Between rise and fall in the South Caucasus: Common and specific trajectories of EBA Kura-Araxes communities in Armenia – Homeland

The originality of the Homeland project lies in its comparative approach which is based on the simultaneous study of four sites (Ayrum, Haghartsin, Karnut, Voskeblur) located in three of the sub-regions defined by ceramic assemblages. The most important aspects of daily life will be traced for each of them, including architectural traditions, material culture (lithic, macrolithic and metallic artifacts), subsistence strategies and natural resource supply strategies.

The project adopts an interdisciplinary methodology that combines archeology, bioarchaeology (paleobotany, zooarchaeology, isotope analysis), paleoenvironmental and climatic reconstruction, spatial, statistical, and Bayesian analyses. In addition, the use of advanced analytical methods (micromorphology, use-wear analysis, residue analysis, pXRF, LA-ICP-MS, infrared spectroscopy, isotope analysis, GDGTs), which are not yet widely used in Armenia, will allow a critical review of existing knowledge.

Our research combines recent data from ongoing field missions and old data from bibliography or unpublished collections (museums, institutes). The main interest will be to provide a multiscalar, diachronic and thematic overview of the chronocultural evolution of the KA phenomenon on the territory of Armenia and beyond.

Research on the Kura-Araxes (KA) phenomenon (Early Bronze, 3500-2500 BCE) has been extremely dynamic for the last twenty years: the diffusion from the South Caucasian homeland (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia) to Anatolia, Iran, and the Levant from 3000 BCE onwards, as well as the conditions of emergence and collapse of this culture, have attracted extensive attention. HOMELAND aims to shed light on an aspect of KA societies that is still very poorly known, namely the transition between KA I and II on the territory of Armenia, both at the roots and at the crossroads of the KA phenomenon.
Recent research in Armenia has shown that the KA sequence was divided into two phases known as KA I and II with a transition around 2900 BCE. This pivotal period experiences the replacement of an early complex marked by the homogeneity of ceramic material (KA I) by a phase of fragmentation characterized by the emergence of four regional cultural facies (KA II), the massive abandonment of KA I settlements, and the creation of new ones.
The originality of HOMELAND lies in its comparative approach which is based on the simultaneous study of four sites (Karnut, Ayrum, Voskeblur, Artanish) located in each of the sub-regions. For each of them, the most important aspects of daily life will be traced, including architectural traditions, material culture (lithic, macrolithic and metallic artifacts), subsistence strategies and natural resource supply strategies.
The main objectives are (1) to characterize the way of life of these KA II communities in each of the four cultural complexes in order to determine the specificities and similarities of their trajectories, (2) to model the dynamics of settlement patterns between KA I and II, (3) to identify the causes (environmental, social, economic) of this deep transformation between KA I and II and the reasons for the subsequent cultural fragmentation.
The project adopts an interdisciplinary methodology that combines archeology, bioarchaeology (paleobotany, zooarchaeology, isotopic analysis), paleoenvironmental and climatic reconstruction, spatial, statistical, and Bayesian analyses. In addition, the use of advanced analytical methods (micromorphology, use-wear analysis, residue analysis, pXRF, LA-ICP-MS, infrared spectroscopy, isotopic analysis, GDGTs), which are not yet widely used in Armenia, will allow a critical review of existing knowledge.
HOMELAND combines current data from ongoing excavations and old data from literature or unpublished collections (museums, institutes). Our research will therefore generate a substantial amount of data that will be managed by a geodatabase called "DataKA". The latter will allow the storage, harmonization, management, analysis, and mapping of these data. The main interest will be to provide a multiscalar, diachronic, and thematic overview of the chrono-cultural evolution of the KA phenomenon on the territory of Armenia and beyond.
The HOMELAND project gathers partners with longstanding experiences in the archaeology and paleoenvironment of the South Caucasus and relies on a solid network of local collaborations.