UrartuandItsPredecessorsintheCaucasusDavidPeterson,Ph.D.

Classical&NearEasternStudiesUniversityofMinnesotaTwinCi@es

May1,2015

TheMoDaGroupandResearcher,CAMASLaboratory

Armenia

Caucasus

Nicholson Hall

•  TheArmeniankingdomwasestablishedbytheOron@dDynasty,ca.600BC

•  ReacheditsmaximumextentunderTigranestheGreat(r.95-66BC)

•  WasmadeaRomanvassalfollowingPompey’sinvasionin66BC,andbecameRome’sprincipalallyinAsiaMinor

Maximum extent of the kingdom of Armenia

Background:MountAraratfromtheeast(2009).

Armenian Kingdom

Coin of Tigranes I British Museum

Inscribed Argishti Metropolitan Museum

Aerial view of Erebuni fortress Inscription of Argishti Erebuni Museum

Urartu•  9th-6thcenturiesBC•  Erebunifoundedin782BC

byArgish@•  in1sthistorically

recordedstateintheCaucasusi

Before Armenia - Urartu

Erebuni

“BythegreatnessoftheGodKhaldi,Argish@,sonofMenua,builtthismightystrongholdandproclaimeditErebuniforthegloryofBiainili(Urartu)andtoins@llfearamongtheking'senemies.Argish@says:Thelandwasadesert,beforethegreatworksIaccomplisheduponit.BythegreatnessofKhaldi,Argish@,sonofMenua,isamightyking,kingofBiainili,andrulerofTushpa.”

Israelyan,Margarit(1971)Էրեբունի:Բերդ-ՔաղաքիՊատմություն(Erebuni:The

HistoryofaFortress-City),p.9

Background:MountAraratfromtheeast(2009).

Inscription of Argishti from Erebuni, ca. 782 BC

Urartu – Van (Tushpa), eastern Turkey

Vanfortress,Turkey

Urar@anar@factsfromtheVanarea Erebuni

Van(Tushpa)

Urartu – Erebuni, western Armenia

Erebuni

Van

•  Archipelagiccentersofauthorityonelevatedplains•  Poli@calculturepredicatedonviolenceandmilitaryheroicsoftheking•  Centersonmarginsofplainsforsurveillanceoflargeplotsofarableland•  Mul@plefor@fiedcenterssituatednearbyinanintegratedgoverningnetwork•  Authorityexercisedfromcentersthatgatheredpoli@cal,economic,and

religiousins@tu@onsinacompact,coherentbuiltenvironment

Urartu

Neo-Assyrians

Urartu(yellow)in715-713BC,duringthereignofRusaI.

Urartian political authority (Smith and Thompson 2004)

HelmetanddetailfromTeishebaini(KarmirBlur,Armenia)withroyalinscrip@onofSarduriII(ca.685-645BC)dedica@ngittothewargodKhaldi.

•  400 hectares, LBA II-EIA I, 13th-9th cen BC •  Salvage of 160 burials 1987-89 (unpublished) •  American-Armenia investigations 1990-1993

Site Plan R. Badaljan et al., Archaeological Investigations at Horom in the Shirak Plain in North-West Armenian, 1990. Iran 30: 31-48, 1993

T1

T2

Burial plans R. Badaljan et al. Preliminary Report on the 1992 Excavations at Horom, Armenia. Iran 31: 1-24, 1993

Horom, Shirak Plain, western Armenia

HoromAr@k

GegharotLoriBerd

Erebuni

Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age centers and necropolis sites in present-day Armenia, in relation to Erebuni.

Aghavnadzor

Metsamor

Samples•  50,copperandbronze

Implements:banding,wire,adagger,and22arrowheads

•  Ornaments:clothingplaques,rings,pins,hammeredshee@ng,pommels,andpendants

•  Setinmetallographicepoxy,groundandpolished

Sample Heterogeneity

Horom: Analysis of Copper and Bronze Artifacts

•  Analysiswith5cer@fiedcopperandbronzestandards(B10,B12,51.13-4,71.32-4,SRM-494)

LaserAbla@onICP-MS

EDSelementmaps•  Phasingin@nbronzes•  500micrometerraster

pagernselectedforabla@on

•  Antimony (Sb) was part of the bronze technology

•  Association between color and artifact category/function Implements – Cu+As (silvery color) Ornaments – light colored, complex alloys (Sb)

•  Comparison with arc optical emission spectroscopy (OES)

Results

oi.uchicago.edu

Tsaghahovit Plain, northern Armenia

Project ArAGATS, directed by Ruben Badalyan, Adam T. Smith, Lori Khatchadourian, Ian Lindsay Map A. Smith, R. Badalyan & Pavel Avetisyan, The Archaeology and Geography of Ancient Transcaucasian States, v. 1, University of Chicago Oriental Institute, 2009

oi.uchicago.edu

Gegharot

•  11 Late Bronze-Early Iron Age (pre-Urartian) fortresses mapped in the Tsaghahovit Plain

•  Intensive excavations at Gegharot (Urartian, pre-Urartian, Early Bronze Age levels)

Shrine(westernterrace)

11

i'CE/-"1"

"

""

"" "

•  2 Mitannian seals recovered from LBA levels in 2006 (15th-14th century BC)

Gegharotfortress

Project ArAGATS

Map A. Smith, R. Badalyan & Pavel Avetisyan, The Archaeology and Geography of Ancient Transcaucasian States, v. 1, University of Chicago Oriental Institute, 2009

Hankavanmine

Meghradzor

Aghavnadzor

Hrazdan

Marmarik Valley, central Armenia

Aghavnadzor, Marmarik Valley, Armenia

Citadel

Cromlech cemetery

Hankavan mine

Aghavnadzor

Aghavnadzor

Aghavnadzor

Aghavnadzor

Aghavnadzor

Armenia and Karabagh 2009-2012 Geoarchaeologicalresearch

•  200oresamplesfrom55areasin14minedeposits,chemicalandPbisotopeanalysis

Reconnaissanceandevalua@onofarchaeologicalsitesforcon@nuingresearch

•  Drmbon,Navzran,Drjahovit,Hankavan,Fioletovo,Margahovit,Koghb

“Early southern Caucasian political tradition” (Smith and Thompson) •  Mul@-centered(mul@-regional?)politysituatedonelevatedplains•  Poli@calculturepredicatedonviolenceandmilitaryheroicsoftheking•  Centersonmarginsofplainsforsurveillanceoflargeplotsofarableland•  Mul@plefor@fiedcenterssituatednearbyinanintegratedgoverningnetwork•  Authorityexercisedfromcentersthatgatheredpoli@cal,economic,andreligious

ins@tu@onsinacompact,coherentbuiltenvironment•  “Poli@calcontroloversubjectpopula@onsandeconomicproduc@onwasthrust

outwardsfromthefortresscentresthroughabroaderre-orderingofthelandscapefocusedontheconstruc@onoflarge-scaleirriga@onnetworksandmilitaryoutposts.”

!

!

Period! Approximate!Dates!BCE!

Iron!I!Iron!Ib! 10008800!

Iron!Ia! 115081000!

Late!Bronze!Age!

LB!III! 130081150!

LB!II! 140081300!

LB!I! 150081400!

Middle!Bronze!Age! 240081500!

Early!Bronze!Age! 350082400!

Lchashen kurgan wagon burial, 15th century BC

Lchashen

Karashamb necropolis, 15th-14th centuries BC

Karashamb

•  Horom•  Kohl2008,onlinephotos?•  Triale@-Karashamb

Karashamb goblet, ca. 23rd-21st century BC

P. Kohl, The Making of Bronze Age Eurasia, Cambridge University Press, 2007

EarlyBronzeAgeMetalworkfromVelikent,Daghestan,ca.2850BC

Rings

Bracelets

Scarcity Lightnessincolor

SilverCopper+SilverTinbronzeArsenicbronzeCopper

CopperandCopperAlloysfromVelikent,Daghestan(NorthCaucasus)

Meghradzor, Marmarik Valley, Armenia

Meghradzor

Shengavit

•  Oldworking

Hankavan, Marmarik Valley, Armenia

Hankavan

Areni

Areni I, southern Armenia Lead isotope source analysis of copper ores and artifacts

Funding Agencies ² American Councils for International Education / National Councils for Eurasian and

East European Research ² US National Endowment for the Humanities ² Office of Research, Faculty Research Committee and Humanities and Social

Sciences Research Committee, Idaho State University ² College of Arts and Letters, Idaho State University

Research Centers / Institutes ² Institute of Geological Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, Republic of

Armenia ²  Institute for Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences,

Republic of Armenia ² Center for Archaeology, Materials and Applied Spectroscopy, Idaho State

University

Thank You!