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Increasing obsidian diversity during the Chalcolithic Period at Yeghegis-1 Rockshelter (Armenia) reveals shifts in land use and social networks

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Mkrtchyan,  Satenik
Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Max Planck Society;

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Furquim,  Laura
Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Max Planck Society;

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Roberts,  Patrick       
Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Max Planck Society;

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Fernandes,  Ricardo       
Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Max Planck Society;

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Amano,  Noel
Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Max Planck Society;

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Antonosyan,  Mariya       
Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Frahm, E., Saribekyan, M., Mkrtchyan, S., Furquim, L., Avagyan, A., Sahakyan, L., et al. (2024). Increasing obsidian diversity during the Chalcolithic Period at Yeghegis-1 Rockshelter (Armenia) reveals shifts in land use and social networks. Scientific Reports, 14(1): 9528. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-59661-9.


Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000F-3992-C
Abstract
The newly excavated rockshelter of Yeghegis-1 in Armenia reflects an occupation of five centuries, as attested by radiocarbon dates from ∼ 4100 to 4000 cal BCE in the lowest layer to ∼ 3600–3500 cal BCE at the top. It is a partially collapsed cave in which pastoralists, we hypothesize, wintered with their herds. The stone tool assemblage is predominantly obsidian (92.1%), despite the shelter being > 60 km on foot from the nearest sources. We use obsidian sourcing to investigate two purported trends in the Southern Caucasus during the Chalcolithic Period: (1) occupation of more varied high-altitude environments and (2) more expansive social networks. Our data show both trends were dynamic phenomena. There was a greater balance in use of the nearest pasturelands over time, perhaps linked to risk management and/or resource sustainability. During later occupations, artifacts from distant sources reveal more extensive connections. This increase in connectivity likely played a central role in the shifts in societal complexity that gave rise to widely shared material culture throughout the Armenian Highlands around the start of the Early Bronze Age. In such a model, greater social connectivity becomes a key mechanism for, rather than a product of, the spread of cultural and/or technological innovations.