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Considerable investigations and studies, especially during the past two decades, have substantially increased our information about the Kura-Araxes cultural tradition of the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. Yet, fundamental questions remain about the social and economic makeup of Kura-Araxes communities that require further investigation. In particular, our knowledge about societal organization within Kura-Araxes communities is still very limited. Kura-Araxes communities are known as either pastoral/nomads or sedentary/agriculturalist that possibly were socially undifferentiated. In this paper, we present evidence of workshop units and craft activities from the Kura-Araxes site of Köhne Shahar in the Chaldran area of Iranian Azerbaijan. We argue that Köhne Shahar represents a craft production site and Kura-Araxes community with signs of societal complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Migrations in the LC 2–3 created a novel cultural entity in the Southern Caucases. • Arrival of Mesopotamian populations led to mixing and genesis of cultural practices. • Material culture shows "Middle Ground" arenas where habitus was negotiated. • "Middle Ground" suggests cultural genesis during close and sustained interaction. The Late Chalcolithic Leilatepe "phenomenon" in the Southern Caucasus has often been regarded as the product of Mesopotamian incursions into the region for the purpose of acquiring metals and semi-precious stones for trade. The material evidence has shown clearly that these migrations resulted in the development of both hybridised and altogether new ways of engaging with the world, including novel architectural, metallurgical, ceramic, lithic, and ritual technologies and practices. This paper approaches this period of intense cultural interaction from a practice theory lens, aiming to view the social dynamics and processes associated with the emergence of Leilatepe "culture". In doing so, we draw from Richard White's Middle Ground concept to illustrate how new social practices emerge when two cultural groups with distinct habitus come into close and sustained contact with each other. Our research indicates that, while trade was likely an important aspect of the Leilatepe phenomenon, a number of factors also point to a sustained migration or migrations by a broad swath of Mesopotamian society who arrived in the region due to a combination of push and pull factors, and did not just engage in extractive trade, but settled permanently, creating new social realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents direct evidence for cereal storage by Neolithic farmers in west Asia. Storage features analyzed this study are circular clay bins that frequently occur at Neolithic settlements (8th millennium cal. BP) in the southern Caucasus. We examined contexts and uses of clay bin features at the Neolithic settlement of Göytepe (Azerbaijan). We analyzed biogenic microfossil evidence (primarily from phytoliths and dung spherulites) and the sediments of the clay bins through micromorphology, in combination with their associated charred macrobotanical remains. While phytoliths and charred botanical remains indicate direct remnants of stored plants, mainly chaffs, micromorphology and the analyses of faecal spherulites allow us to examine depositional and diagenetic processes of the archaeological sediments inside and outside these features. As a result, one of the clay bins was found to retain deposits at its base exhibiting high concentrations of grass phytoliths with relatively high proportions of inflorescences and low percentages of anatomically connected phytoliths in comparison with its upper fill deposits and areas outside of the bin. These finds, combined with the association of the two complete grinding stones inside the bottom of the bin, suggest that the remains of cereal processing activities, specifically dehusking, may have been placed in the bin. This interpretation is corroborated by the recovery of charred rachises and chaffs of wheat and barley as well as micromorphological observations that the bottommost fill of the bin consists almost entirely of grass phytoliths with few very small charcoal fragments and fine amorphous organic matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper addresses the question of human palaeodietary adaptation in the Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age periods of the North Caucasus (South Russia) using stable isotope analysis. One of the key questions is the presence of fish in the diet. AMS radiocarbon dating of archaeological bone collagen has also been carried out to investigate potential radiocarbon reservoir effects in human skeletal material as a result of an aquatic diet. A fish component has previously been suggested in the diet of Iron Age and Bronze Age humans across Eurasia by isotopic research and radiocarbon dating of contemporaneous human and animal bones. In the North Caucasus however, isotopic data is scant. This study presents a new set of stable isotopic data from several Early Bronze Age sites, mainly belonging to the Maikop culture of the North Caucasus. The results show that the diversity in climate and environment across the northern Caucasus may be a causal factor for the patterns observed in the stable isotope values of terrestrial herbivores. This affects the isotopic values of the humans consuming them. The differences in δ15N and δ13C ranges of both humans and fauna were found to correlate strongly with geography and climate; the most enriched isotopic values are found in the dry steppe areas to the north. Overall, a relatively high enrichment in δ15N values of humans compared to local terrestrial herbivores and carnivores was observed. This indicates that aquatic resources were probably part of the Bronze Age diet in the region although the extent of this needs further investigation. The dramatic effect of environmental factors on isotopic values in the Early Bronze Age of the North Caucasus illustrates how confident conclusions cannot be drawn on the basis of a small number of samples from widely differing regions and time periods. Radiocarbon dating can provide a useful tool for identifying dietary derived reservoir ages in humans, potentially caused by a fish diet. With two possible exceptions, the nine human–animal bone pair dated as part of this study showed no consistent indication for a consistent reservoir effect. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper considers the recent radiometric dating (14C-AMS, TL, ESR) of 76 late Middle and early Upper Paleolithic samples from Ortvale Klde Rockshelter, located in the Republic of Georgia. We present a critical evaluation of each date based on its stratigraphic and archaeological context, its pretreatment and contamination history, and its resulting accuracy and precision, the goal being to establish a sound chronology for the site. Only by systematically identifying aberrant dates within a data set and isolating them from further analysis can we hope to understand cultural and biological phenomena on an accurate temporal scale. Based on the strict discard protocol outlined here, we omit 25% of the dated samples from the analysis. The remaining data speak to the lengthy tenure of Neandertals in the region, but also to their relatively rapid demise and the establishment of modern human populations ∼38–34ka 14C BP (42–39kacalBPHulu). We compare these chronometric data with those from the neighboring sites of Bronze and Dzudzuana caves, as well as Mezmaiskaya Cave, located in the northern Caucasus. While the lack of key contextual information limit our ability to subject these other data sets to the same critical evaluation procedure, they provide the first interregional temporal assessment of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic “transition,” the results of which suggest an initial expansion of modern humans into the southern Caucasus followed by expansion along the Black Sea coast and into the northern Caucasus. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]