PROGRESS REPORT FOR 02/115
PROJECT TITLE
Cultural interaction in late prehistoric trans-Caucasus and eastern
Anatolia
INVESTIGATOR(S)
Institution and Department
Chief Investigator
A/Professor Antonio Sagona
Classics & Archaeology, The University of Melbourne
Other Investigators
Students
ANSTO Investigators
Ugo Zoppi
This project is a continuation of AINSE Grant 01/124. It should be seen as a medium term project to investigate
ancient inter-cultural contact between peoples in the highland region of Trans-Caucasus (incorporating the
Republics of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan) and eastern Turkey during the period from about 6000 to 1200 BC.
To do this adequately we need a trustworthy absolute chronology anchored at several keys sites. Prior to this
project a couple of years ago we had less that 10 radiocarbon dates for the entire region, resulting in studies based
on free-floating unreliable chronologies. The results so far have been very encouraging and have changed the
scene dramatically. We wish to continue to analyse samples from selected key sites with a view to building a strong
chronological framework. This project will focus on three periods and cultural questions therein: 1. The Late
Chalcolithic period (3600-3100 BC) and the issue of the origin of the Kura-Araxes culture complex; 2. The Early
Bronze Age III and Middle Bronze Age I-II (2200-1500 BC) and the question of prehistoric migrations this region.
3. The Early Iron Age (1200-900 BC) is yet another obscure period (the so-called 'Dark Age') in this region.
Although attention has focused on the impressive and rich fortresses, we know very little about how the polities of
the time coalesced into a unified kingdom.
Five samples were submitted for radiocarbon analysis: three from Sos Höyük, one from Karagündüz and another
from Pulur. All are located in eastern Turkey and each is an ancient mound site with major deposits dating to the
period from Late Chalcolithic to Iron Age (c. 3500-800 BC). The archaeological and historical importance of these
sites lies in their geographical proximity to the lands of Trans-Caucasus and Iran, and the information they can
shed inter-cultural contact with those regions. Three periods/complexes were targeted with these samples:
1. The Late Chalcolithic Kura-Araxes complex was investigated through the samples from Sos Höyük (OZF 942:
3315-3128 BC; OZF 944: 3256-2976 BC) that clearly indicate the origins of this culture lies in the mid-fourth
millennium BC. This goes a considerable distance in resolving on of the key chronological problems of
archaeology in the highlands north of Mesopotamia. Also it demonstrates that the earliest material is not
restricted to the Trans-Caucasus.
2. The sample (OZF941: 2444-2298 BC) from Karagunduz tand another from Sos (OZF 943: 25492426 BC)
targeted the developed phase of the Kura-Araxes period in the second half of the third millennium BC. These
were particularly valuable because they showed that these settlements, which are relatively geographically
close but cultural dissimilar in some ways, are nonetheless roughly contemporary. Moreover, these dates
indicate that during the third millennium BC communities of eastern Anatolia were in touch with those from Iran
and other region
3. The surprise sample was the one from Pulur (OZG068: 13761267 BC) which clearly indicated that the level
associated with the sample belongs to the transition between the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age, a period
that is historically most interesting. During this period some of the well known later empires (such as the Iranian
speaking Medes) were in their formative stages. The reason the date came as a surprise (and relief) is
because this site has always been associated with a much earlier period (the third millennium), yet the culture
associated with the sample, excavated just this year, was to me related but clearly different. The radiocarbon
date supports this view and also indicates that the Pulur has a much deeper deposit of Iron Age material than
was hitherto recognized.
SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES
PROGRESS REPORT and RESEARCH OUTCOMES
Each of these dates will be reported within the contexts of various articles over the next year. Plus they will be part
of a database that will form the focus of a major review article on radiocarbon dates and cultural development in the
region north of Mesopotamia that staff from ANSTO and I are preparing.
I am writing the papers at the moment. Nothing is in press as yet.
Jennifer Newton, Living in the Mountains: An Environmental Survey of the Pasinler Plain, PhD expected to
complete March 2003.
Liz Parr, Physical Anthropological Studies at Sos Höyük, PhD expected to complete March 2003
Zohar Daniel, Obsidian from Sos Höyük from the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age, MA expected to complete
2004
Joanna Richmond, The Early Textile industry in eastern Anatolia, MA expected to complete 2004
PUBLICATIONS / REPORTS arising as a result of your work
PhD STUDENTS