Landscapes of Death and Burial in the South Caucasus: The Kurgans of Naxçivan, Azerbaijan

Summary

While burials have long been an important source of archaeological information, they have traditionally been studied mainly from a site-based perspective. This traditional view focuses on the form of the burial, the grave goods contained, and osteological evidence on the age, sex and health of the interred individual. By contrast, the landscape approach studies burials as part of a broader natural and cultural landscape that extends beyond site boundaries.

This project focuses on kurgan burials in Naxçivan, Azerbaijan, dating to the Middle Bronze Age. Based on their form and location, these burials could have been associated with either sedentary agriculturalists or mobile pastoralists, and they existed on a landscape that was used by both groups. Comparing the Naxçivan kurgans to kurgan data from Middle Bronze Age Armenia, this project analyzes viewsheds and proximity to nearby sites to determine the role that these kurgans played for the communities that built them. Not only does this analysis reveal information about the social, cultural and political significance of kurgan burials in the South Caucasus, but it also demonstrates the utility of a landscape approach to the archaeological study of burials.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage