Trialeti culture

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Silver goblet from Karashamb, Armenia (Trialeti culture).
Silver goblet from Karashamb, Armenia (Trialeti culture).
The territory of the Armenian language appears to have been roughly coincidental with that of the earlier non-IE Hurrian and closely related Urartian (with Dark shading). The poorly known and presumably related non-IE Etio language was to its north. Many of these languages occupied partially or wholly the earlier territory of the Kuro-Araxes culture (light shading). The nearest IE neighbors of the proto-Armenians were the Hittites (and related Luvians and Palaic-speaking populations) who were not closely related to Armenian. Assyrian and Gutian are non IE languages. Burials with wheeled vehicles have been uncovered at Trialeti and Lchashen.
The territory of the Armenian language appears to have been roughly coincidental with that of the earlier non-IE Hurrian and closely related Urartian (with Dark shading). The poorly known and presumably related non-IE Etio language was to its north. Many of these languages occupied partially or wholly the earlier territory of the Kuro-Araxes culture (light shading). The nearest IE neighbors of the proto-Armenians were the Hittites (and related Luvians and Palaic-speaking populations) who were not closely related to Armenian. Assyrian and Gutian are non IE languages. Burials with wheeled vehicles have been uncovered at Trialeti and Lchashen. [1]

The Trialeti culture is attributed to the first part of the 2nd millennium B.C.[2] In the late 3rd millennium B.C. settlements of the Kura-Araxes culture began to be replaced by early Trialeti culture sites.[3] The Trialeti culture was the second culture to appear in the Caucasus, after the Kura-Araxes culture.[4] The Trialeti culture shows close ties with the highly-developed cultures of the ancient world, particularly with the Aegean.[5]

The Trialeti culture was known for its particular form of burial.[6] The elite were interred in large, very rich burials under earth and stone mounds, which sometimes contained four-wheeled carts.[7] Also there were many gold objects found in the graves.[8] These gold objects were similar to those found in Iran and Iraq.[9]

In certain theories for locating the Urheimat (homeland) of the Proto-Indo-European language, this culture is identified with the speakers of the Anatolian languages, and even as an earlier Urheimat. Soviet scholars Tamaz Gamkrelidze and Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov placed the homeland in Armenia in the 1980's.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ “Armenians” in Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture or EIEC, edited by J. P. Mallory and Douglas Q. Adams, published in 1997 by Fitzroy Dearborn.
  2. ^ Munchaev 1994, p. 16; cf., Kushnareva and Chubinishvili 1963, pp. 16 ff.
  3. ^ The Making of Bronze Age Eurasia - Page 266 by Philip L. Kohl
  4. ^ The Alekseev Manuscript - Chapter VII - Part II: Bronze Age in Eurasia
  5. ^ Trialeti culture
  6. ^ Burial in the Trialeti culture
  7. ^ Burial in the Trialeti culture
  8. ^ Trialeti culture
  9. ^ The Alekseev Manuscript - Chapter VII - Part II: Bronze Age in Eurasia


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