Godedzor is a

prehistorical Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

archaeological site located about 1.5 kilometres west of the village of

Angeghakot Angeghakot () is a village in the Sisian Municipality of the Syunik Province in Armenia. A large reservoir, the Vorotan Cascade#Angeghakot Reservoir, Angeghakot Reservoir, spanning more than the entire length of the village lies to the south. D ...

in the

Syunik Province Syunik (, ) is the southernmost province of Armenia. It is bordered by the Vayots Dzor Province to the north, Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic exclave to the west, Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran to the south. Its capital and larg ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. The settlement of Nerkin Godedzor is in the

Vorotan river The Vorotan (), or Bargushad (Armenian: Բարգուշատ, ) or Bazarchay (), is a transboundary river in the South Caucasus that is the largest right tributary of the Hakari river. It starts from the northwestern slopes of the Syunik Plateau, ...

gorge, at the altitude of 1,800 meters. Some

petroglyphs A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

are also found close by. This was a seasonal occupation site used by pastoralists, as this area is covered by snow during the winter. There are some indications that the occupation here started already in the last quarter of the 5th millennium BC but, according to radiocarbon dates, the main activities took place during the time frame between 3650 and 3350 cal. BC. Around 15 km east of Godedzor, near

Sisian Sisian ( ) is a town and the centre of the Sisian Municipality of the Syunik Province in southern Armenia. It is located on both banks of the Vorotan River, at an altitude of 1600 m above sea level, 6 km south of the Yerevan- Meghri highway, at ...

, is located a prehistoric archaeological site of

Carahunge Carahunge (, also romanized as Karahunj and Qarahunj), also known as Zorats Karer (), Dik-Dik Karer (), Tsits Karer () and Karenish (), is a prehistoric archaeological site near the town of Sisian in the Syunik Province of Armenia. It is also oft ...

known as the 'Armenian

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...

'. It was discovered in 1994, and the age of these

megalithic A megalith is a large Rock (geology), stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging ...

monuments may go back to the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

or earlier.

Discovery

In 2003, an archaeological survey revealed prehistoric cultural deposits distinguished by a distinctive stone industry and ceramics. The site is on the left bank of a river. Parts of the site had unfortunately been destroyed by recent agricultural activity. Excavation started here in 2005.

Obsidian

Plenty of

obsidian Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...

artifacts were found at Godedzor. The location of this site is favourable for access to important Syunik obsidian deposits further upstream the Vorotan river. Syunik obsidian (especially from Sevkar) has been identified in many artefacts from the Near East (also known as "group 3c"). Especially they have been found in the

Lake Urmia Lake Urmia is an endorheic salt lake in Iran. The lake is located between the provinces of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan in Iran, and west of the southern portion of the Caspian Sea. At its greatest extent, it was the largest lake in th ...

basin in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. Godedzor was a big hub of obsidian trade in the South Caucasus. : "The artefacts in this yunikgroup come mainly from north-western Iran and were found in 6th millennium BC contexts ( Hajji Firuz,

Yanik Tepe Yanik Tepe () is a Chalcolithic and Bronze Age archaeological site in East Azerbaijan province, Iran. Site description The site is located in Tabriz, Iran, east of Lake Urmia and about 30 kilometers southwest of the city of Tabriz. Yanik T ...

) or the 5th‑4th millennia BC ( Dava Göz, Kushali Tepe, Kul Tepe (Hadishahr), Ghosha, Yanik Tepe, Kohne Tepesi)."

Pottery

There is a clear Near Eastern affinity in Godedzor cultural traits. The pottery shows some links with Ubaid culture, although they are not comprehensive. There are indications of some local developments in this area at the periphery of the Ubaid and Syro-Mesopotamian cultural sphere. At Godedzor, all the Chalcolithic pottery is handmade, and the most common type of pottery is Chaff-tempered Ware.

Agriculture

Farming also played a role in the subsistence strategies of Godedzor. Abundant botanical evidence was found here by archaeologists. Cereal crops were predominant. Around 60% of the crops were

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

, and around 40%

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

. It appears that some crops were planted before the winter came in and, when the tribes returned in the spring with their flocks, these crops were already ready to be harvested. The keeping of five domestic animals have been attested at Godedzor, including cattle, sheep, goat, pig and dog. 15 wild animal species have also been hunted. Goats were the most common species, and cattle were the second in importance. Godedzor shows some structural and economic continuity between the economies of the Late Chalcolithic period, to which it belongs, and the

Kura–Araxes culture The Kura–Araxes culture (also named ''Kur–Araz culture, Mtkvari–Araxes culture, Early Transcaucasian culture, Shengavitian culture'') was an archaeological culture that existed from about 4000 BC until about 2000 BC, which has traditionally ...

s that developed later in the same highland areas. Among these signs of continuity was the cereal-focused agriculture that was first introduced in the mountainous areas already by the Chalcolithic peoples.Giulio Palumbi 2021
Early pastoralism and natural resource management: recent research at Godedzor.
in ''On salt, copper and gold.'' Catherine Marro, Thomas Stöllner, eds. pp.285-324

Notes

Bibliography

* Catherine Marro and Thomas Stöllner, eds. {{cite book , title=On salt, copper and gold: The origins of early mining and metallurgy in the Caucasus , publisher=MOM Éditions , year=2021 , isbn=978-2-35668-074-7 , doi=10.4000/books.momeditions.12257 , page= , editor-last1=Marro , editor-last2=Stöllner , editor-first1=Catherine , editor-first2=Thomas Populated places established in the 5th millennium BC Populated places disestablished in the 4th millennium BC Archaeological sites in Armenia Kura-Araxes culture 2003 archaeological discoveries Archaeological discoveries in Armenia

Discovery

Obsidian

Pottery

Agriculture

See also

Notes

Bibliography