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The Late Bronze Age (ca. 1500-1200 B.C.) in southern Caucasia marked the first appearance of a radically altered regional sociopolitical tradition founded upon newly empowered elites sequestered in fortified citadels. The archaeology of the era indicates a significant break from the preceding Middle Bronze Age, when large burial mounds and a dearth of settlement sites have long suggested the prevalence of pastoral nomadism and mobile sociopolitical institutions. The patterns of social order and institutional formation that developed in the Late Bronze Age appear to have endured well into the Iron Age, exerting a profound impact upon later historical empires, such as Urartu. The investigations of Project ArAGATS are examining the rise of complex societies in Caucasia by detailing the nature of social organization and the apparatus of political authority that constituted this emergent tradition. Having completed an archaeological survey of the Tsakahovit Plain region in 2000, we initiated phase II of our investigations in 2002 with intensive excavations at Tsakahovit and Gegharot fortresses, two settlement sites with well-preserved strata from three major archaeological periods: the Kura-Araxes III phase of the Early Bronze Age, the Late Bronze Age, and the Yervandid period of the mid first millennium B.C. (sixth-third centuries B.C.). The Early Bronze Age settlement at Gegharot is notable not only for its unexpected large size, good preservation, and terraced construction, but also for the illumination it promises to shed on the terminal era of the Kura-Araxes horizon. With the discovery of stratigraphically superimposed Late Bronze Age and Yervandid occupations at Tsakahovit, continuing research at the site promises to shed light on both the initial emergence of sociopolitical complexity in southern Caucasia and the reconfiguration of local practices in the aftermath of the Urartian imperial collapse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excavations conducted at the site of Gegharot in north central Armenia, along the northeastern margin of the Tsaghkahovit Plain (Aragatsotn region) have produced a large quantity of well-preserved charcoals. With occupations dating to the Early and Late Bronze Age, the site has been excavated since 2000 under the supervision of R. Badalyan and A.T. Smith under the auspices of the joint Armenian-American Project ArAGATS. The examination of the wood anatomy along three sections under a reflected light microscope, necessary for the identifications of charcoals, was systematically undertaken completed with the observation of the ligneous structure on transverse sections using a stereomicroscope. This dendrological approach provides valuable data for aiding identification of which part of the tree used, recording growth ring width, estimating wood diameter, and ascertaining the state of the wood before carbonization. Different vegetational biotopes were identified from remains of the Early Bronze Age layers at the site: an open woodland with heliophilic shrubs (birch, maple, willow and Pomoïdeae ), an open forest formation with notably oak with maple and ash trees and a wet zone with willows and ash trees. The estimated diameters of the wood used at that time did not exceed 12 cm. The wood collection from the Late Bronze Age levels indicates a pine and oak forest surrounded by open areas where birch trees and Pomoïdeae grew and wetlands with willow trees and elm as riparian forests. The onset of a colder and drier climate could be the cause of the disappearance of the ash trees, the appearance of oak pine forests and the reduced growth of the tree-ring width. The taxa list and the high frequency of the small diameters observed during both occupations can refer to a local woodland exploitation. According to the observation of the last ring before the bark, evidence from a single operation (T21), during the Late Bronze Age testifies to seasonal activities. Some large charcoals of pine or oak had exceptional long series of more than 60 tree-rings. The average curve built on the basis of the oak series has a length of 72 rings, the beginning of a tree-ring series building in Armenia for the Bronze Age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]