The identity of the local communities of Eastern Anatolia, South Caucasus and periphery during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age. A reassessment of the material culture and the socio-economic landscape

The first part of the study presented in this volume analyses the material culture, in particular the architecture and pottery production, of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age social groups belonging to a very extensive area that the Assyrian texts referred to as 'Nairi lands: The Nairi lands roughly encompassed Eastern Anatolia, the South Caucasus and North-western Iran. The second part of the study, based on the literature and the new data presented in the first part, furnishes a reassessment of the pottery production characteristics and theories, one of the main identity markers, as well as of the socio-economic structure and issues, tied to the sedentary and mobile local communities of the Nairi lands. The analysis and reassessment processes are fundamental steps for achieving the final objective of this research, establishing a reliable identity profile of the local communities of the Nairi lands. More specifically, the study brings into focus the characteristics, the extension and the distribution of Grooved pottery, the guide fossil for these period, along with other pottery typologies, by providing a Catalogue with detailed descriptions and high-resolution images of the pots and sherds obtained from public and private institutions in Turkey and Armenia. Moreover, the socio-political organization and subsistence economy issues are address in order to advance a possible reconstruction of the social structure of the Nairi lands communities. Particular attention is devoted to the pastoral nomad component and the role played within the Nairi phenomenon. The last part of the study, in appendix, is devoted to the presentation of the results of the archaeometric analyses delivered by the University of Pisa, the Centre for National Research of Pisa and the University of Valencia on a selection of potsherds collected from key sites in the main areas of research

SOMA 2012. Identity and Connectivity. Proceedings of the 16th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology, Florence, Italy, 1–3 March 2012

Proceedings of the 16th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology, Florence, Italy, 1–3 March 2012

SOMA 2012. Identity and Connectivity. Proceedings of the 16th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology, Florence, Italy, 1–3 March 2012, (Vol. I and II),

Proceedings of the 16th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology, Florence, Italy, 1–3 March 2012

GaRKAP 2018: The first season of the Azero-Italian Ganja Region Kurgan Archaeological Project in Western Azerbaijan

International audienceThe Ganja Region Kurgan Archaeological Project (GaRKAP) is a joint Azero-Italian project that aims at investigating the spread of the tradition of burying the dead in large funerary chambers covered with circular tumuli-that is, kurgans-in the southern Caucasus during a period ranging from the fourth to the first millennium BCE. It is in this region that large numbers of kurgans, dating to the Early Bronze Age (that is, the Kura-Araxes period) through to the Iron Age, have been identified. In particular, the funerary tumuli dated to the Kura-Araxes period reveal a common mortuary custom of multiple human depositions inside a large chamber that is burnt at the conclusion of ritual practices; the Late Bronze/ Early Iron Age burials, on the other hand, are smaller in size and usually present single or double human depositions, furnished with bronze objects and, in some circumstances, the skeletal remains of equids. This paper will present the results of the first season of the archaeological work performed in western Azerbaijan, in the Ganja-Gazakh region. More specifically, it is focused on) the city of Ganja, where a series of Late Bronze/Early Iron Age kurgans are located, and) the steppe of Uzun Rama, along the valley of a creek affluent of the Kura River in the Goranboy district, which is marked by the presence of large kurgans dated to the late fourth millennium BCE and characterised by collective burials.* Introduction (N. Laneri and B. Jalilov

GaRKAP 2018: The first season of the Azero-Italian Ganja Region Kurgan Archaeological Project in Western Azerbaijan

International audienceThe Ganja Region Kurgan Archaeological Project (GaRKAP) is a joint Azero-Italian project that aims at investigating the spread of the tradition of burying the dead in large funerary chambers covered with circular tumuli-that is, kurgans-in the southern Caucasus during a period ranging from the fourth to the first millennium BCE. It is in this region that large numbers of kurgans, dating to the Early Bronze Age (that is, the Kura-Araxes period) through to the Iron Age, have been identified. In particular, the funerary tumuli dated to the Kura-Araxes period reveal a common mortuary custom of multiple human depositions inside a large chamber that is burnt at the conclusion of ritual practices; the Late Bronze/ Early Iron Age burials, on the other hand, are smaller in size and usually present single or double human depositions, furnished with bronze objects and, in some circumstances, the skeletal remains of equids. This paper will present the results of the first season of the archaeological work performed in western Azerbaijan, in the Ganja-Gazakh region. More specifically, it is focused on) the city of Ganja, where a series of Late Bronze/Early Iron Age kurgans are located, and) the steppe of Uzun Rama, along the valley of a creek affluent of the Kura River in the Goranboy district, which is marked by the presence of large kurgans dated to the late fourth millennium BCE and characterised by collective burials.* Introduction (N. Laneri and B. Jalilov

Phase IIIB: The Middle Bronze Age. Pottery

The Hirbemerdon Tepe Archaeological Project was initiated in 2003 as part of a broader cultural heritage rescue project associated with the construction of the Ilısu Dam and planned as part of a scientific collaboration between the University of Catania, the Istituto per l’Africa e l’Oriente and the Archaeological Museum of Dıyarbakir. The site is located on the western bank of the Tigris river about 100 km southeast of the modern city of Dıyarbakir. During the 10 years of archaeological work performed at the site 11 archaeological phases were recorded starting from the fourth millennium BC until the XIXth century AD. This volume represents the final report on the studies of the material culture belonging to this long chronological sequence that was unearthed during the excavations and aims at allowing the interested scholars at reconstructing the history of the settlement as well as a broader sociocultural landscape that involved other social groups inhabiting the upper Tigris region as well as other Anatolian and Mesopotamian regions

Andirons, lamps and portable hearths

The Hirbemerdon Tepe Archaeological Project was initiated in 2003 as part of a broader cultural heritage rescue project associated with the construction of the Ilısu Dam and planned as part of a scientific collaboration between the University of Catania, the Istituto per l’Africa e l’Oriente and the Archaeological Museum of Dıyarbakir. The site is located on the western bank of the Tigris river about 100 km southeast of the modern city of Dıyarbakir. During the 10 years of archaeological work performed at the site 11 archaeological phases were recorded starting from the fourth millennium BC until the XIXth century AD. This volume represents the final report on the studies of the material culture belonging to this long chronological sequence that was unearthed during the excavations and aims at allowing the interested scholars at reconstructing the history of the settlement as well as a broader sociocultural landscape that involved other social groups inhabiting the upper Tigris region as well as other Anatolian and Mesopotamian regions