Garabagh Palaeolithic Project: Human Ecological and Cultural Dynamics During the Late Pleistocene in the Caucasian Corridor. New archaeological excavations at Azykh Cave, Azerbaijan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30546/679523.1.2025.14Keywords:
Garabagh Palaeolithic Project, Excavation, Survey, Lithic Techno-Typology, Azykh CaveAbstract
The evolution of the human behavioural repertoire is known to emerge from complex evolutionary trajectories influenced by environmental, demographic, and social factors. Such processes include key past population dynamics, such as expansion, fragmentation, isolation, recombination and periodic local extinction. These behavioural phenomena are known to be reflected in the variability of the archaeological material. Studying this variability is fundamental to understanding how past hominins successfully evolved, expanded, adapted, and changed over time. Such evolutionary trajectories are best suited for analysis on a regional scale, with a particular interest in regions where population migratory dynamics have been well-documented. The Caucasus is a crucial region for addressing these archaeological questions. Situated at the geographical intersection of Africa and Eurasia, the Caucasus is a corridor and, at the same time, an ecological refugium marked by a biodiversity of plants and animals, making it very attractive for continuous human occupation over time. This article presents a research project dedicated to addressing these questions during a key moment in our evolutionary journey, spanning MIS 7 and 2 (250-14 ka years). Here, we present and discuss the research project, including the research questions and goals, as well as the results of a first archaeological campaign at the archaeological site of Azykh.
References
Adler, D. & Tushabramishvili, N. (2004). Middle Palaeolithic Patterns of Settlement and Subsistence in the Southern Caucasus. In: Nicholas, J. Conard & Delagnes, A. Settlement Dynamics of the Middle Palaeolithic and Middle Stone Age. (First ed., pp. 91–132) Kerns Verlag, Tubingen.
Ambrose, S.H. (2001). Palaeolithic technology and human evolution. Science, 291(5509), pp. 1748-1753. https://www.doi.org/10.1126/science.1059487
Ambrose, S.H. (2010). Coevolution of Composite-Tool Technology, Constructive Memory, and Language: Implications for the Evolution of Modern Human Behaviour. Current Anthropology, 51, pp. 135–S147. https://www.doi.org/10.1086/650296
Babazade, E. (2016). Residential Patterns in the South Caucasus in the Late Neolithic Period. [Geç neolitik dönemde Güney Kafkasya yerleşim modelleri]. Master's thesis. Hacettepe University, Institute of Social Sciences.
Babazade, E. (2024). Prehistoric Archaeological Research, Micro Archaeology, Employs Traceological (Use-Wear) Analysis Methods to Study and Interpret Lithic Tools. Social sciences, No 2, pp.114–123. http://doi.org/10.59849/2710-0820.2024.2.114
Belmaker, M., (2010). Early Pleistocene Faunal Connections Between Africa and Eurasia: an Ecological Perspective. In Fleagle, J., Grine, F., Biden, A., Leakey, R., & Shea, J.J. (Eds.), Out of Africa I: The first hominin migration out of Africa Edition: (Ed. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series, pp. 183-205). https://www.doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9036-2_12
Davis, R. & Ashton, N. (2019). Landscapes, Environments and Societies: The Development of Culture in Lower Palaeolithic Europe. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, vol. 56, 101107. http://doi.org/j.jaa.2019.101107
Dibble, H., Marean, C. & McPherron. S. (2007). The Use of Barcodes in Excavation Projects: Examples from Mossel Bay (South Africa) and Roc de Marsal (France). The SAA Archaeological Record 7, No. 1, pp. 33–38.
Dibble, H.L. & McPherron, S.P. (1988). On the computerisation of archaeological projects. Journal of Field Archaeology, 15(4), pp. 431–440.
Doronichev, V.B. (2008). The Lower Palaeolithic in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus: A Reappraisal of the Data and New Approaches. PaleoAnthropology, pp. 107–157.
Doronicheva, E.V., Golovanova, L.V., Doronichev, V.B. & Kurbanov, R.N. (2023). Archaeological Evidence for Two Culture-Diverse Neanderthal Populations in the North Caucasus and Contacts Between Them. PLOS One, 18(4), p. e0284093.
Finlayson, C. & Carrión, J.S. (2007). Rapid Ecological Turnover and Its Impact on Neanderthals and Other Human Populations. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 22(4), pp. 213-222.
Golovanova, L.V. & Doronichev, V.B., (2003). The Middle Palaeolithic of the Caucasus. Journal of World Prehistory, 17(1), pp. 71–140.
Golovanova, L.V., Doronichev, V.B., Doronicheva, E.V. & Nedomolkin, A.G. (2022). Dynamics of Climate and Human Settlement During the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic in the Northwestern Caucasus. Special Issue: The Impact of Upper Pleistocene Climatic and Environmental Change on Hominin Occupations and Landscape Use, Part 1. PaleoAnthropology, (1), pp. 52–81.
Hublin, J.-J. (2015). The Modern Human Colonisation of Western Eurasia: When and Where? Quaternary Science Reviews, Synchronising Environmental and Archaeological Records using Volcanic Ash Isochrons. Quaternary Science Reviews, 118, pp. 194–210. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.08.011
Huseynov, M. M. (1965). About the Results of Archaeological Excavations in Azykh Cave. [О результатах археологических раскопок у Азыхской пещеры]. Archaeological Discoveries (Археологические открытия), 1971, p. 477.
Huseynov, M. M. (1974). Azykhantrop's Areas of the Baku-Khazar (Mindel-Riss) Age. [Очаги азыхантропов Баку-Хазарского (миндельрисс) возраста]. Annuals of the Azerbaijan State University after S.M. Kirov, History and Philosophy series. (Ученые записки Азербайджанского Государственного Университета имени С. М. Кирова, серия истории и философии), No 1, pp. 54–63.
Huseynov, M. M. (1985). The Early Palaeolithic of Azerbaijan (Kuruchai culture and stages of its development, 1,500,000—70 years ago. [Древний палеолит Азербайджана. Культура Куручай и этапы ее развития: 1,500,000—70 тысяч лет назад]. Baku, Elm.
Jafarov, A. (2004). The First Inhabitants of Azerbaijan [Azərbaycanın ilk sakinləri]. Baku, Elm.
Kasimova, R. M. (2001). Anthropological Research of the Azykh Man’s Osseous Remains. Human Evolution. 16, pp. 37–44. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02438921
Kuhn, S. L. (2004). Evolutionary Perspectives on Technology and Technological Change. World Archaeology, 36, pp. 561–570.
Marreiros, J., Calandra, İ., Gneisinger, W., Paixão, E., Pedergnana, A., Schunk L. (2020). Rethinking Use-Wear Analysis and Experimentation as Applied to the Study of Past Hominin Tool Use. Journal of Palaeolithic Archaeology, 3, p. 475–502. https://doi.org/0.1007/s41982-020-00058-1
Levin, N.E. (2015). Environment and Climate of Early Human Evolution. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 43(1), pp. 405–429. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-060614-105310
McPherron, S.J. (2005). Artefact orientations and site formation processes from total station proveniences. Journal of Archaeological Science, 32(7), pp. 1003–1014.
McPherron, S.P. & Dibble, H.L. (2002). Using Computers in Archaeology: A Practical Guide. McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.
Powell, A., Shennan, S., Thomas, M. G. (2009). Late Pleistocene Demography and the Appearance of Modern Human Behaviour. Science, vol 324, pp. 1298–1301. http://doi.org/1298-1301. 10.1126/science.1170165
Premo, L.S., Kuhn, S.L. (2010). Modelling Effects of Local Extinctions on Culture Change and Diversity in the Palaeolithic. PLOS One, 5, e15582. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0015582
Stewart, J.R. & Stringer, C.B. (2012). Human Evolution out of Africa: The Role of Refugia and Climate Change. Science, 335(6074), pp. 1317–1321. https://doi.org/10.1371/10.1126/science.1215627
Timmermann, A., Raia, P., Mondanaro, A., Zollikofer, C.P., Ponce de León, M., Zeller, E. and Yun, K.S. (2024). Past Climate Change Effects on Human Evolution. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 5(10), pp. 701-716.
Timmermann, A., Yun, K.S., Raia, P., Ruan, J., Mondanaro, A., Zeller, E., Zollikofer, C., Ponce de León, M., Lemmon, D., Willeit, M. and Ganopolski, A. (2022). Climate Effects on Archaic Human Habitats and Species Successions. Nature, 604(7906), pp. 495-501.
Trifonov, V.G., Tesakov, A.S., Simakova, A.N. & Bachmanov, D.M. (2019). Environmental and Geodynamic Settings of the Earliest Hominin Migration to the Arabian-Caucasus region: A Review. Quaternary International, 534, pp.116-137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2019.03.008
Vasey, D. A., Cowgill, E., Roeske, S. M., Niemi, N. A., Godoladze, T., Skhirtladze, I., & Gogoladze, S. (2020). Evolution of the Greater Caucasus Basement and Formation of the Main Caucasus Thrust, Georgia. Tectonics, 39(3), pp. 1–26. e2019TC005828. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019TC005828
Vasilyev, S. & Amirkhanov, H. (2018). Palaeolithic Caucasus: paleoanthropological panorama. Quaternary International, 465, pp. 105–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.09.020
Vekua, A. & Lordkipanidze, D. (1998). The Pleistocene Paleoenvironment of the Transcaucasia. (Le paléoenvironnement pléistocene du Caucase). Quaternaire, 9(4), pp. 261-266.
Zeynalov, A.A., Valiev, S.S. & Tagiyeva, E.N. (2010). Human Environment in the Nakhchivan Region During the Mousterian (Based on the Gazma Cave Site, Azerbaijan). Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia, 38(2), pp.2-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeae.2010.08.002
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
