Pleistocene Landscapes and Hominin Behavior in the Armenian Highlands

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Pleistocene Landscapes and Hominin Behavior in the Armenian Highlands" at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Armenian Highlands is a significant location for our interpretations of hominin dispersals and behavioral diversity, not least because of its position between the Levant and Eurasia. Prior to the late twentieth century, our understanding of Pleistocene archaeology in this region was hindered by a research emphasis on later periods, few stratified sites, and a dearth of chronometric dating. However, over the last 30 years there has been remarkable growth in the number and quality of international collaborative programs that have greatly expanded our geological and archaeological understanding of the region. In this symposium, discussions will explore new and ongoing investigations related to Pleistocene landscape formation, paleoenvironments, geochronology, and hominin behavior. This interdisciplinary research incorporates data and views from international teams with wide-ranging interests and specialties. With talks spanning the entire Pleistocene, this session has value for scholars in neighboring regions seeking to understand Lower, Middle, and Upper Paleolithic interregional dynamics.

Other Keywords
Paleolithic • Geoarchaeology • Hunter-Gatherers/Foragers • Lithic Analysis • Material Culture and Technology • Environment and Climate  • Paleobotany • Chronology • Ethnobotany • Theory

Geographic Keywords
Georgia (Country) • Republic of Turkey (Country) • Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Country) • Republic of Iraq (Country) • Islamic Republic of Iran (Country) • State of Israel (Country) • Lebanese Republic (Country) • Syrian Arab Republic (Country) • West Bank (Country) • Republic of Cyprus (Country)

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  • Documents (11)
Documents
  • Early Pleistocene Hominin Expansion and Landscape Evolution in the Armenian Highlands (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jenni Sherriff. Boris Gasparyan. Katie Preece. Mark Sier. Keith Wilkinson.

    This is an abstract from the "Pleistocene Landscapes and Hominin Behavior in the Armenian Highlands" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Understanding the chronology and environmental context of the earliest hominin expansions into Eurasia is of considerable interest in paleoanthropology. Several Early Pleistocene archaeological sites in the Armenian Highlands and wider Caucasus region have demonstrated the importance of the region for understanding...

  • Early Steps into the Paleolithic Research of the Armenian Highlands (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Yannick Raczynski-Henk.

    This is an abstract from the "Pleistocene Landscapes and Hominin Behavior in the Armenian Highlands" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This session about the current state of affairs into the research of the Paleolithic of the Armenian Highlands (Armenia and Georgia) will be opened with an overview of the research history of the area, providing a framework for the following presentations. The focus of this presentation is on the historical...

  • The Early–Middle Pleistocene Settlement of Northern Armenia (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Daniel Adler. Keith Wilkinson. Jennifer Sherriff. Mark Sier. Boris Gasparyan.

    This is an abstract from the "Pleistocene Landscapes and Hominin Behavior in the Armenian Highlands" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Northern Armenia and southern Georgia, divided in the Haghtanak-Bagratashen area by the Debed River, witnessed considerable volcanic activity between ~2.1 and 1.6 Ma, toward the end of which the earliest evidence of Homo outside Africa is found at Dmanisi. The rich assemblages of lithic, faunal, and human fossil...

  • Middle Paleolithic Land Use and Behavior in the Armenian Highlands: A Preliminary Synthesis (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Phil Glauberman. Boris Gasparyan.

    This is an abstract from the "Pleistocene Landscapes and Hominin Behavior in the Armenian Highlands" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the last two decades, international-Armenian projects have greatly expanded and refined the Middle Paleolithic (MP) record in the Armenian Highlands. Here, we preliminarily synthesize current chronometric, lithic, and faunal evidence. Our goal is to develop some hypotheses on hominin land use, subsistence, and...

  • Nor Geghi-1 and the Process of Late Middle Pleistocene Technological Evolution in the Armenia Highlands (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Boris Gasparyan. Keith Wilkinson. Ellery Frahm. Jennifer Sherriff. Daniel Adler.

    This is an abstract from the "Pleistocene Landscapes and Hominin Behavior in the Armenian Highlands" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Current data from Africa and Eurasia suggest that the intercontinental transition from bifacial to hierarchical core technology occurred independently within different geographically dispersed hominin populations already adept at a variety of complex knapping procedures inherent to the Acheulean. The episodic...

  • Organization of Technology at Solak-1, an Upper Paleolithic Open-Air Site in the Armenian Highlands (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Tanner Kovach. Yannick Raczynski-Henk. Ellery Frahm. Artur Petrosyan. Daniel Adler.

    This is an abstract from the "Pleistocene Landscapes and Hominin Behavior in the Armenian Highlands" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Solak-1 is an Upper Paleolithic open-air site located in central Armenia discovered by the Kotayk Survey Project. An obsidian-rich lithic assemblage totaling about 2,500 artifacts was recovered from six stratified horizons and subjected to techno-typological attribute analysis. Core reduction appears predominantly...

  • The Paleolithic Archaeology of Shirak Province (Armenia) (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Hayk Haydosyan. Artur Petrosyan. Dimitri Arakelyan. Philip Glauberman. Boris Gasparyan.

    This is an abstract from the "Pleistocene Landscapes and Hominin Behavior in the Armenian Highlands" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Within Shirak Province in the Republic of Armenia, the open-air site complex at Aghvorik is currently the most prominent site. The Paleolithic sites of Shirak are geomorphologically associated with the Ashotsk Plateau in the north, the Shirak Depression and northwestern slopes of Mt. Aragats in the south, and the...

  • Phytolith Assemblages as a Proxy for Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction in the Southern Caucasus (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Johan Jarl. Angela Bruch.

    This is an abstract from the "Pleistocene Landscapes and Hominin Behavior in the Armenian Highlands" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Southern Caucasus is a biodiversity hotspot, encompassing a spectrum of environments from temperate forests to semidesert steppes. Having seen hominin occupation since 1.8 Ma, the region offers a unique opportunity to study the expansion and evolution of the genus Homo, as well as their interaction with the local...

  • Ptghavan-4: A Middle Paleolithic Open-Air Site in the Debed River Gorge, Armenia (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jayson Gill. Daniel Adler. Jennifer Sherriff. Keith Wilkinson. Hayk Haydosyan.

    This is an abstract from the "Pleistocene Landscapes and Hominin Behavior in the Armenian Highlands" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The recently excavated site of Ptghavan-4 in the Armenian Highlands provides rare data on Middle Paleolithic hominin behaviors during the early Upper Pleistocene. The site contains a dense accumulation of lithic artifacts that are Middle Paleolithic in character within a pedogenically modified aeolian deposit, which...

  • Quaternary Vegetation and Climate in the Lesser Caucasus, an Update (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sebastien Joannin. Amy Cromartie.

    This is an abstract from the "Pleistocene Landscapes and Hominin Behavior in the Armenian Highlands" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The numerous archaeological discoveries in the Lesser Caucasus document the crucial role that this territory had for humans more than 2 Ma. In particular, the scientific debate has highlighted its strategic position for phases of migration “out of Africa,” and expansion to the Eurasian continent. The role of climate...

  • Sedimentary Ancient DNA Metabarcoding for the Recognition of Human Plant Use at Aghitu-3 Cave, Armenia (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Andrew Kandel. Boris Gasparyan. Angela Bruch. Anneke ter Schure. Sanne Boessenkool.

    This is an abstract from the "Pleistocene Landscapes and Hominin Behavior in the Armenian Highlands" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Our knowledge of plants used by Upper Paleolithic humans is limited by the survival of identifiable plant parts. In this study, we present the results of ancient DNA studies of cave sediments from Aghitu-3 Cave in the Armenian Highlands. The cave contains a detailed record of human settlement and environmental...