სირია-პალესტინის არქეოლოგიური კონტექსტი სამხრეთ კავკასიის შუა ბრინჯაოს ხანის კულტურაში (ღუზისებური ცული, ქვაბი, რაპირა)

Abstract

From the second half of the III millennium BC and especially in the first quarter of the II millennium BC, in the South Caucasian cultural landscape, evidently became the recordable appearance of those artefacts which are characteristic for the Syria-Palestinian archaeological context. The present article is devoted to the detailed typological and artistic-stylistic analysis of certain kinds of patterns that are related and sometimes find a close analogy with the material of the different cultural centers of the Near East and among them, particularly, in the Syria-Palestinian realm. Among these materials obviously prevalent are the metal items made of bronze or precious metals. The appearance of certain types of valuable patterns in the South Caucasian region and, consequently, its widespread diffusion allows us to conclude in favor of the most activated communication exactly in the period of the 1st and 2nd phases of the Middle Bronze Age, i.e. from the mid III millennium, including the mid-17th century BC. It is thus significant that the beginning of the Trialeti culture represents at the same time the beginning of the cultural orientation of the South Caucasian area toward the Near Eastern civilizations. Among the impressive number of different types of precious burial goods which characterize the Trialeti culture, it is possible to single out the main ‘alien’, Near Eastern style items, or individual features, which differ from the characteristic local artifacts, and have no prototypes in the Caucasian region. Exactly such artefacts indicate that nearly all achievements and knowledge of producing fashionable metal artefacts of different styles were known and successfully adopted by the Middle Bronze Age South Caucasian cultural unites. The transfer and distribution of these modern technical methods and stylistic fashions point out cultural connections between the above-mentioned regions and common knowledge in the metalworking field of craft. Typologically close analogies of the wellknown in ancient Near Eastern world valuable metal assemblages are frequently enough recorded in South Caucasian burial sites of the Trialeti and also, partially, Bedeni cultures. The archaeological context onsidered in the present article provides important information and illustrate the intensified international communication and acceptance of many cultural achievements. At the III and first quarter of the II millenniums BC, these communications reached quite another, higher level. The best evidence which confirms this fact comes from the burial sites of the famous Trialeti culture, located in different areas of its wider distribution. Valuable patterns of bronze and precious metals of this culture clearly show the novelty in stylistic and technical methods which mainly were characteristic for the neighboring southern civilizational unites. Among those artifacts which find close analogies with the eastern Mediterranean cultural world following metal artifacts should be mentioned: anchor- shaped axe, bronze cauldron and bronze rapier (long sword). Archaeological evidences present different categories of artefacts which indicate in favor of the existed cultural or trade-economic interrelations of the South Caucasian developed Middle Bronze Age cultures with the outer world. In conclusion, it can be pointed out that for today it is quite clear that there is an ever-growing necessity to conduct a detailed study of the complexes of the Trialeti culture in accordance with the eastern Mediterranean and more eastward surrounding areas of the Near East.