Browsing by Author "Jachvliani, Dimitri"

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    Direct evidence for the co-manufacturing of early iron and copper-alloy artifacts in the Caucasus
    (Elsevier, 2020-09-16) Erb-Satullo, Nathaniel L.; Jachvliani, Dimitri; Kakhiani, Kakha; Newman, Richard
    Models for iron innovation in Eurasia are predicated on understanding the relationship between the bronze and iron industries. In eastern Anatolia, the South Caucasus, and Iran, the absence of scientific analyses of metallurgical debris has obscured the relative chronology, spatial organization, and economic context of early iron and contemporary copper-alloy industries. Survey and excavation at Mtsvane Gora, a fortified hilltop site close to major polymetallic ore sources in the Lesser Caucasus range, recovered metallurgical debris dating to the 8th-6th centuries BC. Optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy and wavelength dispersive spectrometry revealed evidence for both iron and copper-alloy metallurgy, including smithing and alloying. Metal particles trapped within clear iron smithing slags were contaminated with copper, arsenic, and tin, suggesting that iron and copper-alloy working took place in the same hearths. The discovery of a small fragment of unprocessed material consisting of pyrite and jarosite, minerals typical of major nearby polymetallic ore deposits, links the secondary smithing and alloying at Mtsvane Gora with nearby mining activities, though the nature of those connections remains unclear. While the earliest iron in the region probably predates the Mtsvane Gora assemblage, the remains date to a period when iron use was still expanding, and they are at present the earliest analytically confirmed, radiocarbon-dated iron metallurgical debris in the Caucasus. The remains are therefore significant for understanding the spread of iron innovation eastward from Anatolia and the Levant. When considered in light of evidence from other Near Eastern sites, the results support a model for innovation in which early iron manufacturing was at least partially integrated with the copper-alloy metallurgical economy.
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    Fortified communities in the South Caucasus: insights from Mtsvane Gora and Dmanisis Gora
    (Taylor and Francis, 2022-05-20) Erb-Satullo, Nathaniel L.; Jachvliani, Dimitri
    Fortresses are defining features of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age landscape in the South Caucasus, with hundreds of sites recorded in archaeological surveys in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and northeastern Turkey. Yet, research on how these communities functioned is dominated by evidence from the small fraction of these sites that have been excavated, and regional variability remains underexplored. This paper discusses excavations at two such fortresses in the Lesser Caucasus borderlands and contextualizes them within global discussions about fortresses and their associated communities. Analysis of architecture, ceramics, and small finds identified evidence for a diverse range of activities within these compounds, including both craft production and ritual activity. While the size and construction of the two fortresses differ, the evidence for significant occupation at both suggests that these fortresses were durable communities, not temporary refugia. Further work is necessary, however, to assess whether these fortresses were highly ordered institutions centralized under elite rule or heterarchical communities joined by common interest.
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    Mega-fortresses in the South Caucasus: new data from Southern Georgia
    (Cambridge University Press, 2025-02) Erb-Satullo, Nathaniel; Jachvliani, Dimitri; Higham, Richard; O’Neil Weber-Boer, Kathryn; Symons, Alex; Portes, Ruth
    Contemporary global research on large settlements (both urban and non-urban) has prompted a reassessment of factors driving population aggregation. The rise of large fortress settlements in the South Caucasus c. 1500-500 BCE has the potential to contribute to this discussion. A comprehensive aerial and ground-based survey of the large fortress-settlement of Dmanisis Gora reveals its distinctive character. Substantial defensive walls and stone architecture in the outer settlement contrast with evidence for apparent low intensity of occupation. These results have implications for pastoralist-driven population aggregation in Eurasia and beyond.
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    Obsidian exchange networks and highland-lowland interaction in the Lesser Caucasus Borderlands
    (Elsevier, 2023-05-09) Erb-Satullo, Nathaniel L.; Rutter, Matilda; Frahm, Ellery; Jachvliani, Dimitri; Albert, Paul G.; Smith, Victoria C.
    Obsidian sourcing studies have a long history in the Near East, but relatively few have focused on obsidian exchange after the Early Bronze Age. Here, we present a multi-technique analysis of an assemblage of 111 obsidian artifacts from excavated Late Bronze and Early Iron Age (LBA-EIA; c. 15th-6th c BCE) contexts at Mtsvane Gora, southern Georgia. Because the site is situated in the lowland Kura Valley and the nearest obsidian sources are in the highlands to the south and west, obsidian provenance can serve as a proxy for mapping highland-lowland interactions. Chemical compositions analyzed via portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF), electron microprobe analysis (EMPA), and laser ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), were compared with existing geological datasets of chemical analyses to identify the source of all but one of the artifacts analyzed. The results show that Chikiani, a source in the highlands of southern Georgia, was the geological origin of >90% of the objects analyzed. While acknowledging that obsidian exchange is just one aspect of highland-lowland interaction, this finding implies that Mtsvane Gora’s connections with the adjacent highlands were skewed towards greater engagement with some highland areas relative to others. More generally, the research suggests that geographic adjacency of highlands and lowlands does not necessarily mean that they were highly interconnected.