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| Titel |
Geoarchaeological research on Bronze Age settlement mounds in the Kolkheti
lowlands at the Black Sea coast of Georgia |
| VerfasserIn |
Hannes Laermanns, Arne Heisterkamp, Giorgi Kirkitadze, Mikheil Elashvili, Jan Verheul, Daniel Kelterbaum, Helmut Brückner |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2016
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 18 (2016) |
| Datensatznummer |
250125155
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2016-4694.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| 0.0.1 Situated between the Rivers Enguri in the north and Khobistsqali in the south,
more than 20 settlement mounds (local name Dikhagudzuba), identified by field survey and
remote sensing techniques, give evidence of a densely populated landscape in the coastal
lowlands of eastern Georgia during the Bronze Age. While the existing chronology of these
mounds is based on ceramic evidence obtained during a previous archaeological
research, only limited information is available on their internal architecture and their
palaeoenvironmental context, and the chronology of the different layers is as yet lacking.
0.0.2 Within the framework of a geoarchaeological research project, we carried out
eleven vibracores on and in direct vicinity of three of the most prominent mounds, situated
close to the villages of Orulu and Ergeta. Based on these sediment cores, our study aims at (i)
establishing a chronostratigraphical framework for the settlements based on radiocarbon
dating; (ii) reconstructing possible phases and gaps of occupation; and (iii) identifying
the environmental conditions during the time of their existence. Geochemical and
sedimentological analyses were carried out to decipher element contents (XRF),
granulometry, and organic contents (LOI, C/N) of sediment samples, supporting the
interpretation of the mounds’ stratigraphical evolution and related human occupation.
The three investigated settlement mounds are similar in dimension and stratigraphy, and
different settlement layers could be identified in each of them. The 14C age estimates indicate
that their formation occurred during the second half of the 3rd and the first half of the 2nd
millennium BC, thus confirming the archaeological interpretation of their Bronze Age
origin. Based on the granulometric and geochemical data, palaeoenvironmental
conditions in the vicinity of the settlements were dominated by fluvial processes. |
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