Located in the centre of present-day Georgia, in what is traditionally considered the heart of the Kura-Araxes culture, the Shida Kartli region hosts a relatively high number of excavated Kura-Araxes sites, as well as several sites of the preceding Late Chalcolithic and of the following Early Kurgan cultures. It therefore offers a good opportunity to analyse one of the regional variants of the Kura-Araxes culture in its diachronic development. The paper describes the stratigraphy of the main Kura-Araxes sites of the region, discusses available evidence concerning architecture, settlement patterns, burial customs, pottery and other categories of fi nds, and attempts at drawing up a relative chronology of the region on the basis of stratigraphy, chrono-typology and recent 14 C evidence. The origins and the end of the Kura-Araxes culture in Shida Kartli, and the changing patterns in the subsistence and social organisation of the local population are discussed in the wider framework of contemporary developments in the neighbouring regions. Résumé : Située au centre de l'actuelle Géorgie, dans ce qui est traditionnellement considéré comme le coeur de la culture Kura-Araxe, la région de Shida Kartli abrite un nombre relativement élevé de sites Kura-Araxe fouillés, mais aussi plusieurs sites antérieurs, du Chalcolithique récent, et postérieurs (époque des 'Early Kurgans'). Cette région offre donc une bonne opportunité pour analyser l'une des variantes régionales de la culture Kura-Araxe dans son développement diachronique. Dans cet article, la stratigraphie des principaux sites Kura-Araxe de la région est décrite; y sont examinées les données disponibles sur l'architecture, la répartition des sites, les coutumes funéraires, la poterie et d'autres catégories de mobilier. Une chronologie relative de la région est dressée sur la base de données stratigraphiques, chrono-typologiques et de datations radiocarbone récentes. Les origines et la fi n de la culture Kura-Araxe dans la région de Shida Kartli et l'évolution des modes de subsistance et d'organisation sociale de la population locale sont présentées dans le cadre élargi des développements contemporains dans les régions voisines.
Pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs from two zoomorphic Kura-Araxes vessels (ca. 3000 B.C.) from Aradetis Orgora suggest they were utilized for the ritual consumption of wine and likely represent the beginning of the enduring tradition of animal-shaped wine-drinking containers in Georgia. This hypothesis is supported by archaeological and geoarchaeological data: they resemble later wine-containing vessels from Georgia and elsewhere and were found in a building whose context is suggestive of a small shrine. Their palynological spectra match those of present-day wine and wine containers of other periods. One of them was intact, with only a small access hole; consequently, its palynological spectrum can be utilized as a standard for determining the presence of wine in other archaeological vessels. Palynological analyses from different contexts of the Aradetis Orgora settlement and its cemetery (Doghlauri) yielded other significant results regarding the practice of viticulture and the cultural relevance of wine during the Kura-Araxes period.
ABSTRACT. The absolute chronology of the Kura-Araxes (KA) culture in the Southern Caucasus still represents 7 a challenge due to the fragmentation and inadequacy of the radiocarbon record, as well as the inconsistencies in 8 material typologies in the region. Recent archaeological fieldwork at the site of Aradetis Orgora in the Shida Kartli 9 region of Georgia revealed four occupation levels dating to the KA II phase according to the local relative chronol-10 ogy.14 C samples were collected from reliable contexts and further selected according to reliability criteria, taking into 11 account both archaeological issues and lab procedures. FTIR was applied in order to determine the preservation of 12 charcoals and to monitor the efficiency of lab treatments on all the samples. Only accurate 14 C measurements were 13 selected for Bayesian analysis incorporating stratigraphic information. Two models were run, the second of which 14 simulated intervals corresponding to unexcavated stratigraphy or due to a lack of samples. In this article, the
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