Highland fortress-polities and their settlement systems in the southern Caucasus

• Autores: Emily Hammer
• Localización: Antiquity, ISSN 0003-598X, Vol. 88, Nº 341, 2014, págs. 757-774
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Recent survey work in western Azerbaijan has revealed that hilltop fortresses of the Bronze Age and Iron Age may have been parts of larger walled complexes and could have functioned as the urban centres of small independent polities. On the S?rur Plain long lengths of stone wall link the major fortress Oglanqala it to its smaller neighbour Qi zqala 1, with evidence of a substantial settlement on the lower ground between the two. The southern Caucasus lies beyond the core area of Near Eastern states but these new discoveries suggest that major centres of power arose here, controlling both the fertile plains and strategic trade routes through mountainous terrain.