Archaeological and archaeogenetic evidence points to the Pontic–Caspian steppe zone between the Caucasus and the Black Sea as the crucible from which the earliest steppe pastoralist societies arose and spread, ultimately influencing populations from Europe to Inner Asia. However, little is known about their economic foundations and the factors that may have contributed to their extensive mobility. Here, we investigate dietary proteins within the dental calculus proteomes of 45 individuals spanning the Neolithic to Greco-Roman periods in the Pontic–Caspian Steppe and neighbouring South Caucasus, Oka–Volga–Don and East Urals regions. We find that sheep dairying accompanies the earliest forms of Eneolithic pastoralism in the North Caucasus. During the fourth millennium bc, Maykop and early Yamnaya populations also focused dairying exclusively on sheep while reserving cattle for traction and other purposes. We observe a breakdown in livestock specialization and an economic diversification of dairy herds coinciding with aridification during the subsequent late Yamnaya and North Caucasus Culture phases, followed by severe climate deterioration during the Catacomb and Lola periods. The need for additional pastures to support these herds may have driven the heightened mobility of the Middle and Late Bronze Age periods. Following a hiatus of more than 500 years, the North Caucasian steppe was repopulated by Early Iron Age societies with a broad mobile dairy economy, including a new focus on horse milking.

Malgré le grand nombre de fouilles menées sur des sites de la culture Kura-Araxe (3500-2400 av. J.-C.) dans le Sud Caucase depuis 1940, aucune synthèse n’a été réalisée sur les pratiques funéraires des populations. Cet article présente donc un essai de synthèse en intégrant les données des fouilles anciennes et récentes avec un nouveau regard, celui de l’archéothanatologie. Sur l’ensemble du Sud Caucase, 111 sites où la présence de sépultures est attestée ont été recensés. Les sépultures ont pu être réparties en six catégories : les cistes, les tombes construites de formes variables, les tombes en fer à cheval, les tombes en fosse sans signalement, les tombes signalées en surface par des petits amas de pierres et les kourganes. Des cartes de répartition des sites ont été établies en fonction des différents types de tombes identifiés et des modes de dépôt des défunts. Les méthodes de l’archéothanatologie ont permis de mieux appréhender les modes de dépôt et de mettre en évidence des gestes insoupçonnés.

The potential of different trace elements for provenance studies of gold artefacts from the Lesser Caucasus is discussed in this paper. We provide a geochemical characterization of Bronze Age artefacts and gold from the prehistoric mine of Sakdrisi as well as nearby placer deposits. The mining activities of the Kura-Araxes period took place in the oxidation zone of the Sakdrisi deposit, where gold occurs in boxwork structures of oxidized and dissolved sulfidic minerals of ore in the ancient galleries. Gold from the mine as well as gold from placer deposits in the Sakdrisi-Bolnisi district are characterized by silver in the percentage level (up to 40 wt%) and small amounts of trace elements, which, in general, is typical for natural gold. The Bronze Age gold artefacts from the Lesser Caucasus also contain silver, with a variation within the range of natural gold, as well as a small percentage of copper. The geochemical characterization of the artefacts shows an extensive use of alluvial gold identified by a combination of the trace element tin, originating from primary deposits in acidic rocks, and platinum group elements (PGE), originating from primary deposits in (ultra-) basic rocks. We propose different sources for the gold artefacts based on a large variation in their trace element composition. Owing to the change of the chemical composition during metallurgical operations, resulting in an enrichment of copper and trace elements by co-melting of heavy mineral concentrates and an alteration by metallurgical processing, it is not possible to link gold artefacts to specific gold occurrences. Moreover, the lead isotope ratios measured from the gold artefacts cannot be used to trace back the primary gold sources. If additional silver was added to create some of the artefacts, lead isotopes would trace back to these silver sources. However, if unalloyed alluvial gold was used, lead isotope ratios would reflect a mixture of lead sources potentially deriving from multiple local ore deposits in protoliths whose erosion products were accumulated in the placer deposits and subsequently incorporated during co-melting into the gold artefacts. Thus, only sources in a regional context can be discussed.

In November 2021, a geophysical prospection using magnetics, electromagnetics, and ground penetrating radar, as well as a surface archaeological survey and aerial photography were conducted in the kurgan area on the Uzun-Rama plateau in central Azerbaijan. These non-destructive investigations aim to obtain information on the morphology, structure and spatial distribution of the urgans in order to classify them according to various features. The preliminary results show that increased magnetic field intensity, increased electrical conductivity, and increased reflection energy in the GPR are observed in the top region of the kurgans, which contain information about the burial chamber.

Several samples coming from the recently discovered (February 2019) Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Chovdar necropolis in Azerbaijan were analysed using the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technique. The analysis allowed a preliminary classification of the samples in eight groups based on their composition, obtained from the XRF spectra using the fundamental parameter method. A more detailed classification was then obtained using the graph clustering method.