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Caucasus

(a) Photograph of the cauldron and what is left today. (b) artistic reconstruction of the cauldron as it would have looked when in use. Source: Wilkin et al. / iScience

Savoring the Past: Bronze Age Cauldrons' Residues Unveil Caucasus Cuisine

An analysis of protein residues from the Caucasus region (the transcontinental region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea) from the Maykop period (3700-2900 BC), has revealed a menu of deer,...
The early Bronze Age Maykop culture of the Caucuses region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea dates to the 4th-3rd millennium BC and was connected to more places than you might think!		Source: Google Arts & Culture

The Maykop: Lost Bronze Age Culture of the Exotic Caucasus Region

In 1897, Professor Nikolay Veselovsky, a Russian archaeologist and orientalist, specializing in the history and archaeology of Central Asia, uncovered one of the greatest archaeological finds of...
Recreation of the oldest drinking straws, found at the Maikop burial, in use. Source: Kevin Wilson / Antiquity Publications Ltd

Maikop ‘Scepters’ Are Actually the World’s Oldest Drinking Straws

An exciting new study from Russia has reinterpreted an 1897 find of silver and gold tubes from a Bronze Age burial mound in Maikop in the northern Caucasus as being straws rather than scepters as...
Trialeti Gold Goblet from ancient Georgia, 1700 – 1500 BC, when gold was still in fashion in every way.		Source: Steve Batiuk / ASOR Photo Collection

Caucasus Societies Developed an Aversion to Gold “Bling,” Says Study

New research has shown puzzling evidence of gold going out of fashion for hundreds of years in ancient societies, societies which been at the forefront of technological innovation in gold mining and...
‘Invincible’ a modern depiction of a battle between Rus and Khazars.

The Khazars: A Forgotten Medieval Empire that Ruled the Northern Caucasus

"The Khazar people were an unusual phenomenon for Medieval times. Surrounded by savage and nomadic tribes, they had all the advantages of the developed countries: structured government, vast and...
Bronze figurines found at Lchashen

The Fascinating Lchashen Settlement, Armenia: Where Elite Warriors Emerged from a Watery Grave

Thanks to globalization, the world is getting smaller and we can now travel to sites and places that were once difficult to see. Besides a long history and rich culture, there are many extraordinary...
Reenactors of Hunnic Warriors of the Steppe

The Hunnic War Machine: The Push Westward – Part I

The steppe has produced many notable horse archers who brought terror and devastation to the known world during ancient times. But of the many steppe peoples who penetrated the civilized world, none...
One of the burials at Didnauri, the largest Bronze Age settlement ever discovered in the southern Caucasus. This burial predates the 3,100-year-old wall around the settlement by about about 200 years

Largest Ancient Settlement of South Caucasus Discovered from Satellite Photos

A military commander killed in battle with the arrowhead still lodged in his thorax is one of the interesting finds by archaeologists at the largest prehistoric settlement discovered in the South...
25,000-Year-Old Buildings Found in Russia

25,000-Year-Old Buildings Found in Russia

In the Caucasus mountains of Russia, not far from the cities Tzelentzchik, Touapse, Novorossiysk and Sochi, there are hundreds of megalithic monuments known as dolmens. Russian and foreign...
DNA was extracted from the molar teeth of this skeleton, dating from almost 10,000 years ago and found in the Kotias Klde rockshelter in Western Georgia.

Fourth strand of European ancestry originated with hunter-gatherers isolated by Ice Age

Populations of hunter-gatherers weathered the Ice Age in apparent isolation in Caucasus mountain region for millennia, later mixing with other ancestral populations, from which emerged the Yamnaya...
The dramatic scenes of an older man slaying a young man depicted on the Scythian art might reference the ancient “Bastard Wars” as recorded by Herodotus.

Secret Chamber Found at Scythian Burial Mound Reveals Golden Treasure of Drug-Fueled Rituals

Elaborate golden treasures with traces of cannabis and opium have been discovered in a secret chamber hidden in an ancient Scythian burial mound near Strovopol, Russia. Described as a once-in-a-...
Zana, Russian Ape Woman

DNA Evidence Suggests Captured Russian Ape Woman Might Have been Subspecies of Modern Human

The story of Zana, supposed Ape Woman of the Caucasus Mountains is one often revisited and reexamined by historians, explorers, and scientists alike. Now a leading geneticist believes that the wild...
Oldest metal object - Copper Awl

Oldest metal object found to date in Middle East

A copper awl, the oldest metal object found to date in the Middle East, was discovered during the excavations at Tel Tsaf, according to a recent study published by researchers from the Zinman...
4,000-Year-Old Chariots Discovered in Burial Chamber of Bronze Age Chief

4,000-Year-Old Chariots Discovered in Burial Chamber of Bronze Age Chief

Archaeologists made an incredible discovery when they found two very ancient chariots, and a hoard of well-preserved artifacts, within a 4,000-year-old burial chamber in the country of Georgia, in...
Dolmens of the Caucasus

The Mysterious Dolmens of the Caucasus

The Western Caucasus, extending over 275,000 ha of the extreme western end of the Caucasus mountains and located 50 km north-east of the Black Sea, is one of the few large mountain areas of Europe...