The Caucasus-Economic and Social Analysis Journal of Southern Caucasus

Despite the important roles that horses have played in human history, particularly in the spread of languages and cultures, and correspondingly intensive research on this topic, the origin of domestic horses remains elusive. Several domestication centers have been hypothesized, but most of these have been invalidated through recent paleogenetic studies. Anatolia is a region with an extended history of horse exploitation that has been considered a candidate for the origins of domestic horses but has never been subject to detailed investigation. Our paleogenetic study of pre- and protohistoric horses in Anatolia and the Caucasus, based on a diachronic sample from the early Neolithic to the Iron Age (~8000 to ~1000 BCE) that encompasses the presumed transition from wild to domestic horses (4000 to 3000 BCE), shows the rapid and large-scale introduction of domestic horses at the end of the third millennium BCE. Thus, our results argue strongly against autochthonous independent domestication of horses in Anatolia.

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Pollen morphology of some species of the genus Quercus L. (Fagaceae) in the Southern Caucasus and adjacent areas

10.35535/acpa-2020-0001 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-42

Author(s):

Alla Hayrapetyan ◽

Angela A. Bruch

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Region ◽

Introgressive Hybridization ◽

Pollen Grains ◽

Morphological Type ◽

The Caucasus ◽

Modern Species ◽

Pollen Surface ◽

Exine Ornamentation ◽

Southern Caucasus ◽

High Degree

The palynomorphology of 19 modern species of the genus Quercus L. native to Armenia and adjacent regions, including the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, the Mediterranean region (especially Turkey), as well as Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, was studied using light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The work revealed two main types of apertures (3-zonocolpate, 3-zonocolp-porate) as well as six morphological types of pollen based on three main types of exine ornamentation (tuberculate, verrucate, rugulate). We suggest that two main groups of exine ornamentation developed from a common initial type. The first group covers all species of the subgenus Quercus and also Q. suber and Q. alnifolia of the subgenus Heterobalanus. The second group is limited to the morphological type Q. ilex (species Q. ilex, Q. coccifera, subgenus Heterobalanus). On the other hand, the presence of widespread interspecific and introgressive hybridization within the genus Quercus indicates an ongoing process of speciation. This also has an effect on pollen features, which are very similar in a number of species but also vary in individual samples even within the same species. The morphological uniformity of the pollen surface (especially for the subgenus Quercus), the presence of islets of secondary sporopollenin on the surface of pollen grains, as well as orbicules in anthers, do not indicate general primitiveness of representatives of this genus but most likely denote a relatively high degree of speciation activity within this group.

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New insights into the Upper Palaeolithic of the Caucasus through the study of personal ornaments. Teeth and bones pendants from Satsurblia and Dzudzuana caves (Imereti, Georgia)

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0258974 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (11) ◽

pp. e0258974

Author(s):

José-Miguel Tejero ◽

Guy Bar-Oz ◽

Ofer Bar-Yosef ◽

Tengiz Meshveliani ◽

Nino Jakeli ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cervus Elaphus ◽

Detailed Comparison ◽

Upper Paleolithic ◽

Northern Eurasia ◽

Upper Palaeolithic ◽

The Caucasus ◽

Use Wear ◽

Anatomically Modern Humans ◽

Southern Caucasus ◽

Aesthetic Values

The region of western Georgia (Imereti) in the Southern Caucasus has been a major geographic corridor for human migrations during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Data of recent research and excavations in this region display its importance as a possible route for the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) into northern Eurasia. Nevertheless, within the local research context, bone-working and personal ornaments have yet contributed but little to the Upper Palaeolithic (UP) regional sequence’s characterization. Here we present an archaeozoological, technological and use-wear study of pendants from two local UP assemblages, originating in the Dzudzuana Cave and Satsurblia Cave. The ornaments were made mostly of perforated teeth, though some specimens were made on bone. Both the manufacturing marks made during preparation and use-wear traces indicate that they were personal ornaments, used as pendants or attached to garments. Detailed comparison between ornament assemblages from northern and southern Caucasus reveal that they are quite similar, supporting the observation of cultural bonds between the two regions, demonstrated previously through lithic techno-typological affinities. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance attributed to red deer (Cervus elaphus) by the UP societies of the Caucasus in sharing aesthetic values and/or a symbolic sphere.

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On the Pliocene Flora of Transcaucasia

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s0016756800109835 ◽

1922 ◽

Vol 59 (7) ◽

pp. 294-299

Author(s):

J. W. Palibin

Keyword(s):

Northern Hemisphere ◽

Point Of View ◽

Deciduous Trees ◽

The Caucasus ◽

Fagus Orientalis ◽

Beech Tree ◽

History Of ◽

Southern Caucasus ◽

Trees And Shrubs

It is well known that the existing flora of Western Caucasia is of great interest from the point of view of the origin of the floras of Europe and Asia, as in it have survived to this day numerous types of plants which were widely spread over the Northern Hemisphere during Tertiary times. The Palæontological history of the Tertiary Flora of the Caucasus is very meagre. The Pliocene Flora of the Caucasus is discussed by me in my work on the presence of the leaves of the recent Caucasus beech-tree (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) and some other species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the Pliocene beds, the so-called “Aktschagyl Series”, of the Elisapethpol province. It is worthy of remark that the wood was found in seams interstratified with beds rich in well-preserved Pliocene shells, which could be determined with certainty. It was proved that in the southern Caucasus there existed in Pliocene times the same species of beech as at present.

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IRAN, SAUDI ARABIA AND TURKEY: EMERGING RELIGIOUS IDENTITY OF AZERBAIJAN

Central Asia and the Caucasus ◽

10.37178/ca-c.21.3.013 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 157-167

Author(s):

Askar Battalov ◽

Svetlana Kozhirova ◽

Tleutai Suleimenov

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

Middle East ◽

Religious Identity ◽

Middle Eastern ◽

Political Factor ◽

Religious Identities ◽

The Caucasus ◽

Islamic World ◽

Southern Caucasus ◽

The Impact

The authors discuss the evolution of religious identity of Azerbaijan and the impact of Middle Eastern actors (Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey) on the process. Today, the pro-Islamic leaders of the Middle East are attempting, with the persistence that can hardly be overestimated, to move into the Southern Caucasus, one of the world’s strategically important regions. Thus, the uncompromising rivalry of religious ideologies is hardly surprising. It means that the national and religious identities of post-Soviet Azerbaijan have come to the fore in the context of Iranian-Turkic, Iranian-Arab and Shi‘a-Sunni confrontation. Today, there are enough drivers behind the already obvious awareness of their religious identity among young Azeris. The complicated search for national and religious identities in independent Azerbaijan is driven by an outburst of national and religious sentiments during the protracted Karabakh conflict and two wars with Armenia (in 1992-1994 and 2020). The process is unfolding under the huge influence of theocratic Shi‘a Iran, the closest neighbor with its twenty-five million-strong Azeri diaspora; proliferation of the puritanical Wahhabi teaching of Saudi Arabia and Salafism as its export variant throughout the Caucasus, and, last but not least, strategic rapprochement with Turkey that is moving away from nationalism towards Islamism. This has made Azerbaijan a fertile soil for a confrontation within the multipolar Islamic world, which is expanding the geography of its conflicts to the Southern Caucasus. The proxy wars in Syria and Iraq, in which the Shi‘a-Sunni confrontation is also obvious may destabilize the Caucasus in the future. Here the authors assess the impact of the Middle Eastern heavyweights—Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey— on the process of shaping the Azeri religious identity as an Islamic political factor.

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PRODUCT INNOVATION AS THE CAUSE OF EXPORT PROPENSITY IN THE CAUCASUS: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FOR ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN AND GEORGIA

Central Asia and the Caucasus ◽

10.37178/ca-c.21.2.08 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 090-100

Author(s):

Krystian BIGOS ◽

Krzysztof WACH

Keyword(s):

Economic Transition ◽

Early Stage ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

General Level ◽

The South ◽

The Caucasus ◽

Product Innovations ◽

Southern Caucasus ◽

Enterprise Survey

Despite the extensiveness and abundance of empirical research in the existing literature, there is no clear view or position with respect to the role of innovation in exporting, especially regarding the heterogeneous impacts of different types of innovations (product, process, organizational and marketing innovations) on exporting. The objective of this article is the empirical verification of innovation as the cause of export propensity in firms from the South Caucasian countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia). The empirical investigation is based on the data collected by the Enterprise Survey (World Bank Microdata), conducted among companies located in the Southern Caucasus. Seven hundred and seventy-six firms were selected through an appropriate procedure, including 279 from Armenia, 236 from Azerbaijan, and 261 from Georgia. Logit regression models were applied to determine the chances of exporting, depending on the type of innovations implemented by each company. The results of binomial logistic regression analysis demonstrate that product innovations play an important role in explaining SMEs’ export propensity in the South Caucasian countries. Moreover, the likelihood of export is seen to be positively related to the share of foreign capital in company structure. The general level of economy innovativeness in the Caucasus is low, but the share of foreign ownership in companies under consideration was relatively high, so the foreign investors probably played a key role in the innovations implemented by local ventures. It is most likely due to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia going through an early stage in economic transition, in which soft innovations (organizational and marketing innovations) lag behind hard innovations. There is an evident lack of empirical studies of the role of innovation in the development of export in emerging countries, including the South Caucasian countries, and it still remains largely underexplored; therefore, the novelty of this research lies in the exploration of the Caucasian countries as emerging markets.

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Dzudzuana: an Upper Palaeolithic cave site in the Caucasus foothills (Georgia)

Antiquity ◽

10.1017/s0003598x0006779x ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 85 (328) ◽

pp. 331-349 ◽

Cited By ~ 46

Author(s):

Ofer Bar-Yosef ◽

Anna Belfer-Cohen ◽

Tengiz Mesheviliani ◽

Nino Jakeli ◽

Guy Bar-Oz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Modern Human ◽

Northern Slope ◽

Upper Palaeolithic ◽

Bone Tools ◽

The Caucasus ◽

Art Objects ◽

Animal Remains ◽

Southern Caucasus ◽

The Rich ◽

Point Of Reference

The report announces the important radiocarbon-dated sequence recently obtained at Dzudzuana Cave in the southern Caucasus foothills. The first occupants here were modern humans, in c. 34.5–32.2 ka cal BP, and comparison with dated sequences on the northern slope of the Caucasus suggests that their arrival was rapid and widespread. The rich, well-dated assemblages of lithics, bone tools and a few art objects, coloured fibres, pollen and animal remains deposited at Dzudzuana through 20 millennia provide an invaluable point of reference for numerous other sites previously excavated in western Georgia. Detailed information has been placed in a supplementary excavation report online. The data support the significance of these excavations for a better understanding of modern human dispersals.

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