Shulaveri–Shomu culture
[3] The name of the Shulaveri-Shomutepe-Aratashen culture comes from the respective archaeological sites of Shulaveri, in Georgia, (known since 1925 as Shaumiani); Shomu-Tepe, in the Agstafa District of Azerbaijan; and Aratashen, on the Ararat Plain in Armenia.
[4][3] The Shulaveri–Shomu culture has been distinguished during the excavations on the sites of Shomutepe and Babadervis in Western Azerbaijan by I. Narimanov (between 1958 and 1964) and at Shulaveris Gora in Eastern Georgia by A.I.
Sites in this group include Shomutepe, Shulavris Gora, Göytepe, and the nearby Mentesh Tepe (near Tovuz, Azerbaijan).
[4][5] Domesticated animals including goat, sheep, cow, pig, and dog are found from the earliest phase of this culture.
Around 5900 BC, villagers at Gadachrili attempted to divert the Shulaveri river to the nearby fields using a system of canals.
The attempt seems to have been successful, but sediment deposition due to slow water flow probably necessitated regular maintenance.
[14] Hunting and fishing were less significant means of subsistence; game included a wide variety of species including deer, wild goat, aurochs, wild horse, hare, fox, jackal, gazelle, badger, wolf, turtle, and numerous species of birds.
Qarabel Tepe, a large and unique Late Neolithic site on the Mil Plain consisting of multiple mounds, has pottery and tool finds spread over an 8 hectare area.
[13][3][4][15] Settlements consisted of mud-brick circular, oval, and semi-oval single-storey and single-room buildings with domed roofs.
[16] Small, semi-subterranean, circular clay bins are commonly found at Shulaveri-Shomu sites in association with residential structures, and have been interpreted as storage containers for grain or tools.
Specifically, the most recent evidence comes from Gadachrili gora, near the village of Imiri in the same region; carbon-dating points to the date of about 6000 BC.
[21][22] Chemical analysis of organic compounds found in some of the numerous very high capacity pottery jars at Shulaveri-Shomu sites indicates that they contained wine, and were probably used as fermentation, maturation, and serving vessels.
[23] Many of the characteristic traits of the Shulaverian material culture (circular mudbrick architecture, pottery decorated by plastic design, anthropomorphic female figurines, obsidian industry with an emphasis on production of long prismatic blades) are believed to have their origin in the Near Eastern Neolithic (Hassuna, Halaf).
Pestles and mortars found in Shulaveri–Shomu sites and Late Neolithic layers of Tell Sabi Abyad in Syria are also similar to each other.
