Bronze and Early Iron Age Archaeological Sites in Armenia I: Mt. Aragats and its Surrounding Region

Author(s):  
R. S. Badalyan ◽  
P. S. Avetisyan
2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-87
Author(s):  
Pavel A. Gusenkov ◽  

The article examines the substrate hydronymy of the middle Oka and the Dnieper regions (ending in -va, -da, etc.) that is typically attributed to the West-Baltic toponymic stratum and associated with the language of the Moschinskaya archaeological culture and the related archaeological sites. The author analyzed its spatial distribution in the East European Plain. The study has found that: 1) the spread of names of waterbodies ending in -va correlates with the distribution scheme of substrate Baltic hydronymy in general and the monuments of the Dnieper-Dvina, Yukhnovskaya, and Late Dyakovo cultures of the Early Iron Age; 2) the spread of hydronyms with zh/z sound variation (including as a distinctive feature) correlates with the Krivich and Radimich culture areas, and the range of Russian dialects with lisping pronunciation which makes no difference between sibilants and hushing sounds; 3) Baltic hydronymy ending in -da is not attested in the area of the Moschinskaya culture and related archaeological sites; 4) among the names with the root ape-/upe- found in the same cultural milieu, only those containing Eastern Baltic variant are verifiable; 5) the hypothesis for East Baltic origination of the names with the root stab- is not inferior to the West Baltic; 6) there are no sufficient grounds for tracing some river names to the Prussian words pannean and sug since most of these hydronyms refer to a later period while the others have more plausible explanations; 7) for some hydronyms (Zerna, Opochinka, Ponya, Sezhikovka, etc.) the substrate origin is not confirmed. Based on the above observations, the hypothesis for the presence of a West-Baltic layer of hydronymy in the middle Oka region and the consequent assumption of the West-Baltic origin of the Moshinskaya culture were disputed.


Author(s):  
Mikhail Krivosheev ◽  
◽  
Evgeniy Pererva ◽  
Maksim Eltsov ◽  
◽  
...  

Introduction. Recent archaeological studies deal with the integration of natural science disciplines. Such scientific interaction includes the reconstruction of climatic changes, human adaptation to the changing conditions of nature, study of sociocultural specifics in nomadic groups as well as rising archaeological cultures, with emphasis on the interconnection between the fluctuations of steppe environmental conditions and steppe populations. Analysis. The article presents the results of the carried out interdisciplinary analysis of classic and modern archaeological studies and natural science disciplines. This allows evaluating the specifics of different factors (paleoclimatic, sociocultural, etc.) influencing the “steppe-human” system in a new way. Such factors as registered climatic changes, spreading areas of archaeological cultures, mortuary funeral rites, results of paleoanthropological examination, written records and ethnographic data provide evidence to reconstructing different time-span events of early nomads’ history in one context. The reconstruction of historical reality shows quite strong correlation between the environment and specific features in the development of ancient steppe societies. Human has high adaptive abilities to changing factors. However, the steppe population mode of life is extremely conservative and it has practically never changed during the Sarmatian or Sauromatian history. Climate fluctuations over the steppe area influenced the demographic and social structure of nomadic society. During auspicious periods, nomadic communities became populous and active politically and military. If negative factors dominated, the population tended to decrease and the social structure tended to simplify. Critical indicators of aridization and humidization in Eurasian steppes are followed with the population outflow, which is evidenced by small amount of archaeological sites or even by vanishing of cultures. Results. Thus, the authors conclude that when studying archaeological sites of the Early Iron Age nomadic cultures, it is necessary to consider the steppe and human as a single organism responsive to changing and a strong impact of environmental and socio-cultural factors.


1970 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 172-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. Phillipson

Considerable attention has recently been paid to the start of the Iron Age in East and Central Africa. One of the most interesting problems concerning this period is that of the relationship of the Early Iron Age farming people to the hunter-gatherers of the Late Stone Age whom they eventually displaced. Very few archaeological sites are known, and none have yet been published, which illustrate the Late Stone Age/Iron Age transition in Central Africa, and discussions of this and related problems have so far been largely based on conjecture. Evidence concerning this important transition was recently unearthed at Nakapapula rockshelter in the Serenje District of central Zambia. Here a long and relatively homogeneous Late Stone Age sequence of Nachikufan type was seen to continue into the 2nd millennium A.D., that is, well after the first appearance of Early Iron Age pottery at this site and elsewhere in Zambia. Nakapapula has also yielded the first archaeological evidence for the date of schematic rock art in Central Africa and confirmed its contemporaneity with the Early Iron Age.


Author(s):  
A.O. Zakharov ◽  

The Mekong River Delta has many archaeological sites dated from the first to seventh centuries CE. They include the Oc Eo site and more than ninety sites in the territory of Vietnam. Another site of the Oc Eo archaeological culture is Angkor Borei in Cambodia. The early first millennium remains also include ancient canals which connected Angkor Borei and Oc Eo as well as few other sites. The early Iron Age predates the beginning of the Oc Eo culture in the first centuries CE. The Iron Age witnessed the growing social complexity and settlement hierarchy. The paper is an overview of archaeological investigations in the Mekong River Delta. The paper shows the deep Indian or Indic influences on the material and religious life of the ancient populations of the Mekong Delta.


2013 ◽  
pp. 111-118
Author(s):  
Darko Radmanovic ◽  
Desanka Kostic ◽  
Jelena Lujic ◽  
Svetlana Blazic

After decades-long vertebrate fauna research, out of 42 archaeological sites in Vojvodina (Serbia) from different periods ranging from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages, remains of birds were registered at 17 sites (4 from the Neolithic, 1 from the Early Iron Age, 7 from the Late Iron Age, 5 from the Roman Period, 1 from the Migration Period, and 4 from the Middle Ages). A total of 14 species and 4 genera were registered for this vertebrate class. The richest ornithofauna is from the Neolithic, where 9 species and 3 genera were registered. The Migration and Medieval periods are next with 4 registered species and one genus each. There were 3 species registered from the Roman Period, and 2 species from the Late Iron Age. The poorest ornitofauna was registered from the Early Iron Age, only one species.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-376
Author(s):  
A. Ya. Kungurtsev ◽  
R. R. Suleymanov ◽  
V. V. Ovsyannikov ◽  
N. S. Savelev ◽  
E. V. Abakumov ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Oleh Osaulchuk ◽  
Zoya Ilchyshyn

The article offers results of preliminary archaeological investigations, conducted by Scientific Research Center «Rescue Archaeological Service» (Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine) in 2007 and 2017, prior to the construction project of the bypass road around Berezhany town in Ternopil region. It provides information concerning the newly discovered archeological sites as well as the elaboration of the obtainable data on formerly revealed sites in the surroundings of villages Lisnyky, Lapshyn, Hayok and Hlynovychi. According to archival and bibliographic data, archaeological surveys were previously conducted in 2006 by the expeditions of Mykhailo Filipchuk and Mykola Bandrivsky nearby villages Lapshyn and Hynovychi. However, the summaries of these surveys are insufficiently published and besides presenting the incoherent results, which cause some confusion in the number of sites. In 2007, expedition of Rescue Archaeological Service has re-examined the multi-layered settlement Hynovychi I, collecting the items from the Late Paleolithic to the Early Iron Age. Subsequent rescue archeological excavations were carried out in 2008 by the expedition led by Bohdan Salo. Ancient Rus settlement Hlynovychi III was discovered adjacent to the previous site. Around the village Lapshyn, additional archeological sites were discovered, namely Lapshyn III, IV, V, and VI, which behold several phases of the region’s inhabitants starting from the Paleolithic and until the Age of Principalities. Materials of Vysotsko and Chernyakhiv cultures are predominant on these sites. Four groups of barrows were located on the forested hills near village Lisnyky, named therefore Lisnyky I, II, III, and IV. They contain a total of 20 barrows, which could be dated to the Bronze Age. Altogether, the explorations of 2007 and 2017 has newly discovered or identified ten archaeological sites, including settlements and burrow necropolises. Seven previously known settlement were localized due to the updated information. As a result, the archeological map of the region was significantly supplemented, with the names and numbers of archaeological sites well-coordinated. Some of the ancient settlements and the barrow groups are located along the route of future bypass road, thus making it necessary to conduct preventive archaeological excavations. The results of intended studies will definitely clarify cultural and chronological identity of these sites. Key words: archeological surveys, preventive archeological studies, assessments of the impact on the archeological heritage, bypass road around Berezhany town, settlement, barrow group, Paleolithic, Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, Late Antiquity, Vysotsko culture, Chernyakhiv culture, Age of Principalities.


2013 ◽  
pp. 103-110
Author(s):  
Darko Radmanovic ◽  
Desanka Kostic ◽  
Jelena Lujic ◽  
Svetlana Blazic

Based on current published and unpublished research results, a total of 34 vertebrate species from 4 classes have been registered at 9 archaeological sites from the Early Iron Age in Vojvodina (Serbia). The most numerous one is the mammal class (Mammalia) with 22 species, then osteichthyes class (Osteichthyes) with 10 species, while birds (Aves) and reptiles (Reptilia) are repsented with one species each. From the Late Iron Age, at 14 archaeological sites, a total of 21 species were registered, of which 16 belong to the mammal class (Mammalia), birds (Aves) are represented by 2 species, and osteichthyes (Osteichthyes) by 3 species.


Author(s):  
Sergei B. Valchak

The article discusses various opinions related to the solution of the “Cimmerian problem”, set out in the Russian-language scientific literature in the period of the XX-beginning of the XXI centuries. Special attention is paid to the historiography of the question of the cultural and economic type of the Cimmerians and the approach of various researchers to its definition. The author also considers the question of the material culture of the Cimmerians and the archaeological sites associated with them, their interpretations and various hypotheses proposed at different times by researchers of the archeology of the Early Iron Age, chronological concepts. The author supports the hypothesis of T.M. Kuznetsova about the insufficient argumentation of the statement about the Cimmerians-nomads and the hypothesis of V.R. Erlikh about the identification with the Cimmerians of archaeological sites of the classical Novocherkassk stage of the pre-Scythian period, which is characterized by a peculiar and massive complex of horse equipment and weapons of soldiers-riders. In a wide chronological range, these sites can be dated no earlier than the last quarter of the 8th, and probably no later than the middle of the 7th century BC. The horizon of the few monuments of the “Jabotinsky type” in the south of Eastern Europe, which does not have a local substrate, is considered to belong to the early Scythians no earlier than the end of the first quarter of the 7th century, before the beginning of their cam-paigns in Transcaucasia, the countries of Near Asia in the 7th century BC.


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Castelluccia

The present paper aims to evaluate the archaeological landscape patterns of the territory of the present-day Republic of Armenia and Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan. The area has been divided into six main regions which are considered in three different epochs, the Early Iron Age, the Urartian and the Achaemenid periods, which also express three different models of territorial control and organization. The distribution and features of the main archaeological sites (namely fortified and unfortified settlements, and cemeteries) are described in order to analyze the transformation of the archaeological landscape over three different chronological and political phases.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document