JAR VESSELS FROM THE KURA-ARAXES SITES IN DAGESTAN: A TYPOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL STUDY

Authors

  • Arsen Lahmanovic Budajciev Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography Dagestan Federal Research Center, RAS
  • Murad Sahbanovic Sajpudinov Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography Dagestan Federal Research Center, RAS 0000-0002-5111-2083 (unauthenticated)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32653/CH214515-537

Keywords:

Kuro-Araxes cultural and historical community, Early Bronze Age, Mountainous Dagestan, Primorsky Dagestan, pottery, technical and technological analysis

Abstract

This article presents a typological and technological analysis of jar vessels from Early Bronze Age sites in Dagestan associated with the Kura-Araxes cultural-historical community. The jars are classified according to key morphological features: body shape, rim form, and the presence of handles. This classification yields six types, with Type II further divided into two subtypes (A and B). Analogies and parallels for these jars are drawn not only from regions of the Caucasus adjacent to Dagestan but also from more distant areas, including Eastern and Central Anatolia and Northwestern Iran, where Kura-Araxes sites have produced similar vessels. Applying the technical and technological analysis method developed by A.A. Bobrinsky, we obtained data on the recipes (compositions) of the molding pastes used for these jar vessels. Vessels from sites in Mountainous Dagestan were produced using a single primary recipe: clay + chamotte + organic solution. In contrast, vessels from Primorsky Dagestan employed two recipes: clay + chamotte + manure (77.8%) and clay + chamotte + organic solution (22.2%). These findings enabled the reconstruction of pottery traditions in jar production, which proved to be distinct between the two regions. This distinction suggests the persistence in Mountainous Dagestan of an older, possibly Eneolithic, technological tradition in pottery-making, alongside influences from the Kura-Araxes potters of Primorsky Dagestan. The results of this study can contribute to investigations of Kura-Araxes pottery across the Caucasus and the Middle East.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

  • Arsen Lahmanovic Budajciev, Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography Dagestan Federal Research Center, RAS
    Researcher
  • Murad Sahbanovic Sajpudinov, Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography Dagestan Federal Research Center, RAS
    Researcher

References

Gadzhiev MG. Pottery of mountainous Dagestan in the Early Metal Age. Pottery of Ancient and Medieval Dagestan. Makhachkala, 1981: 4-34. (In Russ)

Gadzhiev MG. Early Farming Culture of the North-Eastern Caucasus: Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age. Moscow: Nauka, 1991. (In Russ)

Badalyan RS., Harutyunyan AA., Chataigner Ch., Le Mort F., Chabot J., Brochier JE., Balasescu A., Radu V., Hovsepyan R. The Settlement of Akhnashen-Khatunarkh, A Neolithic Site in the Ararat Plain (Armenia): Excavation Results 2004–2009. TÜBA-AR. 2010; 13: 185-218.

Bakhshaliyev VB. New materials of the Neolithic and Eneolithic from Nakhchivan. Russian Archaeology. 2015; 2: 136-145. (In Russ)

Bakhshaliyev V., Marro C., Berton R., Kulieva Z. Archaeological excavations at the settlement of Kültepe (2013–2016). Problems of Archaeology of the Caucasus and Near East (Neolithic – Late Bronze Age). Collection dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the prominent archaeologist, Corr. Member of the NAS of Azerbaijan I.G. Narimanov (1927–2006). Baku, 2017: 26-41. (In Russ)

Munchaev RM., Smirnov KF. Archaeological monuments near the village of Karabudakhkent. Materials and Studies in the Archaeology of the USSR. 1958; 68: 147-175. (In Russ)

Budaychiev AL. On the handles of ceramic vessels of the Early Bronze Age in Primorsky Dagestan (issues of typology and chronology). History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Caucasus. 2021; 17(1): 89-114. (In Russ)

Gadzhiev MG. Settlements of mountainous Dagestan in the Early Bronze Age. Ancient and Medieval Settlements of Dagestan. Makhachkala, 1983: 6-42. (In Russ)

Sagona AG. The Caucasian Region in the Early Bronze Age. British Archaeological Reports International Series 214. Oxford, 1984.

Abibullaev OA. Eneolithic and Bronze Age in the Territory of the Nakhichevan ASSR. Baku, 1982. (In Russ)

Akhundov TI. North-Western Azerbaijan in the Eneolithic and Bronze Age. Baku: Elm, 2001. (In Russ)

Kuftin BA. Urartian “Columbarium” at the Foot of Ararat and the Kura-Araxes Eneolithic. Makhachkala: Mavraev, 2012 (reprint edition). (In Russ)

Munchaev RM. The earliest culture of the North-Eastern Caucasus. Materials and Studies in the Archaeology of the USSR. 1961; 100. (In Russ)

Munchaev RM. The Caucasus at the Dawn of the Bronze Age: Neolithic, Eneolithic, Early Bronze. Moscow: Nauka, 1975. (In Russ)

Ismailzade GS. Azerbaijan in the System of the Early Bronze Age Cultural Community of the Caucasus. Baku: Nafta-Press, 2008. (In Russ)

Kushnareva KKh., Chubinishvili TN. The Earliest Cultures of the South Caucasus. Leningrad: Nauka, 1970. (In Russ)

Kushnareva KKh. The South Caucasus in the 9th–2nd Millennia BCE (Stages of Cultural and Socio-Economic Development). Saint-Petersburg: Petersburg Oriental Studies, 1993. (In Russ)

Arne TJ. Excavations at Shah Tepe, Iran. VII. Archaeology 9). Stockholm, 1945.

Magomedov RG. Report on the results of field work at the Velikent complex of Bronze Age monuments in 1995. Makhachkala, 2001. Scientific Archive of IHAE DSC RAS. Fund 3. Inventory 3. File 912/10164. (In Russ)

Antonova EV. Essays on the Culture of Ancient Farmers of the Near and Middle East. Moscow, 1984. (In Russ)

Gadzhiev MG., Korenevsky SN. Metal of the Velikent catacomb. Ancient Crafts, Trade and Commerce in Dagestan. Makhachkala, 1984: 7-27. (In Russ)

Magomedov RG. Materials for the Study of the Bronze Age in Coastal Dagestan. Makhachkala, 2000. (In Russ)

Bakhshaliyev V., Marro C., Berton R., Kulieva Z. Archaeological excavations at the settlement of Kültepe. Problems of Archaeology of the Caucasus and Near East (Neolithic – Late Bronze Age). Baku, 2017: 26-41. (In Russ)

Musaev DL. Serkertape – A Settlement of the Early Bronze Age. Baku: Nafta-Press, 2006. (In Russ)

Kotovich VM. The Verkhnegunib Settlement – A Bronze Age Monument of Mountainous Dagestan. On the History of Dagestani Tribes at the End of the 3rd – 2nd Millennia BCE. Makhachkala, 1965. (In Russ)

Munchaev RM. Kura-Araxes culture. Archaeology. The Bronze Age of the Caucasus and Central Asia: Early and Middle Bronze Age of the Caucasus. Moscow: Nauka, 1994: 8-57. (In Russ)

Greenberg R. Transcaucasia colors: Khirbet Kerak Ware at Khirbet Kerak (Tel Bet Yerah). Les cultures du Caucase (VIe–IIIe millénaire avant notre ère). Paris: CNRS Editions, 2007: 257-268.

Magomedov RG. Ginchinsky Culture: Mountains of Dagestan and South-Eastern Chechnya in the Middle Bronze Age. Makhachkala: DSC RAS, 1998. (In Russ)

Bobrinsky AA. Pottery of Eastern Europe. Sources and Methods of Study. Moscow: Nauka, 1978. (In Russ)

Bobrinsky AA. Pottery technology as an object of historical-cultural study. Current Problems in the Study of Ancient Pottery. Samara, 1999: 5-106.

Tsetlin YuB. Ancient Pottery: Theory and Methods of Historical-Cultural Approach. Moscow: Institute of Archaeology RAS, 2012.

Bobrinsky AA., Tsetlin YuB., Gei IA. Some data on the technique and technology of Kura-Araxes potters based on materials from the Novo-Gaptsakh settlement in Dagestan. Russian Archaeology. 2011; 4: 15-28.

Published

2025-12-29

Issue

Section

Archeology

How to Cite

1.
Budajciev AL, Sajpudinov MS. JAR VESSELS FROM THE KURA-ARAXES SITES IN DAGESTAN: A TYPOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL STUDY. ИАЭК. 2025;21(4):515-537. doi:10.32653/CH214515-537