli investigated during the last decade by the “Georgian-Italian Shida Kartli Archaeological project” (Natsargora and Aradetis Orgora settlements; Natsargora, Doghlauri and Okherakhevi cemeteries) and discuss them the framework of the evidence from other sites from the same region and elsewhere
HOMELAND : recherche interdisciplinaire sur les communautés Kuro-Araxes en Arménie
No full textArchéOrient - Le Blog https://doi.org/10.58079/vut1Ce billet est une brève présentation de l’ANR HOMELAND (ANR PRC 23-CE27-022) qui a commencé au 01 janvier 2024. Ce projet de quatre ans (2024-2027) vise à éclairer une facette encore très mal connue des sociétés Kuro-Araxes (KA) (Bronze ancien), à savoir la transition entre le KA I et II, vers 2900 av. n. è., en mettant particulièrement l’accent sur le territoire arménien moderne, à la fois berceau et carrefour du phénomène KA
Die Kura-Araxes-Kultur im supraregionalen Kontext
No full textSintesi sui dati connessi all'espansione della cultura Kura-Araxes in Anatoli
The expansion of the Kura-Araxes culture in Iran: what role for Uruk?
No full textThe interpretation of the expansion of the Kura‐Araxes culture has been traditionally linked
to a set of migratory mechanisms that were generated in the core of Kura‐Araxes cultural
region. Little attention has been dedicated to the role of other processes that took place in the
Kura‐Araxes “periphery”, and in particular to the development, in the fourth millennium, of
centralised early‐state polities in Iran and Anatolia that were linked to similar developments
taking place in the greater Uruk Mesopotamia. This paper will present two case‐studies to
highlight the structural premises that may have favored the Kura‐Araxes “expansion” in
Iran and Anatolia: Godin Tepe and Arslantepe. Between the late‐fourth and the early‐third
millennium, these two sites recorded a strikingly similar cultural sequence consisting of the
construction of large, possibly public, buildings characterized by a Uruk‐related material
culture that were replaced by an occupation of flimsy wattle and daub huts featuring a
Kura‐Araxes related material-culture. A thorough comparison of the developments illustrated
by these two case‐studies can suggest a new explanatory model for the Kura‐Araxes expansion
in the regions formerly involved in the Uruk “world”. According to this model, the specialized
pastoral groups that were generated by the centralised economies of the early‐sate polities of
the Uruk period in Iran and Anatolia may have played a key role in the following expansion
of the Kura‐Araxes culture in these regions
Rethinking the Kura-Araxes Genesis
No full textThe Kura-Araxes horizon is arguably the most long-lived and geographically expansive archaeological complex of the prehistoric Near East, stretching from the Southern Caucasus through Eastern Anatolia and Northwestern Iran, to lands beyond. It is also highly distinctive with a cultural package that sets it apart from contemporary traditions. This paper investigates the origins of this perplexing tradition, generally placed around 3500/ 3400 BC, through a critical review of the evidence. Drawing on wellestablished sequences and new data, including those from Chobareti, in Southwestern Georgia, it contends that the 4th millennium BC in the Southern Caucasus was a period of cultural interplay and hybridity. This current picture is more interconnected and nuanced than the conventional view, and involves relationships between local and intrusive elements.L’horizon Kura-Araxe est probablement le complexe archéologique du Proche-Orient préhistorique qui a connu la plus grande extension dans le temps et dans l’espace ; il s’étire du Sud Caucase à l’Anatolie orientale et au nord-ouest de l’Iran, puis aux régions situées au-delà. Cette culture possède aussi une forte originalité avec un «bagage » culturel qui la distingue des traditions contemporaines. Dans cet article sont étudiées les origines de cette «surprenante » tradition, que l’on situe généralement autour de 3500/ 3400 av. J.-C., avec un examen critique des données. À partir de séquences bien établies et des fouilles récentes, dont celles de Chobareti dans le sud-ouest de la Géorgie, il est démontré que le 4e millénaire dans le sud du Caucase fut une période d’interaction culturelle. Cette vision suppose plus d’interconnexions que le schéma traditionnel et implique l’existence de relations entre des éléments culturels locaux et intrusifs.Sagona Antonio. Rethinking the Kura-Araxes Genesis. In: Paléorient, 2014, vol. 40, n°2. The Kura-Araxes culture from the Caucasus to Iran, Anatolia and the Levant: Between unity and diversity. pp. 23-46
Environmental context of the Kura-Araxes culture
Get PDFThe Kura-Araxes culture fl ourished in the South Caucasus and neighbouring regions during the 4th– 3rd millennia BC. More than in previous periods, this period saw a greater concentration of populations in the vast volcanic highlands of this region. Palaeoecological records suggest that deciduous forests reached their maximum extent at the time, triggered by changes in temperature and precipitation. In this contribution, the environmental conditions that accompanied the Kura-Araxes culture are reconstructed from palaeoecological data from the region, placing settlement patterns in context and providing insights into human– environment interactions during this period of social and environmental change.La culture Kura-Araxe s’est épanouie dans le sud du Caucase et les régions voisines au cours des 4e et 3e millénaires. De façon plus marquée que dans les périodes précédentes, cette époque a connu une concentration de populations sur les hautes terres de la région, qui couvrent un vaste territoire. Les données paléoécologiques suggèrent que les forêts à feuilles caduques ont atteint leur extension maximale à cette époque, par suite de changements de températures et dans les précipitations. Dans cet article, les conditions environnementales qui ont prévalu pendant la culture Kura-Araxe sont reconstituées à partir des données paléoécologiques de la région, en replaçant les différents modes de peuplement dans leur contexte et en donnant un aperçu des interactions homme-environnement pendant cette période de mutation environnementale et sociétale.Connor Simon E., Kvavadze Eliso. Environmental context of the Kura-Araxes culture. In: Paléorient, 2014, vol. 40, n°2. The Kura-Araxes culture from the Caucasus to Iran, Anatolia and the Levant: Between unity and diversity. pp. 11-22
The Kura-Araxes economy : mobile pastoralism or sedentary agriculture? Perspectives from Sos Höyük
No full textThe Kura-Araxes cultural complex has often been described as having had an economy based on transhumant pastoralism. Mobile pastoralism has been used as a mechanism to explain the expansion of the Kura-Araxes horizon across the Near East. Yet the extent of pastoral mobility within the Kura-Araxes economy has been questioned, both through archaeozoological analyses and reassessments of the portability of the Kura-Araxes material culture. This paper will discuss different types of pastoral and agricultural strategies and, using ethnographic examples, will provide a framework for distinguishing between mobile pastoralism and sedentary mixed farming. These criteria will then be utilised to identify the subsistence economy at Sos Höyük, a Kura-Araxes site in north-eastern Turkey, using archaeobotanical evidence from the site. At Sos Höyük crops appear to have been cultivated locally and the seasonality of cultivation practices, the wild seed flora and dung fuel making activities indicate year-round occupation of the site. Sos Höyük therefore appears to have been a sedentary mixed agro-pastoral village. The identification of Sos Höyük as a permanently occupied agricultural settlement has ramifications for understanding the Kura-Araxes economy and the spread of the Kura-Araxes horizon
The Kura-Araxes Culture In The Shida Kartli Region of Georgia: An Overview
Get PDFLocated in the centre of present-day Georgia, in what is traditionally considered the heart of the Kura-Araxes culture, the Shida Kartli region hosts a relatively high number of excavated Kura-Araxes sites, as well as several sites of the preceding Late Chalcolithic and of the following Early Kurgan cultures (Early Bronze?). It therefore offers a good opportunity to analyze one of the regional variants of the Kura-Araxes culture in its diachronic development. The paper describes the stratigraphy of the main Kura-Araxes sites of the region, discusses available evidence concerning architecture, settlement patterns, burial customs, pottery and other categories of finds, and attempts at drawing up a relative chronology of the region on the basis of stratigraphy, chrono-typology and recent 14C evidence. The origins and the end of the Kura-Araxes culture in Shida Kartli, and the changing patterns in the subsistence and social organization of the local population are discussed in the wider framework of contemporary developments in the neighbouring regions
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