Site Formation Processes and Depositional Histories of Ararat-1 Cave: A Multiproxy Geoarchaeological Investigation

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Understanding the formation processes and depositional histories is fundamental for the interpretation of human behavior, regardless of the richness of the archaeological record. Although low-density sites are often associated with the scarcity of behavioral signals, the interpretative value is of equal importance. Ararat-1 Cave preserves such scarce and challenging archive, displaying significant evidence for the regional Middle Palaeolithic lifeways. The Cave is situated in the Ararat Depression, at the forelands of the Southern Caucasus. This paper explores the formation mechanisms and depositional histories of the Cave, aiming to decipher the character, the intensity and the timing of human activities, as encapsulated in the anthropo-sedimentary record. A multi-scalar, multi-proxy geoarchaeological framework is incorporated, utilizing micromorphological, sedimentological, mineralogical, chemical, magnetic, and micro-archaeobotanical analyses. This study reveals sedimentation patterns attributed to debris flows and cave roof/wall collapse events, and to aeolian agents, including the contribution of loess and volcanic tephra. Human visits are infrequent, ephemeral, often accompanied with combustion activities, and represent short episodes of occupation in a site habitually visited by (micro-) fauna populations. These results highlight the importance of Geoarchaeology as an independent discipline for the investigation of past human activities and occupation patterns through the study of Palaeolithic archives.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50930