The Kura–Araxes culture (also named Kur–Araz culture, Mtkvari–Araxes culture, Early Transcaucasian culture, Shengavitian culture) was an archaeological culture that existed from about 4000 BC until about 2000 BC,The early Trans-Caucasian culture, I.M. Diakonoff, 1984 which has traditionally been regarded as the date of its end; in some locations it may have disappeared as early as 2600 or 2700 BC. The earliest evidence for this culture is found on the Ararat plain in the Armenian highlands; it spread north in the Caucasus by 3000 BC.
Altogether, the early Transcaucasian culture enveloped a vast area about 1,000 km by 500 km,The Hurro-Urartian people – John A.C. Greppin and mostly encompassed the modern-day territories of the Armenia, eastern Georgia, Azerbaijan, northwestern Iran, the northeastern Caucasus, eastern Turkey, and as far as northern Iraq.K. Kh. Kushnareva. [The Southern Caucasus in Prehistory: Stages of Cultural and Socioeconomic Development from the Eighth to the Second Millennium B.C." UPenn Museum of Archaeology, 1 January 1997. p 44Antonio Sagona, Paul Zimansky. "Ancient Turkey" Routledge 2015. p 163
The name of the culture, coined by Boris Kuftin in 1940, is derived from the Kura and Araxes river valleys. Some local variations of the Kura–Araxes culture are sometimes known as Shengavitian, Karaz (Erzurum), Pulur (after a site renamed later as Sakyol), and Yanik Tepe (Iranian Azerbaijan, near Lake Urmia) cultures. It gave rise to the Khirbet Kerak-ware culture found in the Levant and Trialeti culture of the South Caucasus and Armenian highlands. In Nakhchivan region of Azerbaijan and nearby areas, Kura–Araxes culture was followed by Nakhchivan culture.
This civilization was characterized by an agricultural sedentary economy with more than a thousand settlements covering the fertile riverside valleys, high plateaus and high mountain zones of the Armenian highlands and neighboring regions. The Early Bronze Age artificial hill-settlements were characterized by multiple cultural layers, which in some places spread to tens of meters (Mokhrablur of Nakhijevan, Norsun-Tepe).
Genetics
Ancient DNA analysis has provided insights into the genetic composition of individuals associated with the Kura–Araxes culture. The Y-chromosome haplogroups identified in Kura–Araxes individuals include G2b, J-CTS1460 (x2), J-Z1842, and R1b1-M415 (xM269), reflecting a mixture of lineages with deep Near Eastern and Caucasian origins. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis indicates diverse maternal lineages, with haplogroups including H, H1u, K3, N1b1a, R1a1, T2a1b2b, T2h, U1a1a, U3a2, U3b1a1, U3b2, and X2f. These haplogroups suggest genetic connections between Kura–Araxes populations and neighboring regions such as Anatolia, the Near East, and the Caucasus. Genomic studies indicate that Kura–Araxes individuals shared a significant portion of their ancestry with Caucasus hunter-gatherers (CHG) and Anatolian Chalcolithic populations. The data indicate a largely stable genetic profile over time, with limited gene flow from Steppe populations, distinguishing them from later Bronze Age groups that incorporated more Yamnaya-related ancestry.
Early history
The formative processes of the Kura–Araxes cultural complex, and the date and circumstances of its rise, have been long debated.
Shulaveri–Shomu culture preceded the Kura–Araxes culture in the area. There were many differences between these two cultures, so the connection was not clear. Later it was suggested that the Sioni culture of eastern Georgia possibly represented a transition from the Shulaveri to the Kura–Arax cultural complex.
At many sites the Sioni culture layers can be seen as intermediary between Shulaver–Shomu–Tepe layers and the Kura–Araxes layers.Kighuradze T. 1998:19 This kind of stratigraphy warrants a chronological place of the Sioni culture at around 4000 BCE.Guram Mirtskhulava, Guram Chikovani, PHASE OF TRANSITION TO THE KURA-ARAXES CULTURE IN EASTERN GEORGIA. Problems of Early Metal Age Archaeology of Caucasus and Anatolia. Proceedings of International Conference. Tbilisi, 2014
Some scholars consider the Kartli and Kakheti areas as key to forming the earliest phase of the Kura–Araxes culture. To a large extent, this appears as an indigenous culture of Caucasus that was formed over a long period, and at the same time incorporating foreign influences.
There are some indications (such as at Arslantepe) of the overlapping in time of the Kura-Araxes and Uruk cultures; such contacts may go back even to the Middle Uruk period.Giorgi Leon Kavtaradze (2012), On the Importance of the Caucasian Chronology for the Foundation of the Common Near Eastern – East European Chronological System
Some scholars have suggested that the earliest manifestation of the Kura–Araxes phenomenon should be dated at least to the last quarter of the 5th millennium BC. This is based on the recent data from Ovçular Tepesi, a late Chalcolithic settlement located in Nakhchivan by the Arpaçay river.C. MARRO, R. BERTHON, V. BAKHSHALIYEV, On the Genesis of the Kura-Araxes phenomenon: New evidence from Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan). in The Kura-Araxes culture from the Caucasus to Iran, Anatolia and the Levant: Between unity and diversity. Paléorient 40.2 – 2014, C. Chataigner et G. Palumbi, eds. CNRS Édidtions
Expansion Rather quickly, elements of Kura–Araxes culture started to proceed westward to the Erzurum plain, southwest to Cilicia, and to the southeast into the area of Lake Van, and below the Urmia basin in Iran, such as to Godin Tepe. Finally, it proceeded into the present-day Syria (Amuq valley), and as far as Palestine.
Its territory corresponds to large parts of modern Armenia, Azerbaijan, Chechnya, Dagestan, Georgia, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, and parts of Iran and Turkey.Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology – Page 246 by Barbara Ann Kipfer
At Sos Hoyuk, in Erzurum Province, Turkey, early forms of Kura–Araxes pottery were found in association with local ceramics as early as 3500–3300 BC. During the Early Bronze Age in 3000–2200 BC, this settlement was part of the Kura-Araxes phenomenon.
At Arslantepe, Turkey, around 3000 BCE, there was widespread burning and destruction, after which Kura–Araxes pottery appeared in the area.
According to Geoffrey Summers, the movement of Kura–Araxes peoples into Iran and the Van region, which he interprets as quite sudden, started shortly before 3000 BC, and may have been prompted by the 'Late Uruk Collapse' (end of the Uruk period), taking place at the end of Uruk IV phase .Geoffrey D. Summers, The Early Trans-Caucasian Culture in Iran: Perspectives and problems. Paléorient 2014 Volume 40 Numéro 2 pp. 155–168
Iranian sites There are many important Kura-Araxes sites along the Araxes river, south of which is modern Iran. Kultepe, Azerbaijan, in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic close to Araxes river, has already been known for a long time.Akbar Abedi, Behrooz Omrani and Azam Karimifar, Fifth and fourth millennium BC in north-western Iran: Dalma and Pisdeli revisited, in: Documenta Praehistorica XLII, 2015, p.323 – academia.edu In Iran, the excavations especially accelerated in the 21st century. Kul Tepe Jolfa, a related site, is seen as an important gateway for Kura–Araxes culture on its way south towards Lake Urmia area. Ancient obsidian trade and distribution are particularly revealing of cultural connections, and Kul Tepe Jolfa was an important transshipment point for the movement of Caucasian obsidian to Iranian sites. This trade was probably conducted by groups of mobile pastoralists from Iran.Khazaee, Mostafa, Michael D. Glascock, P. Masjedi, A. Abedi & F.K. Nadooshan (2011), The origins of obsidian tools from Kul Tepe, Iran. International Association of Obsidian Studies Bulletin, 45: 14–17.
Also in Iran downstream the Araxes river, two additional sites from the same period have recently been excavated, Kohne Pasgah and Kohne Tepesi.
Many other Iranian sites have come to light recently and have been excavated already.
Cultural connections
Kura–Araxes culture is closely linked to the approximately contemporaneous Maykop culture of the North Caucasus. The two cultures seem to have influenced one another.Antonio Sagona. Rethinking the Kura-Araxes Genesis. (2014). pp. 26Philip L. Kohl.The Making of Bronze Age Eurasia. pp. 74, 82
Economy The economy was based on farming and livestock-raising (especially of cattle and sheep).Jaimoukha, Amjad. The Chechens. Pages 25–6 They grew grain and orchard crops, and are known to have used implements to make flour. They raised cattle, sheep, goats, dogs, and in later phases, horses.
Before the Kura-Araxes period, horse bones were not found in Transcaucasia. Later, beginning about 3300 BCE, they became widespread, with signs of domestication.David W. Anthony, The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton University Press, 2010 p298
There is evidence of trade with Mesopotamia as well as Asia Minor. It is, however, considered above all to be indigenous to the Caucasus, and its major variants characterized (according to Caucasus historian Amjad Jaimoukha) later major cultures in the region.
It was at this period that the irrigation systems built on the slopes of the Aragats and Geghama mountains in Armenia were formed and at the sources of canals, artificial water pools and springs, Armenian dragon stones (vishapakar) made from one piece basalt were erected. Another prerequisite for unprecedented economic development was copper production. A large number of weapon and tools made of arsenical bronze are attested by both the finds near Yerevan and the stone and clay molds found in various ancient sites of Shengavit civilization (Shengavit, Margahovit, etc.). In the Shengavit ancient site, weight standards similar to those used in the Levant were found, which testify to Armenia's involvement in the newly formed international trade relations in the Early Bronze Age. The weapons that were found were arrows, daggers, battle axes, spears and other weapons made of obsidian, flint, bone and bronze.
Settlements Archaeological evidence of inhabitants of the Kura–Araxes culture showed that ancient settlements were found along the Hrazdan river in Armenia, as shown by drawings at a mountainous area in a cave nearby.Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East: L to Z. page 52 by Jamie Stokes Structures in settlements have not revealed much differentiation, nor was there much difference in size or character between settlements, facts that suggest they probably had a poorly developed social hierarchy for a significant stretch of their history. Some, but not all, settlements were surrounded by stone walls. Among the settlements with an area of 1–10 ha, the central ones were surrounded by fortified walls built of stone (Shengavit, Garni, Persi, Khorenia-Javakhk) and of mud-brick (Mokhrablur, Goy-tepe, Gudaberteke), with artificial puddles (Norabats, Kvatskhelebi, Khizannat-gora). The Shengavit fortified wall is noteworthy with its stone foundations, reinforced with rectangular masonry walls and a tiled secret passage leading to Hrazdan river. The central urban areas, which are characterized by dense construction (Shengavit, Mokhrablur, etc.), were surrounded by satellite residences.