Relations between lowland and mountain environments by agro-pastoral societies in the South Caucasus from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age
Résumé
Mountainous territories represent a large part of the region both in the Greater and Lesser Caucasus mountains ranges. Although in the Neolithic period settlements in the highland areas are not numerous in South Caucasus, they increase during the Chalcolithic period until the establishment of villages at the beginning of the Bronze Age. Through an integrated bioarchaeological approach on lowlands, piedmonts and highland sites in Azerbaijan and Georgia, we investigate the pastoral practices of these first agropastoral societies. Were there interactions between the plains and the mountains between the Neolithic and the early Bronze Age? At what season(s) were the sites occupied by the herders? To answer these questions, the first author combines classical archaeozoology to characterize the subsistence economies of the targeted sites with biochemistry and cementochronology. Caprine and bovine teeth cementum will determine the seasons of death and consequently the seasons of occupation of the sites. Dental enamel is also used to produce isotopic ratios of oxygen and carbon (δ18O, δ13C) as well as strontium (87Sr/86Sr), for informing on the season of birth, the type of diet including the practice of foddering and finally the mode of territorial occupation through pastoral mobility.