Excavations: Compared to the numerous explored burial mounds of the Maikop Culture of the 4th millennium B.C. excavations in settlements still represent a research desideratum, so that, for example, reliable statements about the economic basics of the Maikop culture can hardly be made yet. The Maikop settlement site Komsomolec 1, located about 7 km northwest of the city of Novopavlovsk (Stavropol region), was therefore selected for archaeological excavations.
The archaeological site of Orchosani, about 2ha in size, is located 20 km southwest of the city of Akhaltsikhe, the capital of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia.
Samshvilde is located in the Kvemo Kartli region of the Tetritskaro district in southeastern Georgia. In the first excavation campaign at Samshvilde, the aim was to identify the exact location of the settlement, to establish a fixed-point system, and to gain insight into the soil and terracing.
C14 data: The excavations in these settlements serve primarily to improve our knowledge of the residential architecture and economy of the Early Bronze Age. The construction of a C14-supported chronology of the 4th and early 3rd millennia BCE in the Caucasus is the main focus.
Wheel and Wagon: Almost 300 wagons or parts of wagons of the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE from graves of the Maikop, Yamnaya, Novotitarovskaya as well as the North Caucasian Culture and the Catacomb Grave Culture are known today. Although the good preservation of individual wheels and wheeled vehicles in the tombs of the northern Caucasus foothills is unique, there are none completely preserved, so the components of the wagons have to be reconstructed from sources of varying quality.
Metallurgy: In the last quarter of the 5th millennium BCE a significant metallurgical innovation had already taken place. The progression from metallurgy of soft copper to metallurgy of hard bronze was made by alloying copper with another substance, changing the properties of the copper. What needs to be explained, however, is whether the objects were manufactured in the North Caucasus or imported. Ultimately, only material studies can help in this regard, which is why our project focuses on the chemical analysis of the arsenic bronzes.
Sheep husbandry: wool and dairy farming: Remarkable support for the use of sheep in dairy farming came from the study of tartar on 45 individuals from the Caucasus. The clear evidence of dairy products/cheese in our Caucasian samples opens a new perspective on the beginning of the pastoral way of life in the East European steppe.
Wool sheep: A high number of samples from sheep, including presumed wild sheep, and goats, including wild goats, dating from the Mesolithic to the 4th millennium BC, allow us to address the question of the wool gene and whether it could possibly come from the Caucasian wild sheep.
Horse domestication: The horse was domesticated only due to its use as a riding, draft and pack animal. Thus, domestication and breeding were controlled in a social sphere that had the appropriate resources, interests, and uses.
People and Pathogens: Although individual mobility was not very pronounced, paleogenetics provides insight into complex population movements since the 5th millennium BCE. The study of pathogens has become established over the course of ancient DNA analysis and has opened a completely new perspective on the importance of infectious diseases in the Bronze Age.
