In a recent article I defined my concept for the periodization and chronology of the Kura-Araxes ... more In a recent article I defined my concept for the periodization and chronology of the Kura-Araxes in Armenia, the main provisions of which are as follows: The Kura-Araxes sequence had a discrete character. Its periodization can be dated between 3600/3500–2900 (KA I) and 2900–2600/2500 (KA II) BC. The distinction of the Kura-Araxes phenomenon is reflected in the largely single-layered character of both early (KA I) and late (KA II) settlements: a destroyed layer demonstrates the discontinuity of certain multi-layered (KA I-II) settlements. The KA I phase represented throughout Armenia is marked by ‘Elar-Aragats’ type ceramics, which belong to a rather homogeneous complex, widespread almost all over the Armenian Highland. The homogeneity of the complex disintegrates around 2900 BC, and a mosaic of local ceramic styles follows. The KA II phase contains a series of ceramic complexes similar in basic characteristics, but stylistically rather specific. Today throughout Armenian territory there are at least three synchronous complexes, whose areas correspond to physical-geographical regions of the country: the ‘Shresh-Mokhrablur’ complex in the central part of Ararat valley, ‘Karnut-Shengavit’ to the north and east (Aragatsotn, Shirak, Kotayk, and Lori-Pambak regions), and ‘Ayrum-Teghut’ in the basins of the Aghstev and Debed rivers. Newly obtained data and my observations correspond to the above provisions. This research allows us to complement and flesh out some of them, particularly the periodization of the first period of the Kura-Araxes and a list of local variations of the KA II ceramic complexes.
Page 1. PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE 1993 EXCAVATIONS AT HOROM, ARMENIA By Ruben S. Badaljan, Philip... more Page 1. PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE 1993 EXCAVATIONS AT HOROM, ARMENIA By Ruben S. Badaljan, Philip L. Kohl, David Stronach and Armen V. Tonikjan Yerevan, Wellesley, Massachussetts, and Berkeley Collaborative ...
The Kura-Araxes (KA) cultural phenomenon (dated to the Early Bronze Age, c. 3500/3350-2500 BCE) i... more The Kura-Araxes (KA) cultural phenomenon (dated to the Early Bronze Age, c. 3500/3350-2500 BCE) is primarily characterised by the emergence of a homogeneous pottery style and a uniform ‘material culture package’ in settlements across the South Caucasus, as well as territories extending to the Ancient Near East and the Levant. It has been argued that KA societies practised pastoralism, despite a lack of direct examination of dietary and culinary practices in this region. Here, we report the first analyses of absorbed lipid residues from KA pottery to both determine the organic products produced and consumed and to reconstruct subsistence practices. Our results provide compelling evidence for a diversified diet across KA settlements in Armenia, comprising a mixed economy of meat and plant processing, aquatic fats and dairying. The preservation of diagnostic plant lipid biomarkers, notably long-chain fatty acids (C20 to C28) and n-alkanes (C23 to C33) has enabled the identification of ...
Literary and archaeological sources have preserved a rich history of Southern Europe and West Asi... more Literary and archaeological sources have preserved a rich history of Southern Europe and West Asia since the Bronze Age that can be complemented by genetics. Mycenaean period elites in Greece did not differ from the general population and included both people with some steppe ancestry and others, like the Griffin Warrior, without it. Similarly, people in the central area of the Urartian Kingdom around Lake Van lacked the steppe ancestry characteristic of the kingdom’s northern provinces. Anatolia exhibited extraordinary continuity down to the Roman and Byzantine periods, with its people serving as the demographic core of much of the Roman Empire, including the city of Rome itself. During medieval times, migrations associated with Slavic and Turkic speakers profoundly affected the region.
By sequencing 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc (Anatolia and its neighbors in Southe... more By sequencing 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc (Anatolia and its neighbors in Southeastern Europe and West Asia) over 10,000 years, we contextualize its Chalcolithic period and Bronze Age (about 5000 to 1000 BCE), when extensive gene flow entangled it with the Eurasian steppe. Two streams of migration transmitted Caucasus and Anatolian/Levantine ancestry northward, and the Yamnaya pastoralists, formed on the steppe, then spread southward into the Balkans and across the Caucasus into Armenia, where they left numerous patrilineal descendants. Anatolia was transformed by intra–West Asian gene flow, with negligible impact of the later Yamnaya migrations. This contrasts with all other regions where Indo-European languages were spoken, suggesting that the homeland of the Indo-Anatolian language family was in West Asia, with only secondary dispersals of non-Anatolian Indo-Europeans from the steppe.
Page 1. ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT HOROM IN THE SHIRAK PLAIN OF NORTHWESTERN ARMENIA, 1990 ... more Page 1. ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT HOROM IN THE SHIRAK PLAIN OF NORTHWESTERN ARMENIA, 1990 By Rubin S. Badaljan Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Yerevan Christopher Edens Harvard University ...
Page 1. PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE 1992 EXCAVATIONS AT HOROM, ARMENIA* By Ruben S. Badaljan, Chris... more Page 1. PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE 1992 EXCAVATIONS AT HOROM, ARMENIA* By Ruben S. Badaljan, Christopher Edens, Ronald Gorny, Philip L. Kohl, David Stronach, Armen V. Tonikjan, Simone Hamayakjan, Sergei ...
Page 1. PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE 1993 EXCAVATIONS AT HOROM, ARMENIA By Ruben S. Badaljan, Philip... more Page 1. PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE 1993 EXCAVATIONS AT HOROM, ARMENIA By Ruben S. Badaljan, Philip L. Kohl, David Stronach and Armen V. Tonikjan Yerevan, Wellesley, Massachussetts, and Berkeley Collaborative ...
The year 2018 marked the 20th anniversary of the joint Armenian-American Project for the Archaeol... more The year 2018 marked the 20th anniversary of the joint Armenian-American Project for the Archaeology and Geography of Ancient Transcaucasian Societies, a collaboration more parsimoniously known as Project ArAGATS. The project was originally conceived as an effort to define long-term processes of social, economic, and political change in the South Caucasus across the Bronze and Iron Ages at a regional scale. In addition to introducing methods of intensive systematic survey to the region, the work of the project has unfolded in an integrated series of excavations conducted across multiple sites and bolstered by a wide range of analytical techniques. The result has been not only new data on the ancient South Caucasus but also a new model for the practice of international collaborative research in archaeology.
International audienceAbstract. The Tavush Archaeological Project (TAP) was carried out in 2018 a... more International audienceAbstract. The Tavush Archaeological Project (TAP) was carried out in 2018 and 2019 in the province of Tavush (Northeastern Armenia) by an interdisciplinary Armenian-French team. The goals are to draw the archaeological map of this largely unknown region, to trace the changes in settlement patterns, with special attention to the periods from the Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age and to acquire a better understanding of the landscape of Tavush. This landscape is dominated by dense forest and mountainous topography, which make it especially challenging to survey. We were compelled to develop an ad hoc field methodology, which was based on survey protocols from classic archaeology, which had to be adapted to the specific environmental conditions of the area. Therefore, our project used a hybrid survey method, combining an extensive systematic survey across the region – through examination and study of satellite imagery and topographic maps – with an intensive survey of selected areas in the field. During these first two seasons, we identified 34 “places”, among them 20 sites (places in which both architecture and surface material are found), mainly situated around the Aghstev river, but also in the south-west part of the province, next to the modern villages of Haghartsin and Teghut
Abstract: The oldest archaeological culture in the South Caucasus based on a production economy, ... more Abstract: The oldest archaeological culture in the South Caucasus based on a production economy, with the first documented examples of housebuilding, ceramic production, and metalworking, is the Neolithic ‘Aratashen-Shulaveri-Shomutepe’ (AShSh) culture (c. 6000 – 5400 BC). This Neolithic complex demonstrates an already fully developed agricultural and pastoral economy based on the breeding of cattle and caprines and the cultivation of cereals. The formation process of this producing economy and, in general, the genesis of this culture has not yet been investigated. It is clear that the formation and development of the AShSh complex took place in the conditions of active cultural and economic contacts with synchronous cultures in the west and south, which were sources and conductors of not only some exotic, obviously prestigious, items and materials, but, possibly, a number of technological and cultural innovations. The article attempts to compare the main development trends and trace the general patterns of development of a number of Neolithic technologies in the Upper Tigris and Euphrates basins of the 8/7th millennium BC and the Ararat valley of the 6th millennium BC. Keywords: Neolithization, Ararat valley, Aknashen, Aratashen-Shulaveri-Shomutepe culture, ceramic production, obsidian, Halaf/Samarra pottery
The report presents the current state and preliminary results of research of the sites of the Ear... more The report presents the current state and preliminary results of research of the sites of the Early Bronze Kura-Araxes Culture (KA) (3500/3350 - 2600 BC) on the territory of the Republic of Armenia. According to the author, as of 2022, 220 KA objects of varying degrees of information content are known in Armenia, 180 of them (82%) are localized. Sites are mapped on a scale of 1:25,000 (working version) and 1:10,000 (for closed geographical areas with a high concentration of sites). The data on the classified sites are systematized according to both natural-geographical and cultural-chronological parameters. As a result of the morpho-typological and stylistic analysis of pottery, five - six local chronological complexes of KA were identified. Their spatial and chronological relationship was derived from stratigraphic data and radiocarbon dates. For the sites of each complex, according to GIS data, the principles of the location of sites, their connection with the landscape and geomorphology, sources of raw materials and natural communications (defile, passes) are considered. Temporary specialized settlements on raw material extraction sites, satellite settlements, isolated cemeteries (not related to settlements) have been previously highlighted.
We present the first ancient DNA data from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Mesopotamia (Southeastern... more We present the first ancient DNA data from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Mesopotamia (Southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq), Cyprus, and the Northwestern Zagros, along with the first data from Neolithic Armenia. We show that these and neighboring populations were formed through admixture of pre-Neolithic sources related to Anatolian, Caucasus, and Levantine hunter-gatherers, forming a Neolithic continuum of ancestry mirroring the geography of West Asia. By analyzing Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic populations of Anatolia, we show that the former were derived from admixture between Mesopotamian-related and local Epipaleolithic-related sources, but the latter experienced additional Levantine-related gene flow, thus documenting at least two pulses of migration from the Fertile Crescent heartland to the early farmers of Anatolia.
In a recent article I defined my concept for the periodization and chronology of the Kura-Araxes ... more In a recent article I defined my concept for the periodization and chronology of the Kura-Araxes in Armenia, the main provisions of which are as follows: The Kura-Araxes sequence had a discrete character. Its periodization can be dated between 3600/3500–2900 (KA I) and 2900–2600/2500 (KA II) BC. The distinction of the Kura-Araxes phenomenon is reflected in the largely single-layered character of both early (KA I) and late (KA II) settlements: a destroyed layer demonstrates the discontinuity of certain multi-layered (KA I-II) settlements. The KA I phase represented throughout Armenia is marked by ‘Elar-Aragats’ type ceramics, which belong to a rather homogeneous complex, widespread almost all over the Armenian Highland. The homogeneity of the complex disintegrates around 2900 BC, and a mosaic of local ceramic styles follows. The KA II phase contains a series of ceramic complexes similar in basic characteristics, but stylistically rather specific. Today throughout Armenian territory there are at least three synchronous complexes, whose areas correspond to physical-geographical regions of the country: the ‘Shresh-Mokhrablur’ complex in the central part of Ararat valley, ‘Karnut-Shengavit’ to the north and east (Aragatsotn, Shirak, Kotayk, and Lori-Pambak regions), and ‘Ayrum-Teghut’ in the basins of the Aghstev and Debed rivers. Newly obtained data and my observations correspond to the above provisions. This research allows us to complement and flesh out some of them, particularly the periodization of the first period of the Kura-Araxes and a list of local variations of the KA II ceramic complexes.
Page 1. PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE 1993 EXCAVATIONS AT HOROM, ARMENIA By Ruben S. Badaljan, Philip... more Page 1. PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE 1993 EXCAVATIONS AT HOROM, ARMENIA By Ruben S. Badaljan, Philip L. Kohl, David Stronach and Armen V. Tonikjan Yerevan, Wellesley, Massachussetts, and Berkeley Collaborative ...
The Kura-Araxes (KA) cultural phenomenon (dated to the Early Bronze Age, c. 3500/3350-2500 BCE) i... more The Kura-Araxes (KA) cultural phenomenon (dated to the Early Bronze Age, c. 3500/3350-2500 BCE) is primarily characterised by the emergence of a homogeneous pottery style and a uniform ‘material culture package’ in settlements across the South Caucasus, as well as territories extending to the Ancient Near East and the Levant. It has been argued that KA societies practised pastoralism, despite a lack of direct examination of dietary and culinary practices in this region. Here, we report the first analyses of absorbed lipid residues from KA pottery to both determine the organic products produced and consumed and to reconstruct subsistence practices. Our results provide compelling evidence for a diversified diet across KA settlements in Armenia, comprising a mixed economy of meat and plant processing, aquatic fats and dairying. The preservation of diagnostic plant lipid biomarkers, notably long-chain fatty acids (C20 to C28) and n-alkanes (C23 to C33) has enabled the identification of ...
Literary and archaeological sources have preserved a rich history of Southern Europe and West Asi... more Literary and archaeological sources have preserved a rich history of Southern Europe and West Asia since the Bronze Age that can be complemented by genetics. Mycenaean period elites in Greece did not differ from the general population and included both people with some steppe ancestry and others, like the Griffin Warrior, without it. Similarly, people in the central area of the Urartian Kingdom around Lake Van lacked the steppe ancestry characteristic of the kingdom’s northern provinces. Anatolia exhibited extraordinary continuity down to the Roman and Byzantine periods, with its people serving as the demographic core of much of the Roman Empire, including the city of Rome itself. During medieval times, migrations associated with Slavic and Turkic speakers profoundly affected the region.
By sequencing 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc (Anatolia and its neighbors in Southe... more By sequencing 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc (Anatolia and its neighbors in Southeastern Europe and West Asia) over 10,000 years, we contextualize its Chalcolithic period and Bronze Age (about 5000 to 1000 BCE), when extensive gene flow entangled it with the Eurasian steppe. Two streams of migration transmitted Caucasus and Anatolian/Levantine ancestry northward, and the Yamnaya pastoralists, formed on the steppe, then spread southward into the Balkans and across the Caucasus into Armenia, where they left numerous patrilineal descendants. Anatolia was transformed by intra–West Asian gene flow, with negligible impact of the later Yamnaya migrations. This contrasts with all other regions where Indo-European languages were spoken, suggesting that the homeland of the Indo-Anatolian language family was in West Asia, with only secondary dispersals of non-Anatolian Indo-Europeans from the steppe.
Page 1. ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT HOROM IN THE SHIRAK PLAIN OF NORTHWESTERN ARMENIA, 1990 ... more Page 1. ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT HOROM IN THE SHIRAK PLAIN OF NORTHWESTERN ARMENIA, 1990 By Rubin S. Badaljan Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Yerevan Christopher Edens Harvard University ...
Page 1. PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE 1992 EXCAVATIONS AT HOROM, ARMENIA* By Ruben S. Badaljan, Chris... more Page 1. PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE 1992 EXCAVATIONS AT HOROM, ARMENIA* By Ruben S. Badaljan, Christopher Edens, Ronald Gorny, Philip L. Kohl, David Stronach, Armen V. Tonikjan, Simone Hamayakjan, Sergei ...
Page 1. PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE 1993 EXCAVATIONS AT HOROM, ARMENIA By Ruben S. Badaljan, Philip... more Page 1. PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE 1993 EXCAVATIONS AT HOROM, ARMENIA By Ruben S. Badaljan, Philip L. Kohl, David Stronach and Armen V. Tonikjan Yerevan, Wellesley, Massachussetts, and Berkeley Collaborative ...
The year 2018 marked the 20th anniversary of the joint Armenian-American Project for the Archaeol... more The year 2018 marked the 20th anniversary of the joint Armenian-American Project for the Archaeology and Geography of Ancient Transcaucasian Societies, a collaboration more parsimoniously known as Project ArAGATS. The project was originally conceived as an effort to define long-term processes of social, economic, and political change in the South Caucasus across the Bronze and Iron Ages at a regional scale. In addition to introducing methods of intensive systematic survey to the region, the work of the project has unfolded in an integrated series of excavations conducted across multiple sites and bolstered by a wide range of analytical techniques. The result has been not only new data on the ancient South Caucasus but also a new model for the practice of international collaborative research in archaeology.
International audienceAbstract. The Tavush Archaeological Project (TAP) was carried out in 2018 a... more International audienceAbstract. The Tavush Archaeological Project (TAP) was carried out in 2018 and 2019 in the province of Tavush (Northeastern Armenia) by an interdisciplinary Armenian-French team. The goals are to draw the archaeological map of this largely unknown region, to trace the changes in settlement patterns, with special attention to the periods from the Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age and to acquire a better understanding of the landscape of Tavush. This landscape is dominated by dense forest and mountainous topography, which make it especially challenging to survey. We were compelled to develop an ad hoc field methodology, which was based on survey protocols from classic archaeology, which had to be adapted to the specific environmental conditions of the area. Therefore, our project used a hybrid survey method, combining an extensive systematic survey across the region – through examination and study of satellite imagery and topographic maps – with an intensive survey of selected areas in the field. During these first two seasons, we identified 34 “places”, among them 20 sites (places in which both architecture and surface material are found), mainly situated around the Aghstev river, but also in the south-west part of the province, next to the modern villages of Haghartsin and Teghut
Abstract: The oldest archaeological culture in the South Caucasus based on a production economy, ... more Abstract: The oldest archaeological culture in the South Caucasus based on a production economy, with the first documented examples of housebuilding, ceramic production, and metalworking, is the Neolithic ‘Aratashen-Shulaveri-Shomutepe’ (AShSh) culture (c. 6000 – 5400 BC). This Neolithic complex demonstrates an already fully developed agricultural and pastoral economy based on the breeding of cattle and caprines and the cultivation of cereals. The formation process of this producing economy and, in general, the genesis of this culture has not yet been investigated. It is clear that the formation and development of the AShSh complex took place in the conditions of active cultural and economic contacts with synchronous cultures in the west and south, which were sources and conductors of not only some exotic, obviously prestigious, items and materials, but, possibly, a number of technological and cultural innovations. The article attempts to compare the main development trends and trace the general patterns of development of a number of Neolithic technologies in the Upper Tigris and Euphrates basins of the 8/7th millennium BC and the Ararat valley of the 6th millennium BC. Keywords: Neolithization, Ararat valley, Aknashen, Aratashen-Shulaveri-Shomutepe culture, ceramic production, obsidian, Halaf/Samarra pottery
The report presents the current state and preliminary results of research of the sites of the Ear... more The report presents the current state and preliminary results of research of the sites of the Early Bronze Kura-Araxes Culture (KA) (3500/3350 - 2600 BC) on the territory of the Republic of Armenia. According to the author, as of 2022, 220 KA objects of varying degrees of information content are known in Armenia, 180 of them (82%) are localized. Sites are mapped on a scale of 1:25,000 (working version) and 1:10,000 (for closed geographical areas with a high concentration of sites). The data on the classified sites are systematized according to both natural-geographical and cultural-chronological parameters. As a result of the morpho-typological and stylistic analysis of pottery, five - six local chronological complexes of KA were identified. Their spatial and chronological relationship was derived from stratigraphic data and radiocarbon dates. For the sites of each complex, according to GIS data, the principles of the location of sites, their connection with the landscape and geomorphology, sources of raw materials and natural communications (defile, passes) are considered. Temporary specialized settlements on raw material extraction sites, satellite settlements, isolated cemeteries (not related to settlements) have been previously highlighted.
We present the first ancient DNA data from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Mesopotamia (Southeastern... more We present the first ancient DNA data from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Mesopotamia (Southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq), Cyprus, and the Northwestern Zagros, along with the first data from Neolithic Armenia. We show that these and neighboring populations were formed through admixture of pre-Neolithic sources related to Anatolian, Caucasus, and Levantine hunter-gatherers, forming a Neolithic continuum of ancestry mirroring the geography of West Asia. By analyzing Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic populations of Anatolia, we show that the former were derived from admixture between Mesopotamian-related and local Epipaleolithic-related sources, but the latter experienced additional Levantine-related gene flow, thus documenting at least two pulses of migration from the Fertile Crescent heartland to the early farmers of Anatolia.
This is the first monograph devoted to the Neolithic period in Armenia. The volume concerns the n... more This is the first monograph devoted to the Neolithic period in Armenia. The volume concerns the natural environment, material culture and subsistence economy of the populations of the first half of the 6th millennium BC, who established the first sedentary settlements in the alluvial plain of the Araxes river.
he Neolithic settlement of Aknashen (Ararat valley, Armenia): excavation seasons 2004-2015 is the first monograph devoted to the Neolithic period in Armenia. The research is based on an Armenian-French project, in which specialists from Canada, Romania, Germany and Greece also participated. The volume concerns the natural environment, material culture and subsistence economy of the populations of the first half of the 6th millennium BC, who established the first sedentary settlements in the alluvial plain of the Araxes river. The thickness of the cultural layer of Aknashen (almost 5m), the extent of the excavated areas and the multidisciplinary nature of the research, confer great importance upon this site for the study of the Neolithic, both in Armenia and in the South Caucasus as a whole. The publication examines the similarities and differences that exist between the sites established in the 6th millennium in the basins of the rivers Araxes (Armenia) and Kura (Georgia and Azerbaijan), as well as parallels with contemporary cultures in Southwest Asia. It also examines questions concerning the characterisation and periodisation of the Neolithic in the central part of the South Caucasus, the emergence of a production economy (pottery, animal husbandry, etc.) and the Neolithisation of this region.
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Papers by Ruben Badalyan
he Neolithic settlement of Aknashen (Ararat valley, Armenia): excavation seasons 2004-2015 is the first monograph devoted to the Neolithic period in Armenia. The research is based on an Armenian-French project, in which specialists from Canada, Romania, Germany and Greece also participated. The volume concerns the natural environment, material culture and subsistence economy of the populations of the first half of the 6th millennium BC, who established the first sedentary settlements in the alluvial plain of the Araxes river. The thickness of the cultural layer of Aknashen (almost 5m), the extent of the excavated areas and the multidisciplinary nature of the research, confer great importance upon this site for the study of the Neolithic, both in Armenia and in the South Caucasus as a whole. The publication examines the similarities and differences that exist between the sites established in the 6th millennium in the basins of the rivers Araxes (Armenia) and Kura (Georgia and Azerbaijan), as well as parallels with contemporary cultures in Southwest Asia. It also examines questions concerning the characterisation and periodisation of the Neolithic in the central part of the South Caucasus, the emergence of a production economy (pottery, animal husbandry, etc.) and the Neolithisation of this region.