New data and perspectives on the early stages of the Neolithic in the Middle Kura River Valley (South Caucasus). The 2017–2019 excavations at Kiçik Tepe, Western Azerbaijan

the 7th and the beginning of the 6th millennium BCE are still unclear and hotly debated. It is within this framework that the excavations at Kiçik Tepe, in the middle Kura river valley of Western Azerbaijan, aim to offer new data and new perspectives on the complex interplay of environmental, social and cultural factors that contributed to this process. Excavations at Kiçik Tepe uncovered two main phases of occupation consisting of circular buildings dating to the first centuries of the 6th millennium. Architectural remains allowed us to highlight an evolutionary architectural trajectory hinting at social and productive changes in the role and structure of the households. The subsistence strategies that rely on species domesticated elsewhere show at once a series of specificities highlighting adaptation to the local environment and the exploitation of wild species possibly resulting from previous Mesolithic practices. Simultaneously, while the almost aceramic way of life at Kiçik Tepe outlines a local dialectic between Mesolithic and Neolithic cooking practices, lithic and macrolithic tools pinpoint broadly shared regional elements as well as very localised traits framed into both long and short distance contacts. As a whole the new evidence from Kiçik Tepe highlights that the Neolithisation in the South Caucasus was not a straightforward process that consisted of the abrupt and homogenous adoption of an exogenous ‘package’ but most probably of a gradual and complex process of change resulting from dynamics of resistance and innovation between old and new socio-economic and cultural models

Archaeobotanical and isotopic evidence of Early Bronze Age farming activities and diet in the mountainous environment of the South Caucasus: A pilot study of Chobareti site (Samtskhe-Javakheti region)

Recent excavation at the site of Chobareti (1615 m a.s.l., South Caucasus Mountains) reveals an important Kura-Araxes settlement and eleven burials so far, for which a first multi-proxies approach was conducted to understand both exploitation of plants and human dietary practices in this mountainous area. Thanks to the excavation of several pits, in 2011, a well-reasoned sampling for archaeobotanical analysis, including phytoliths, pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs, charcoal, seeds and other plant macroremains was undertaken. In parallel, human, animal bones and wheat seeds were recovered in order to perform stable isotope analysis (δ13C, δ15N). Results show the strong presence of cereals (especially naked wheat, as a hexaploid form, and emmer), highlighting the role played by cereal growing in the Kura-Araxes farming activities. Plant macroremains, but also phytoliths recovered in pits, reflect processing activities on the site. While animal dung seems to have been used to enhance cereal yields, different herding practices can be suggested by δ15N values. Whereas δ13C values and archaeobotanical data agree for a consumption of C3 plants, with no significant input in wheat for both animals and humans, a homogeneous mixed diet, with a great contribution of animal protein source (meat, secondary products) has been observed