Lithic technology transfer and the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the South Caucasus

Summary

Recently, several discoveries in Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan have shed new light on the processes involved in the development of food production economy in the South Caucasus. If a series of excavations using modern techniques have provided an improved chronological and cultural framework for this complex phenomenon, several interrogations remain. What is the role of the hunter-gatherer population in the domestication process? Is the presence of Neolithic cultures in this area the result of a demic diffusion from food producing societies ? If so, how (if at all) have the two populations interacted in the South Caucasus?

Some of these questions can be answered through the study of technological variability and raw material management in lithic assemblages. We will look at how technological behaviors in assemblages from four mesolithic, neolithic and endolithic sites can inform us about the mechanisms underlying these group interactions, as well as the location of those interactions in the socio-economic landscape. Comparison of patterns in technological behaviors in Mesolithic, Neolithic and Eneolithic groups can then help us determine models of group interaction and establish a diachronic picture of the transition toward a food production economy in the South Caucasus.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Perspectives on the Archaeology of Technological Change   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage