Cyclopean fortresses

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Cyclopean fortresses are a characteristic form of settlement of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in Transcaucasia (1500-780 BC). They are perhaps the pre-forms of the Urartian fortresses of the late Iron Age. They were presumably tribal centers, which Smith describes as the capitals of small states, which presumably overstates the extent of political centralization.

construction

Cyclopean fortresses are located on hilltops, the walls follow the contours of the terrain. They are built from irregular stones. Some have irregular bastions. The culture layers are usually only thin. Extensive burial grounds have been found at some fortresses.

distribution

Cyclopean fortresses can be found in Armenia ( Ararat , Shirak and Tsakahovit plains , south of Lake Sevan ), in Georgia ( Trialeti plateau), in western Azerbaijan along the Kura and north-eastern Turkey.

Dating

The excavations in Horom have C 14 dates between 1600 and 1300 BC. Delivered. Important locations are:

literature

  • Rubin S. Badaljan, Christopher Edens, Philip L. Kohl, Armen V. Tonikjan, Archaeological Investigations at Horom in the Shirak Plain of Northwestern Armenia, 1990. Iran 30, 1992, 31-48.
  • Rubin S. Badaljan et al., Preliminary report on the 1992 excavatins at Horom, Armenia. Iran 32, 1994, 1-22.
  • Ruben S. Badaljan, Philip L. Kohl, David Stronach, Armen V. Tonikjan, Preliminary Report on the 1993 Excavations at Horom, Armenia. Iran 32, 1994, 1-29.
  • Philip L. Kohl, Migrations and Cultural diffusions in the later Prehistory of the Caucasus. In: Ricardo Eichmann / Hermnann Parzinger (eds.), Migration und Kulturtransfer (Bonn, Habelt 2001) 313–327.
  • K. Kuznareva, The southern Caucasus in prehistory. Philadelphia 1997.
  • Adam T. Smith, Koriun Kafadrian, New plans of early Iron Age and Urartian fortresses in Armenia: a preliminary report. Iran 34, 1996, 23-37.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adam T. Smith, The Making of an Urartian Landscape in Southern Transcaucasia: A Study of Political Architectonics. American Journal of Archeology 103/1, 1999, 48
  2. ↑ cf. Reinard Bernbeck, Political Structure and Ideology in Urartu. Archaeological reports from Iran and Turan 35/36, 267–312 about the late Iron Age
  3. ↑ Philip L. Kohl, Migrations and Cultural diffusions in the later Prehistory of the Caucasus. In: Ricardo Eichmann / Hermnann Parzinger (eds.), Migration und Kulturtransfer (Bonn, Habelt 2001) 324