Kura in Motion! Humans, plants and animals in the Middle Kura Valley, 6th to 3rd mill. BCE

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Barbara Helwing
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology ; Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Term: from 2013 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 230142459

Kura in Motion! aims at investigating patterns of mobility among humans, landscape, animals and plants in the Southern Caucasus along the Middle Kura River. This area includes from east to west: the Mil Plain in South Azerbaijan, the Tovuz Region with Mentesh Tepe in West Azerbaijan, and the Bolnisi region in Eastern Georgia with Aruchlo. Chronologically, our attention will focus on the pre- and proto-historic periods, from the beginning of sedentism (6th mill. BCE) to the Early Bronze Age (3rd mill. BCE). Kura in Motion! has grown out from a previous project (Ancient Kura) in the same region and with most of the same French and German actors working together, in which complementary studies helped us rebuild a reliable chronological and general environmental frame together with a better characterization of the early cultures of this area. Our results show parallel but individual strategies in the three regions in almost every aspect of lifestyle and especially in patterns of mobility. Movement characterizes (1) the evolution of landscape which is strongly related to changes in the level of the Caspian Sea; (2) shifts in settlement patterns with short-term occupations and/or light architecture since the Neolithic; (3) great variability in the original animal livestock and plant species and in the herding strategies; and (4) the accessibility of raw material resources. Kura in Motion! is a new project which will focus on the understanding of the various aspects of movement in these four fields. (1, 2) The frequent shifts in settlement pattern together with the diverging strategies between the three areas shall be addressed through methods of landscape archaeology, geoarchaeology and detailed vegetation and climate studies. (3) The high variability in the animal and botanical species or Caucasian pattern seems related to a similar phenomenon in the Zagros which involves primary domestication. But the dynamics of neolithisation probably also involved the introduction of livestock and cereals which could explain that the earliest populations started with a full set of domesticated plants and animals. Some hints at an early mobile way of life surround this data. These questions will be addressed through systematic aDNA analyses on animal bones and isotope studies on animal teeth. (4) The various materials at use also enter these movement strategies and include Caspian Sea shells, bitumen, carnelian and turquoise, metamorphic rocks, flint, obsidian and metal which were brought or exchanged over long distances, maybe partly through the mobile way of life. Some ceramics may also have been introduced from far away. To answer the questions on their provenance sources, chemical analyses as well as technological and functional studies will be done. Altogether, this program of research promises new insights into the patterns of circulation of humans, plants, animals and materials in the Southern Caucasus.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France
• Participating Person: Dr. Bertille Lyonnet