Archaeology of Caucasus

Bu çalışma, "Ardahan Kale ve Kuleleri" adlı kitabın bölümlerinden biridir. Bu kitap içi bölümde, Ardahan'ın Eskiçağ'dan Türk fetihlerine kadar tarihçesi üzerinde durulmuş ve şehrin isminin kökenine ilişkin bir başlığa yer verilmiştir.
  Son yıllarda yapılan bilimsel araştırmalarla birlikte Eskiçağ ve Ortaçağ arkeolojik vaziyetinin Transkafkasya (Güney Kafkasya) arkeolojisiyle
oldukça örtüştüğü anlaşılan Ardahan, Doğu Karadeniz ve Kuzeydoğu Anadolu Bölgeleri ile Transkafkasya’yı birleştiren stratejik bir coğrafi konuma sahiptir. Batıda Karadeniz sahil şeridinin son ili Artvin ile
komşu olan Ardahan’ın güneyinde Erzurum ve Kars illeri, kuzeydoğusunda Gürcistan ve doğusunda Ermenistan yer alır. Transkafkasya ülkelerinde, özellikle Tunç ve Demir Çağları kültürlerine ilişkin hatırı sayılır araştırma ve arkeolojik kazı yapılmışsa da bu bölgenin komşusu olan Kuzeydoğu Anadolu için aynı değerlendirmeyi ne yazık ki yapamamaktayız. Özellikle Ardahan ili, Anadolu coğrafyasında arkeolojik araştırmaların en az yürütüldüğü yerlerden biri olmuştur. Bu nedenle şehrin tarihi ve arkeolojik geçmişi üzerine toplanan veriler, akademik anlamda tatmin edici bir düzeye erişememiştir. Yine de inanıyoruz ki, 2008 yılında kurulan Ardahan Üniversitesinin bünyesinde gerçekleştirilmekte olan ve yakın gelecekte daha da kapsamlı bir şekilde sürdürülecek bilimsel çalışmalar, şehrin tarihi, sanat tarihi ve arkeolojik
dokusunu çok daha detaylı bir şekilde yansıtacaktır.

The classification suggested by the author is based on 735 items, for 120 of wich the absolute date is knows. Is classification is an open one, and the inclusion of any new type of figurine woud not disrupt it. The suggested scheme does not solve the general problems of dating the figurines, yet it gives an idea on the time of many variants of anthropomorphic figurines testifies to the abundance and variety of cults in the Caucasus. Distribution of the figurines in the territory of Noth Caucasian and Transcaucasian archeological cultures show that the development of cults in the entire region followed a single pattern. It provided impossible to identify a set of figurines peculiar  to only one archeological culure, wich proves the supracultural character of the phenomenon wich can not be considered within a single archeological culture or region of the Caucasus.

Based on existing classifications of the horse-bits and cheek-pieces of the North Caucasus and Eastern Europe, the paper outlines a classification of bronze cheek-pieces made of a twisted core and non-bonding three-hole cheek-pieces from Azerbaijan. Burials where objects under the study originate from are dated back to the second half of the 8 th and the 7 th centuries BC. Most of the studied bits with non-bonding three-hole cheek-pieces of Azerbaijan come from the burial grounds where Scythian type objects were discovered or where a burial rite has analogies to those in the forest-steppe on the right bank of the Dnipro River. This data indicates the connection of the studied artifacts with the cultures of the Cimmerians and the Scythians.

SINCE JULES VERNE WROTE HIS influential novel “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” the aim to discover the deepest place below the surface has sparked the imaginations of generations of explorers, adventurers and scientists. Those in search of the deepest known cave on the planet are always lead to Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia. Deep in the mountains of the Arabika Massif, these record-breaking caves can be found—the four deepest caves in the world, including Krubera Cave (also known as Voronya Cave, just to keep it interesting), second-deepest in the world, to nearby Veryovkina Cave.

The Arabika Massif in the Western Caucasus constitutes one of the largest karst massifs on Earth, but despite its enormous potential to scientists, the area, including Krubera Cave, has been woefully under-explored. One of the reasons is the remoteness of the area, which is only accessible for up to four months a year, but the main obstacles for scientists have been the numerous political conflicts in Abkhazia, which continue until today.

Krubera Cave was declared the world’s deepest cave in 2001 when Ukrainian speleogolists reached a depth of 1,710 meters, thereby exceeding the previous known reigning champion in the Austrian Alps. At a depth of 1,500 meters, a subterranean waterfall of near-freezing water has flooded a branch of the cave system, while the main branch continues to a depth of 2,140 meters, where a terminal siphon marks the end of the cave. In 2018, Veryovkina Cave took over the title, at 2,212 meters deep—more than 1.3 miles.

The Ukrainian speleogolists needed a staggering 14 days to reach the siphon at the end of the cave. A number of endemic fauna has been found at all levels of depth within the cave, including spiders, scorpions, beetles, as well as stygofauna like shrimps and amphipods.


Krubera Cave, also known as Voronya Cave, is the second-deepest-known cave on Earth after the Veryovkina Cave.
It is located in the Arabika Massif of the Gagra Range of the Western Caucasus, in the Gagra district of Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia.

The difference in elevation of the cave's entrance and its deepest explored point is 2,197 ± 20 metres (7,208 ± 66 ft).
It became the deepest-known cave in the world in 2001 when the expedition of the Ukrainian Speleological Association reached a depth of 1,710 m (5,610 ft) which exceeded the depth of the previous deepest-known cave, Lamprechtsofen, in the Austrian Alps, by 80 metres (260 ft). In 2004, for the first time in the history of speleology, the Ukrainian Speleological Association expedition reached a depth greater than 2,000 metres (6,600 ft), and explored the cave to −2,080 m (−6,824 ft).
Ukrainian diver Gennadiy Samokhin extended the cave by diving in the terminal sump to 46 metres' depth in 2007 and then to 52 m in 2012, setting successive world records of 2,191 m and 2,197 m, respectively.
Krubera is one of the two known caves on Earth deeper than 2,000 metres.

The original name "Krubera" had been assigned to the cave by Soviet speleologists who explored the entrance pit in 1960. This name was given after the noted Russian geographer Alexander Kruber. The name "Krubera Cave" thus has a priority. "Voronya Cave" means "Crows' Cave" in Russian. This name was used as a slang name by Kyiv speleologists during the 1980s due to a number of crows nesting in the entrance pit, and then remained in the literature and media as a second name for the cave.

The Arabika Massif, the home of Krubera (Voronya) Cave, is one of the largest high-mountain limestone karst massifs in the Western Caucasus. It is composed of Lower Cretaceous and Upper Jurassic limestones that dip continuously southwest to the Black Sea and plunge below the modern sea level.

To the northwest, north, northeast, and east, Arabika is bordered by the deeply incised canyons of Sandripsh, Kutushara, Gega and Bzyb rivers. The Bzyb River separates Arabika from the adjacent Bzybsky Massif, another outstanding karst area with many deep caves, including the Snezhnaja-Mezhonogo-Iljuzia System (−1,753 m or −5,751 ft) and Pantjukhina Cave (−1,508 m or −4,948 ft). To the southwest, Arabika borders the Black Sea.

The Arabika Massif has a prominent high central sector with elevations above the tree line at ~1,800–1,900 m (5,900–6,200 ft). This is an area of classical glaciokarstic landscape, with numerous glacial trough valleys and cirques, with ridges and peaks between them. The bottoms of trough valleys and karst fields lie at elevations of 2,000–2,350 m (6,560–7,710 ft), and ridges and peaks rise to 2,500–2,700 m (8,200–8,900 ft). The highest peak is the Peak of Speleologists (2,705 m (8,875 ft)) but the dominant summit is a typical pyramidal horn of the Arabika Mount (2,695 m (8,842 ft)). Some middle- to low-altitude ridges covered with forest lie between the central sector and the Black Sea. A plateau-like middle-altitude outlier of the massif in its south sector is Mamzdyshkha, with part of the plateau slightly emerging above the tree line.

Among several hundred caves known in the Arabika Massif, fifteen have been explored deeper than 400 m and five deeper than 1,000 m.

Krubera Cave is located at 2,256 m above sea level in the Ortobalagan Valley, a perfectly shaped, relatively shallow, glacial trough of the sub-Caucasian stretch, which holds the advanced position in the Arabika's central sector relative to the seashore. Since 1980, Ukrainian cavers have been undertaking systematic efforts in exploring deep caves in the Ortobalagan Valley, resulting in exploration of the Krubera Cave to its current depth and of the Arabikskaja System to depth of −1,110 m (−3,640 ft).
The latter consists of Kuybushevskaya Cave (also spelled as Kujbyshevskaja; −1,110 m) and Genrikhova Bezdna Cave (−965 m to the junction with Kujbyshevskaja). Another deep cave in the valley, located in its very upper part and explored by Moldavian and Ukrainian cavers is Berchilskaya Cave, 500 m (1,600 ft) deep. All large caves of the Ortobalagan Valley likely belong to a single hydrological system, connected to large springs at the Black Sea shore. The direct physical connection of Krubera Cave with the Arabikaskaja System is a sound possibility, although not yet physically realized.

Ногайцы Северо-Западного Прикаспия называют сынтасами каменные намогильные стелы. До сих пор они почти не привлекали внимания исследователей. Доклад представляет результаты одного из первых специальных исследований арабоязычной ногайской эпиграфики Северного Дагестана. Он вводит в научный оборот материал с ногайских намогильных стел двух родовых кладбищ Шийх-Али-оьлик и Шепкен-тыккан-оьлик XVIII–XX вв. Время самых ранних сохранившихся ногайских сынтасов — последняя четверть XVIII в. Авторы рассматривают тексты, форму и орнаментику сынтасов, изображения на них различных предметов, связанных как с исламским вероисповеданием ногайцев, так и с одеждой, украшениями и занятиями мужчин и женщин. Особое внимание уделено эпиграфической характеристике отдельных памятников и родовых кладбищ ногайцев в целом.

The Nogays who inhabit the north-west to the Caspian Sea call their funeral steles syntaslar (pl. from the sg. syntas). To date they mostly lacked for the interest of historians. This paper is one of the first attempts to provide readers with a substantial analysis of Arabographic Nogay inscriptions in Northern Dagestan. It introduces into the research use 48 Nogay funeral steles from the two clan cemeteries of Shiykh-Ali-elik and Shepken-tykkan-elik dating from the 18th through the late twentieth century. The most recent Nogay syntaslar were made in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. The authors investigate inscriptions, form and ornamental stylistics of the Nogay funeral steles, as well as different images related to Islamic faith of the Nogays, their clothes, embellishments and different male and female professions. The focus is made on epigraphic characteristics of separate monuments as well as of clan cemeteries as a whole.

This paper advances an interpretive pottery typology for the northern Near Eastern highlands during early historical periods, or the mid-7 th to late 4 th centuries B.C. The study represents an effort to integrate intuitive approaches to pottery classification that use vessel form and surface appearance as discrimi-nant criteria with a consideration of craft technology as meaningful social practice. The central Armenian settlement of Tsaghkahovit provides the vantage for these investigations. Nine seasons of excavations at the site yielded a ceramic assemblage that bears upon three phases in the archaeology of the Iron Age: the enigmatic mid-7 th to mid-6 th century, the early Achaemenid period (ca. 550-430 B.C.) and the last Achaemenid century (ca. 430-330 B.C.). The paper offers an appraisal of pottery typology in each of these phases and examines stylistic shifts through the lens of craft learning. The primary concern is to discern those forces residing within the domain of pottery production that drove perceived typological changes in the mountainous region encompassing what is today northern Iran, eastern Turkey, and the South Caucasus. A catalogue of the Tsaghkahovit pottery corpus is included.

In the bilingual (Georgian and English) book “Weapons and Armor in Georgia (5th century BC. - 4th century AD.) Catalogue” II, (by Gela Gamkrelidze, Vakhtang Shatberashvili, Marine Pirtskhalava, Maya Charkviani,  Revaz  Davlianidze ) the data (the location of the site, dating, quantity of graves excavated at the cemeteries, number of graves with weapons) from 106 archaeological sites of Classical Period Georgia is given. All weapons are described, the photos, drawings and the map are also attached.

Тема кавказских воинственных женщин впервые разрабатывается на Кавказе в виде монографии. Брошюра доводит до внимания мировой общественности итоги 15летних исследований. На основе новизны исследования, его научной значимости, методологической базы объекта и предмета считаем целесообразным анализ с сравнительной научно-исторической системой. Самое последнее слово в науке обнаружение именно в Пловдаге-II старейшей в мире могилы женщинывоительницы, утверждение Кавказа как первоисточника металлургии, топорысекиры, использовавшиеся воинственными женщинами в качестве оружия, шлемы, изготовленные на Кавказе в III-I тысячелетии до н.э., доказывают наше предположение. Следы амазонок в Гобустане, пещера Материнский грот, обнаруженные во многих регионах и относящиеся к женщинам-воительницам археологические находки на Кавказе, оружие, обнаруженное еще в 1926 году русским ученым Мещаниновым, могила амазонки, могилы вооруженных женщин в деревянных ящиках, найденные впоследствии Салехом Газиевым, диктуют необходимость представления их международной общественности, организации выставки для демонстрации находок со всего Кавказа. В то же время, крайне необходимо проведение международной научной конференции с приглашением западных специалистов, занятых в области исследования амазонок. Указанные ниже тезисы являются основными объектами будущего исследования. Самые древние в мире женщины-воительницы жили на исконных землях Азербайджана, особенно в регионе Нагорного Карабаха, а также Дагестана, Грузии, Западного Азербайджана (территория современной Армении). Пещера Материнской грот в Гобустане  может стать первой амазонской пещерой. Кавказ - один из первых металлургических центров. Основываясь на различных источниках, можно говорить о встрече на Кавказе Александра Македонского с Талестрис. Можно доказать, что кавказская мифология, особенно героические эпосы Нарт, относящиеся к 2500 году до н.э. древнее греческой мифологии. Следствием будущих глубоких исследований может стать то, что амазонки перестанут быть мифом, а станут реальностью. Исследования продолжаются. Еще многие скрытые на Кавказе кладовые истории ждут  своего часа. Многие тезисы и мысли, прозвучавшие выше, кажутся пока специалистам спорными. И эти споры имеют научную значимость. Потому что в спорах рождается истина. Вопросами, требующими исследования, являются происхождение слова амазонка от названия реки Алазань, празднование Новруза как наследия амазонок. Исследование многовековой истории Азербайджана, прошлого, даже прошлого до нашей эры (во всех сферах - археологии, этнографии, литературе, культуре), всегда вызывало огромный интерес. Если учесть, что каждое исследование имеет своеобразные научно-теоретические основы, то превращение  исследования истории амазонок в объект разработок имеет особое значение с точки зрения национально-духовных ценностей и теоретической и практической потребности.

Abstract: This essay provides a selected bibliography on the history and cultures of the Caucasus region. A great part of this study consists of books, articles, symposiums papers, undergraduate and postgraduate thesis and Ph.D dissertations written in Turkey. This study reveals that, although there are numerous studies on the region, the Caucasian history and cultures still calls for scholarly attention due to its geo-strategic importance.

Keywords: Caucasus, Bibliography, Culture, Historiography, Turkey

Öz: Bu makale çalışması dünyanın en önemli coğrafyalarından biri olan Kafkasya’nın tarihi ve kültürü üzerine hazırlanmış bir bibliyografya denemesidir. Bibliyografya denemesinin büyük bir bölümünü Türkiye’de, Kafkasya tarihi üzerine hazırlanmış kitap, makale, sempozyum, bildiri, lisans, yüksek lisans ve doktora tezleri
oluşturmaktadır. Tarihin ilk dönemlerinden günümüze çok önemli olaylara sahne olan bu zorlu topraklar günümüzde de tarihçilerin ve sosyal bilimcilerin ilgisini çeken bir alandır.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Kafkasya, Bibliyografya, Kültür, Tarihçilik, Türkiye

Among the rich and diverse animal representations of the Iranian peoples, over the millenniums two animals played an especially important role: one is the deer, which was depicted in various poses, and the other is a four-legged creature, in some cases shown with wings, which can be mostly recognised by its characteristically held tail. This animal, which appears on golden, bronze, and ceramics objects is consistently depicted with a long tail, curling back and most of the time towering above its back. This means of representation has been apparent on wide areas and continuously from the Bronze Age on, in the
Caucasian Koban culture, then on the findings of the Scythian, Sarmatian, and in the Alan era the same way as, for instance, on the objects of the Carpathian Basin in the 9th-10the century, the age of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin. The consistent and frequent representation suggests that in addition to the deer that can be
easily recognised by its antlers this animal also had a determining and outstanding role in the communities concerned. The meaning and content of the depiction of the two above-mentioned animals had a precise interpretation attached to it for the individuals within the specific communities – it was an especially important symbol
also from the social aspect, about which a number of studies were written. However, in the research of this topic, for long decades, researchers did not manage to pinpoint the reasons for the smaller or bigger differences between the representations or to include these in a uniform system.

В книге впервые вводятся в научный оборот материалы гробниц склепового могильника «Вербовский», изучавшегося в 80 – 90 гг. XX в. Публикуется описание строительных особенностей склепов и инвентаря 7-ми погребальных и культовых сооружений. Судя по выявленному набору предметов вооружения, керамических сосудов, различных категорий украшений и др., вероятная дата функционирования могильника кон. IV – III в. до н.э. Материалы могильника «Вербовский» представляют значительный интерес и дополняют современные представления о религиозных традициях и повседневной жизни населения Ставропольской возвышенности в переходный период смены финальной фазы существования в Предкавказье миксированного скифо-кобанского населения ранним этапом распространения в регионе сарматских племен.
Адресована научным работникам, студентам, широкому кругу читателей.

Беседа с историком Ольгой Брилевой о ее книге, посвященной исследованию бронзовой металлопластики XV в. до н.э. — X в. н.э. - http://postnauka.ru/books/14242

Святилища Кавказа. Историк Ольга Брилева о бронзовой пластике Кавказа, культуре инкрустации глаз у статуэток и сохранении языческих святилищ - http://postnauka.ru/video/15980

Одежды на древних статуэтках Кавказа. Историк Ольга Брилева о городище Вани, головных уборах и методах датировки - http://postnauka.ru/video/13156

Pollen analyses were performed on sediment samples from ten different Saphar-Kharaba burials dating to the 15th–14th centuries b.c. Along with pollen and spores, a large amount of micro-remains of textile fibres was found near skeleton bones and especially under big bones. It was established that in all the studied samples 95% of the remains of the clothing and shroud of the deceased was made of Linum (flax) and Gossypium (cotton). Wool fibres were found in very small quantities. Based on pollen spectra and the number of the fibres found in the samples taken from under the skull it became possible to identify the sex of the deceased and especially that of children, which is rather difficult to do using palaeoanthropological methods alone. The discovery of cotton fibres in the burials of the early late Bronze Age is new not only for the Georgian region under consideration, but also for the whole Caucasus. This might indicate trade relations of the peoples of the southern Caucasus wit...

Pollen analyses were performed on sediment samples from ten different Saphar-Kharaba burials dating to the 15th–14th centuries b.c. Along with pollen and spores, a large amount of micro-remains of textile fibres was found near skeleton bones and especially under big bones. It was established that in all the studied samples 95% of the remains of the clothing and shroud of the deceased was made of Linum (flax) and Gossypium (cotton). Wool fibres were found in very small quantities. Based on pollen spectra and the number of the fibres found in the samples taken from under the skull it became possible to identify the sex of the deceased and especially that of children, which is rather difficult to do using palaeoanthropological methods alone. The discovery of cotton fibres in the burials of the early late Bronze Age is new not only for the Georgian region under consideration, but also for the whole Caucasus. This might indicate trade relations of the peoples of the southern Caucasus with India, where at that time cotton textiles were manufactured.

Акопян А. В. Евгений Александрович Пахомов (1880–1965). В сб.: Эпиграфика Востока. Вып. 30. М.: Институт востоковедения РАН, 2013. C. 310–321, 329.

[Акопян А. В.]. Библиография научных работ Е. А. Пахомова. В сб.: Эпиграфика Востока. Вып. 30. М.: Институт востоковедения РАН, 2013. C. 321–329.