Trialetian Mesolithic


Trialetian is the name for an Upper Paleolithic-Epipaleolithic stone tool industry from the area south of the Caucasus Mountains and to the northern Zagros Mountains. It is tentatively dated to the period between 16,000 / 13,000 BP and 8,000 BP.

Archaeology

The name of the archaeological culture derives from sites in the district of Trialeti in south Georgian Khrami river basin. These sites include Barmaksyzkaya and Edzani-Zurtaketi. In Edzani, an Upper Paleolithic site, a significant percentage of the artifacts are made of obsidian.
The Caucasian-Anatolian area of Trialetian culture was adjacent to the Iraqi-Iranian Zarzian culture to the east and south as well as the Levantine Natufian to the southwest. Alan H. Simmons describes the culture as "very poorly documented". In contrast, recent excavations in the Valley of Qvirila river, to the north of the Trialetian region, display a Mesolithic culture. The subsistence of these groups were based on hunting Capra caucasica, wild boar and brown bear.

Trialetian sites

Caucasus and Transcaucasia:
Eastern Anatolia:
Trialetian influences can also be found in:
Southeast of the Caspian Sea:
The belonging of these Caspian Mesolithic sites to the Trialetian has been questioned.

Relation with the Caspian Mesolithic

Differences have been found between the Trialetian and the Caspian Mesolithic of the southeastern part of the Caspian Sea, even though the Caspian Mesolithic had previously been attributed to Trialetian by Kozłowski, Kozłowski and Aurenche 2005 and Peregrine and Ember 2002. These differences have been established through a detailed study of the site of Komishan and are driven by the underlying differences at the level of cultural ecology.
While Trialetian industry developed in steppe riparian and mountain ecozones, as for example in the Khrami river and the mountainous site of Chokh respectively, the Caspian Mesolithic took place in a transitional ecotone between the sea, plain and mountains. The Caspian Mesolithic hunter-gatherers were adapted to the exploitation of marine resources and had access to high quality raw material, whereas in the Trialetian sites as Chokh and Trialeti there is imported raw material from distances of 100 km.

Relation with Kmlo-2

Kmlo-2 is a rock shelter situated on the west slope of the Kasakh River valley, on the Aragats massif, in Armenia. This site seems to present three different phases of occupation. The lithic industry of the three phases show similarities such as the predominance of microliths, small cores and obsidian as raw material. The backed an scalene bladelets are the dominant type of microlith; these tools show similarities with those of the Late Upper Paleolithic of Kalavan-1 and the Mesolithic layer B of the Kotias Klde. Cultural affinities of the Kmlo-2 lithic industry with the Epipaleolithic and Aceramic Neolithic sites in Taurus-Zagros mountains have also been noted.
Let us quote a few words from Gasparyan about the industry found in Apnagyugh-8, the so-called "Çayönü tools”, found in Neolithic sites from the 8th to 7th millennia BC in eastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia, and some found in the layer A2 of the Kotias Klde cave. It has been suggested that the Kmlo tools are distinctive features of a culture established circa 9-8k cal BC on the highlands of western Armenia and continued at least until the 6th-5th millennia calBC. A local development of the Kmlo tools has also been hypothesized.

Final phase

Little is known about the end of the Trialetian. 6k BC has been proposed as the time on which the decline phase took place. From this date are the first evidences of the Jeitunian, an industry that has probably evolved from the Trialetian. Also from this date are the first evidences of Neolithic materials in the Belt cave.
In the southwest corner of the Trialetian region it has been proposed that this culture evolved towards a local version of the PPNB around 7k BC, in sites as Cafer Höyük.
Kozłowski suggests that the Trialetian does not seem to have continuation in the Neolithic of Georgia. Although in the 5k BC certain microliths similar to those of the Trialetian reappear in Shulaveris Gora and Irmis Gora.
period. In this map we can see some sites that have been associated with the Trialetian culture, such as Hallan Çemi and Nevali Çori.

Genetics

The genome of a Mesolithic hunter-gatherer individual found at the layer A2 of the Kotias Klde rock shelter in Georgia, dating from 9,700 BP, has been analysed. This individual forms a genetic cluster with another hunter-gatherer from the Satsurblia Cave, the so-called Caucasian Hunter-Gatherer cluster. KK1 belongs to the Y-chromosome haplogruoup J2a .
Although the belonging of the Caspian Mesolithic to the Trialetian has been questioned, it is worth noting that genetic similarities have been found between an Mesolithic hunther-gatherer from the Hotu cave dating from 9,100-8,600 BCE and the CHG from Kotias Klde. The Iran_HotuIIIb individual belongs to the Y-chromosome haplogroup J . Then, both KK1 and Iran_HotuIIIb individuals share a paternal ancestor that lived approximately 18.7k years ago. At the autosomal level it falls in the cluster of the CHG's and the Iranian Neolithic Farmers.

Literature