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The Ebb and Flow of Copper and Iron Smelting in the South Caucasus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2017

Nathaniel L Erb-Satullo*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02138USA Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 1 South Parks Rd. Oxford OX1 3TG, United Kingdom
Brian J J Gilmour
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 1 South Parks Rd. Oxford OX1 3TG, United Kingdom
Nana Khakhutaishvili
Affiliation:
Department of History, Archaeology, and Ethnology, Shota Rustaveli State University, 10 Rustaveli Ave., Batumi 6010, Georgia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: nathaniel.erb-satullo@arch.ox.ac.uk.

Abstract

The Eastern Black Sea region of the South Caucasus contains an extremely rich record of metallurgical remains that is poorly known outside of the former Soviet Union. Large numbers of relatively small smelting sites dot the foothill regions, forming a dispersed, yet large-scale metallurgical landscape. New fieldwork in the region has followed up on earlier Soviet period research, relocating and reanalyzing previously known sites and identifying new ones. This paper presents a series of 33 radiocarbon (14C) dates from copper and iron smelting sites in this region. Dates from copper smelting sites suggest that copper smelting occurred over a shorter and more intense period than previously thought, between about 1300 and 800 BC. Dates from newly discovered iron smelting sites place these activities in two episodes during the Classical-Hellenistic period (ca. 500–200 BC) and the High Medieval period (ca. AD 1050–1400). The dramatic expansion in bronze production immediately prior to the adoption of iron mirrors patterns in other regions of Europe and the Near East, and has implications for understanding the economic contexts in which iron emerged. While the new dates from iron smelting sites provide only an initial outline of the iron production chronology in the region, they represent an important step for resolving outstanding issues from previous investigations.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2017 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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