Areni-1 cave

The Areni-1 cave complex (Armenian: Արենիի քարանձավ) is a multicomponent site,[2] and late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age ritual site and settlement,[3] located near the Areni village in southern Armenia along the Arpa River.

In 2008, Armenian PhD student and archeologist Diana Zardaryan of the country's Institute of Archaeology discovered the earliest known shoe at the site.

The Late Chalcolithic traditions in Armenia (Areni-1, Teghut, Nerkin Godedzor), Azerbaijan (Ovçular Tepesi, Mentesh Tepe, Leylatepe) and Georgia (Berikldeebi) share common characteristics and regional contacts to Maikop and Ubaid-Uruk.

These societies are on the way towards growing complexity, a process reflected in the appearance of developed copper based metallurgy (molds, slags, ingots, kilns, pure and arsenic copper), new metal weapons/tools (knife/daggers, spearheads, flat axes), ceramics (potter's wheel, pottery signs), exotic and prestigious objects of gold, silver, and lapis-lazuli, stamp seals and status symbols (scepters), kurgans and jar burials, and rudiments of monumental architecture (cf.

This is all accompanied by the blossoming of long distance trade, essential transfer of knowledge, and the development of centralized hierarchies[1]Three individuals who lived in the Chalcolithic era (c. 5700–6250 years BP), found in the Areni-1 ("Bird's Eye") cave, were identified as belonging to haplogroup L1a.