2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Archaeological study on the prehistory of the early Holocene in Armenia

Research Project

Project/Area Number	22720301
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Archaeology
Research Institution	Kanazawa University (2012) Independent Administrative Institution National Institutes for Cultural Heritage Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (2010-2011)
Principal Investigator	ARIMURA Makoto 金沢大学, 国際文化資源学研究センター, 客員准教授 (90450212)
Project Period (FY)	2010 – 2012
Keywords	コーカサス / アルメニア / 新石器化 / 完新世
Research Abstract	Large part of the dynamics of archaeological sites in the early Holocene in the southern Caucasus still remains unknown. This research project tried to investigate the prehistoric culture in Armenia during the early Holocene (ca. 10,000－5,000 BC). The results mainly concentrated on Ijevan region, northeast Armenia, have shown that there were lots of cave/rockshelter sites in this region belonging to the early Holocene. Material culture of these sites is quite different from that of farming communities in the Ararat plain. Therefore, we infer that several groups with different subsistence economy or cultural root coexisted in the early Holocene in Armenia.