The story of Karaz: A brief history of the research, and an understanding of the process of the Kura-Araxes culture in the Erzurum Highlands
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32028/ajnes.v16i1-2.1831Keywords:
Kura-Araxes Culture, Karaz, Southern Caucasia, Erzurum, Early Bronze AgesAbstract
The Kura-Araxean culture, which roughly characterizes the EBA period of the mountainous belt between the Taurus Mountains and the Caucasus, draws attention primarily with its geographical and chronological size. This cultural phenomenon, which has been influential in most of the Near Eastern geography for a long time, has been a subject that has been studied extensively by archaeologists and historians. Archaeological traces of this culture, which transcends today’s political borders, have been detected in the territory of almost more than ten countries. In this respect, culture has an important place in the cultural inventory and heritage of the Caucasus and related countries. Its geographical and chronological size is the source of both the richness and problems of this cultural phenomenon. These problems range from terminology to chronology. For example, in terms of terminology, culture has been called by different names in each region, depending on the regional dynamics throughout the research history of that region. A remarkable example in this regard is the name ‘Karaz’, which was given to the culture with the early researches in the Eastern Anatolian plateau, which is also the subject of this article. This article aims to tell a story of the ‘Karaz Culture’, from its emergence to its intelligibility, that is, its long journey.
References
Altunkaynak, G. 2019a. Alaybeyi Kurtarma Kazıları / Alaybeyi Salvage Excavations, in: Altunkaynak 2019b: 101-138.
Altunkaynak, G. (ed.) 2019b. Karaz’dan Büyük İskender’e Erzurum Ovası’nda Yeni Bir Keşif. Alaybeyi Höyük / A New Discovery within the Erzurum Plain from Kura-Araxes to Alexander the Great. Alaybeyi Höyük. Erzurum: Erzurum Müze Müdürlüğü – Ankara: Bilgin Kültür Sanat Yayınları.
Altunkaynak, G., Işıklı, M., Erkmen, M. 2018. In the light of new evidence from the Erzurum Plain: An overview of Kura-Araxes funerary practices in Eastern Anatolia / Erzurum Ovası’ndan Yenı̇ Kanıtlar Işığında Doğu Anadolu’dakı̇ Kura-Aras Ölü Gömme Uygulamalarına Genel Bı̇r Bakış. TÜBA-AR Özel Sayı 2018: 73-91.
Cribb, R. 2004. Nomads in Archaeology (New Studies in Archaeology). Cambridge.
Erinç, S. Doğu Anadolu Coğrafyası (İstanbul Üniversitesi Yayınları 572). İstanbul: İstanbul Üniversitesi Yayınları.
Frangipane, M. (ed.) 2012. Fifty Years of Excavations and Research at Arslantepe-Malatya (Turkey). A Contribution to the Study of the Earliest Centralized Societies (Origini 34). Roma.
Işıklı, M. 2005. Doğu Anadolu Erken Transkafkasya Kültürü’nün Karaz, Pulur ve Güzelova Malzemesi Işığında Tekrar Değerlendirmesi. Unpublished PhD Dissertation. Ege University, İzmir.
Işıklı, M. 2006. Erzurum Pulur Höyüğü Çalışmaları: Kuzeydoğu Anadolu Keramiği Üzerine Gözlemler. ArkDer 8/2: 13-30.
Işıklı, M. 2011. Doğu Anadolu Erken Transkafkasya Kültürü Çok Bileşenli Gelişkin bir Kültürün Analizi (Arkeoloji ve Sanat Yayınları 41). İstanbul.
Işıklı, M. 2019. Erzurum Ovası Alaybeyi Höyüğü Kalkolitik ve Erken Tunç Çağ Tabakaları / Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Levels of Alaybeyi Höyük, Erzurum Plain, in: Altunkaynak 2019b: 139-182.
Işıklı, M. 2021. In the Pre-Urartian period, were the societies of the Eastern Anatolian Highlands egalitarian? A general review, in: Lebeau 2021: 183-194.
Koşay, H.Z. 1948. Karaz Sondajı, in: Yücel 1948: 165-169.
Koşay, H.Z., Turfan, K. 1959. Erzurum Karaz Kazısı Raporu. Belleten 23(91): 349-413.
Koşay, H.Z., Vary, H. 1964. Pulur Kazısı 1960 Mevsimi Çalışmaları Raporu / Die Ausgrabungen von Pulur. Bericht über die Kampagne von 1960 (Atatürk Üniversitesi Yayınları 24, Arkeoloji Serisi 9). Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları.
Lebeau, M. (ed.) 2021. Identity, Diversity & Contact from the Southern Balkans to Xinjiang, from the Upper Palaeolithic to Alexander. Turnhout: Brepols.
Marro, C., Hauptmann, H. (eds) 2000. Chronologies des pays du Caucase et de l’Euphrate aux IVe-IIIe millénaires / From the Euphrates to the Caucasus: Chronologies for the 4th-3rd Millennium B.C. / Vom Euphrat in den Kaukasus: Vergleichende Chronologie des 4. und 3. Jahrtausends v. Chr. Actes du colloque d’Istanbul, 16-19 décembre 1998 (Varia Anatolica 11). Istanbul: Institut Français d’Études Anatoliennes-Georges Dumézil / Paris: De Boccard.
Özdoğan, M. 2006. Arkeolojinin Politikası ve Politik Bir Araç Olarak Arkeoloji. İstanbul: Arkeoloji ve Sanat Yayınları.
Özfırat, A. (ed.) 2014. SCRIPTA. Arkeolojiyle Geçen Bir Yaşam İçin Yazılar Veli Sevin’e Armağan / Essays in Honour of Veli Sevin: A Life Immersed in Archaeology. İzmir: Ege Yayınları.
Palumbi, G. 2003. Red-Black Pottery: Eastern Anatolian and Transcaucasian relationships around the mid-fourth millennium BC. ANES 40: 80-134.
Palumbi, G., Chataigner, C. 2014. The Kura-Araxes culture from the Caucasus to Iran, Anatolia and the Levant: Between unity and diversity. A synthesis. Paléorient 40/2: 247-260.
Porter, A. 2020. Pastoralism in the Ancient Near East, in: Snell 2020: 125-143.
Restelli, F.B., Cardarelli, A., Di Nocera, G.M., Manzanilla, L., Mori, L., Palumbi, G., Pittman, H. (eds) 2020. Pathways through Arslantepe: Essays in Honour of Marcella Frangipane. Roma: Sapienza Università di Roma / Viterbo: Edizioni Sette Città.
Ridley, T.R. 2018. Antonio Giuseppe Sagona (1956–2017). ANES 55: 1-8.
Rothman, M.S 2017. Explaining the Kura-Araxes, in: Weber et al. 2017: 217-257.
Rothman, M.S 2020. Approaches to the nature of the Kura-Araxes societies in their homeland, in: Restelli et al. 2020: 163-172.
Sagona, A. 2000. Sos Höyük and the Erzurum region in Late Prehistory: A provisional chronology for North-Eastern Anatolia, in: Marro, Hauptmann 2000: 329-373.
Sagona, A. 2014. The Kura-Araxes Culture complex: A history of early research, in: Özfırat 2014: 21-32.
Sagona, A. 2006. The Heritage of Eastern Turkey: From Earliest Settlements to Islam. Melbourne, Vic.: Macmillan Art Publishing.
Sagona, A., Sagona, C. 2000a: Rethinking the Kura-Araxes genesis. Paléorient 40/2: 23-46.
Sagona, A., Sagona, C. 2000b. Excavations at Sos Hoyuk. 1998-2000: Fifth Preliminary Report. ANES 37: 56-127.
Sagona, A., Sagona, C. 2004. Archaeology at the North-East Anatolian Frontier, I: An Historical Geography and a Field Survey of the Bayburt Province (ANES Supplement 14). Louvain: Peeters.
Şenyurt, Y. 2006. Büyükardıç. Doğu Anadolu’da Bir Erken Demir Çağı Tepe Yerleşmesi (Bakü – Tiflis – Ceyhan Ham Petrol Boru Hattı Projesi, Arkeolojik Kurtarma Kazıları Yayınları 2). Ankara: Gazi University Research Center for Archaeology.
Şenyurt, Y. (ed.) 2011. Tasmasor (Bakü – Tiflis – Ceyhan Ham Petrol Boru Hattı Projesi, Arkeolojik Kurtarma Kazıları Yayınları 4). Ankara: Bilgin Kültür Sanat Yayınları.
Şenyurt, Y., Ekmen, H. 2005. Tetikom Pasinler Ovasında Bir Demir Çağı Yerleşmesi (Bakü – Tiflis – Ceyhan Ham Petrol Boru Hattı Projesi, Arkeolojik Kurtarma Kazıları Proje Dokümanları 1). Ankara: Gazi University Research Center for Archaeology.
Snell, D.C. (ed.) 2020. A Companion to the Ancient Near East. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
Weber, K.O., Hite, E., Khatchadourian, L., Smith, A.T. (eds) 2017. Fitful Histories and Unruly Publics: Rethinking Temporality and Community in Eurasian Archaeology. Leiden: Brill.
Yücel, H.A. (ed.) 1948. III. Türk Tarih Kongresi, Kongreye Sunulan Tebliğler. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
