Increasing obsidian diversity during the Chalcolithic Period at Yeghegis-1 Rockshelter (Armenia) reveals shifts in land use and social networks

Author:

Frahm Ellery,Saribekyan Mariam,Mkrtchyan Satenik,Furquim Laura,Avagyan Ara,Sahakyan Lilit,Azatyan Karen,Roberts Patrick,Fernandes Ricardo,Yepiskoposyan Levon,Amano Noel,Antonosyan Mariya

Abstract

AbstractThe newly excavated rockshelter of Yeghegis-1 in Armenia reflects an occupation of five centuries, as attested by radiocarbon dates from ∼ 4100 to 4000 cal BCE in the lowest layer to ∼ 3600–3500 cal BCE at the top. It is a partially collapsed cave in which pastoralists, we hypothesize, wintered with their herds. The stone tool assemblage is predominantly obsidian (92.1%), despite the shelter being > 60 km on foot from the nearest sources. We use obsidian sourcing to investigate two purported trends in the Southern Caucasus during the Chalcolithic Period: (1) occupation of more varied high-altitude environments and (2) more expansive social networks. Our data show both trends were dynamic phenomena. There was a greater balance in use of the nearest pasturelands over time, perhaps linked to risk management and/or resource sustainability. During later occupations, artifacts from distant sources reveal more extensive connections. This increase in connectivity likely played a central role in the shifts in societal complexity that gave rise to widely shared material culture throughout the Armenian Highlands around the start of the Early Bronze Age. In such a model, greater social connectivity becomes a key mechanism for, rather than a product of, the spread of cultural and/or technological innovations.

Funder

National Academy of Sciences of Armenia

Max Planck Society

Higher Education and Science Committee, MESD, Armenia

Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

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