Trialeti culture

The Trialeti culture is a Middle Bronze Age culture in Armenia and eastern Georgia . She followed the Kura Araxes culture .

Research history

The Trialeti culture was defined by Boris A. Kuftin { no evidence} based on the burial mounds in Trialeti (Southeast Georgia). He assigned them to the Early and Middle Bronze Age, around 2200–1500 BC. Chr., To.

Settlements

Settlements are known from Berikldeebi and Kakheti , among others .

Material culture

The ceramic has a black or gray, highly polished surface and probably partly imitates metal vessels. The decoration is carved or sculpted, sometimes also stamped from the middle phase. In the early phase the vessels were sometimes lined with pink on the inside and had a broad neck and a narrow base. Later the vessels were made with the potter's wheel. Painting is especially common in the late stages. In addition to ceramics, wooden vessels are also known, some of which are decorated ( Bedeni , Kurgan 5). In addition to bronze, gold and silver, obsidian was still processed, so the Grand Kurgan of Top-Kar 1 contained numerous winged, surface-retouched obsidian arrowheads.

Lance tips, shaft hole axes, daggers and swords were made from bronze. The Caucasian arsenic bronze was mostly used, but tin bronze was also known (Martkopi, Trialeti Kurgan 18). Pearls, needles and fittings were made from gold. Silver was used to decorate bronze objects (lance tip from Kurgan 18 in Trialeti), but it was also made into needles and vessels (beakers from Trialeti, Kurgan 5, figuratively decorated using the punching technique). Ushakov sees Hittite influence in the depiction of the Trialeti cup . Animal figures (Znori) and vessels, some of which were decorated with attached semi-precious stones (Trialeti) and needle heads (Bedeni) were made from gold. Pure antimony was also processed into jewelry. On the silver beaker from the Zalka plateau, a procession of 22 men is depicted, moving towards a person on a throne. A cult act or a tribute payment may be depicted. The frieze below shows a train of deer.

Sakdrissi is the name of an early Bronze Age mining area near the village of Kazreti near Bolnissi in the south-eastern Georgian region of Niederkartlien , which had previously only been investigated as a copper ore deposit. During excavations in 2005 and 2007, the oldest known gold mine was discovered here, which began in the 3rd millennium BC. Is dated. The Trialeti culture is known for its numerous objects made of gold.

Economy

Since the settlements are sparse and the burial mounds were mostly built in higher elevations, many researchers assume that cattle breeding, especially cattle, predominates. Cattle also played a role in the burial ritual. Sheep and pigs are documented by bone finds. Wool threads from the graves prove the importance of sheep breeding.

Burials

The burial mounds ( Kurgane ) mostly contain wooden burial chambers and rich gifts. Chariot graves are numerous. Remnants of paint on bones found in the area around the Kzia indicate mummification. The wagons were probably pulled by oxen, some of which were also buried (Schepjanski Kurgan). The hills, mostly made of a stone earth mixture, can have a diameter of up to 100 m (Grakliantgora). The oval Great Kurgan of Znori has a maximum diameter of almost 170 m. In the chambers, mostly made of oak, there are partially decorated wooden coffins (Bedeni, Kurgan 5). Some installations made from dry stone walls are also known. In the later phase, cremations also occur (Top-Kar 1).

Copper daggers, obsidian arrowheads and various golden objects were found among grave goods . Silver additions were also found, and in some areas also clay dishes. In the heyday, the larger kurgan were laid out with stone slabs and decorated with ceramics. In some Kurganen representations were discovered on the stone walls, which, according to the archaeologist Otar Japaridze, represent a simple script , which, however, has not developed further. The burials have often been robbed since ancient times.

Causes of change

Some researchers attribute these developments to the immigration of possibly Indo-European cattle nomads. Heinz Fähnrich, on the other hand, assumes a lowering of the groundwater level as the cause, which has restricted arable farming so that the old settlements of the Kura-Araxes culture were abandoned, cattle breeding gained importance and people colonized the mountains and highlands.

literature

Otar Lordkipanidze : Archeology in Georgia. From the Paleolithic to the Middle Ages (= sources and research on prehistoric and Roman provincial archeology. Vol. 5). VCH, Acta Humaniora, Weinheim 1991, ISBN 3-527-17531-8 .
Arianna Zischow: The Bronze Age sites of the Tsalka Plateau in Trialeti / Georgia in the context of the Bronze Age of Transcaucasia . Diploma thesis, master thesis, Tübingen 2006 ( online ).

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Otar Lordkipanidze: Archeology in Georgia. 1991, p. 55.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Heinz Fähnrich : History of Georgia from its beginnings to Mongol rule. Shaker, Aachen 1993, ISBN 3-86111-683-9 , p. 24 ff.
↑ Thomas Stöllner , Irina Gambaschidze, Andreas Hauptmann, Giorgi Mindiašvili, Giorgi Gogočuri, Gero Steffens: Gold Mining in Southeast Georgia - New Research on Early Bronze Age Mining in Georgia. German Mining Museum Bochum on bergbaumuseum.de

[Lordkipanidse-1] Otar Lordkipanidze: Archeology in Georgia. 1991, p. 55.

[fahnrich-2] Heinz Fähnrich : History of Georgia from its beginnings to Mongol rule. Shaker, Aachen 1993, ISBN 3-86111-683-9 , p. 24 ff.

[3] Thomas Stöllner , Irina Gambaschidze, Andreas Hauptmann, Giorgi Mindiašvili, Giorgi Gogočuri, Gero Steffens: Gold Mining in Southeast Georgia - New Research on Early Bronze Age Mining in Georgia. German Mining Museum Bochum on bergbaumuseum.de