Trialeti culture

[12] During the final phase of the Middle Bronze Age (c.1700–1500 BCE), in addition to the Trialeti–Vanadzor culture, three other geographically overlapping material culture horizons predominate in the South Caucasus (Transcaucasia) and eastern Anatolia: Karmir Berd (a.k.a.

[13] Black-burnished and monochrome painted wares vessels from the cemeteries of Ani and Küçük Çatma (Maly Pergit), both in the Kars Province of Turkey, and tr:Sos Höyük IV in Erzurum Province resemble those of Trialeti.

[16] Trialeti-Vanadzor painted monochrome and polychrome pottery is very similar to that in the other areas of the Near East.

The site at Trialeti was originally excavated in 1936–1940 in advance of a hydroelectric scheme, when forty-six barrows were uncovered.

This Early Kurgan period, known as Martkopi-Bedeni, has been interpreted as a transitional phase and the first stage of the Middle Bronze Age.

The elite were interred in large, very rich burials under earth and stone mounds, which sometimes contained four-wheeled carts.

[21] This practice was probably a result of influence from the older civilizations to the south in the Fertile Crescent.

[22] The Trialeti–Vanadzor pottery style is believed to have developed into the Late Bronze Age Transcaucasian ceramic ware found throughout much of what is now eastern Turkey.