Bertille Lyonnet

French National Centre for Scientific Research | CNRS · ProCauLAC, UMR 7192

This chapter gives an overview of the Middle Bronze Age Civilization of Central Asia, one of the major hubs of interactions between the Indus, the Steppes, the Gulf and Mesopotamia around 2000 BC.

This paper focuses on the first results of a micromorphological study on the Neolithic architecture from Mentesh Tepe (Azerbaijan), a settlement in the Southern Caucasus occupied during the first half of the 6th-millennium cal. BC. While earthen architecture has already been studied on a macroscopic scale, the use of micromorphology represents an o...

This is the Introduction to the book The World of the Oxus Civilization, edited by B. Lyonnet and N. Dubova (Routledge 2021).

Conventional 14 C ages are expressed in years before present (BP), with 1σ error. These ages were calibrated using OxCal v4.3n (Bronk Ramsey and Lee 2013): r5 IntCal 13 atmospheric curve (Reimer et al. 2013). The calibrated dates are given with a level of confidence of 95.4% (2σ range). Many more radiocarbon dates have been provided for some of the...

Despite the localisation of the southern Caucasus at the outskirt of the Fertile Crescent, the Neolithisation process started there only at the beginning of the sixth millennium with the Shomutepe-Shulaveri culture of yet unclear origins. We present here genomic data for three new individuals from Mentesh Tepe in Azerbaijan, dating back to the begi...

Based upon archaeological data and the first results of genomic studies, the article aims at understanding the successive cultural transformations at work in the Caucasus area (North and South) and along the Euphrates, starting from the Neolithic period up to the beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE. Long lasting cultural interactions with northern...

Archaeological and archaeogenetic evidence points to the Pontic–Caspian steppe zone between the Caucasus and the Black Sea as the crucible from which the earliest steppe pastoralist societies arose and spread, ultimately influencing populations from Europe to Inner Asia. However, little is known about their economic foundations and the factors that...

The article dates back to 2017 and gives the results of analyses on different kinds of materials (metals including gold, stones and obsidian) found at Mentesh Tepe (Azerbaijan) and dated between the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age with the aim to find their sources.

The article reconsiders two major sites of the 1st millennium BC in southern Uzbekistan, Kyzyltepa and Kurganzol. It contests their recent dating – exclusively the Achaemenid and transitional Hellenistic period for the first one, and the end of the 4th c . BC for the second one – mainly based upon dendrochronological analyses relating the samples t...

This article gives the results of the analyses made by several specialists on some of the raw materials (metal, obsidian and semi-precious stones) found at Mentesh Tepe (Middle Kura Valley, Azerbaijan) during the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age periods. They show that the procurement zone extends between 30 to 300 km away from the site. The...

Here, we report genome-wide data analyses from 110 ancient Near Eastern individuals spanning the Late Neolithic to Late Bronze Age, a period characterized by intense interregional interactions for the Near East. We find that 6 th millennium BCE populations of North/Central Anatolia and the Southern Caucasus shared mixed ancestry on a genetic cline...

The article intends to give a synoptic view of Sogdiana, from the Macedonian conquest to the beginning of the 3rd c. AD. It considers written sources and material culture from the most recent excavations, but it also relies upon previous works. It shows the importance of the nomadic component of its population since the very beginning. Most is of S...

La présence, à Qalʿat Semʿan, d’une quarantaine de tessons étrangers à la céramique byzantino-islamique du site, mais présentant la morphologie, le dégraissant, la couleur et le traitement de surface de l’assemblage connu sous le nom de Khirbet Kerak au Levant, ou Red-Black Burnished Ware dans l’Amuq, permet d’induire la présence d’une petite occup...

The article deals with the Antique period of the old Samarkand. Using the old data from the Soviet excavations and the new one coming from the French-Uzbek ones, it gives stratified data leading to a finer distinction of the pottery between periods IIA, IIB and III . Proposals for their absolute dating and interpretation are added.

Relationships between Mesopotamia and the Caucasus were first studied in the mid-20th century by Soviet archaeologists after the discovery of artefacts seemingly Mesopotamian in style at Kultepe, Nakhichevan (Azerbaijan), or more recently at Aknashen-Katunarkh, Armenia. However it was only in the 1990s that scholars started more detailed investigat...

Objectives Subsistence strategies are of great interest for understanding how prehistoric societies adapted to their environment. This is particularly the case for the southern Caucasus where relationships have been shown with the northern Caucasus and Mesopotamia since the Neolithic and where societies are alternately described as sedentary and mo...

This paper aims to present the context, the methodological approaches and the results of a research project, called ORIMIL and funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR). An integrative multi-proxy analysis, in collaboration with the Musée des Confluences in Lyon, has been designed to identify whether the region of the South Caucasus was a...

Mentesh Tepe in the Middle Kura Valley is one of the very few settlements where a succession of occupations from the Neolithic (early 6th millennium) to the Early Bronze Age (ca. 3000-2400 BC) has been identified in Azerbaijan. This report corrects and completes a preceding one (published in AMIT 2012).

The Kura Projects involved three French and German teams excavating settlements in the southern Caucasus along the Kura Valley, two in Azerbaijan (Kamiltepe and Mentesh Tepe) and one in Georgia (Aruchlo). They aimed at a reconstruction of the chronology, economy and environment, from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age.

This chapter deals with the pottery finds from Mentesh Tepe (Azerbaijan). Three main periods are concerned: the Neolithic (first half of the 6th millennium), the Chalcolithic (two phases in the 5th millennium), and the Early Bronze Age (two phases in the 3rd millennium).

This chapter underlines the advances made in our knowledge of the Prehistory of the Middle Kura Valley, but also the questions still unsolved.

This paper aims to present the context, the methodological approaches and the results of a research project, called ORIMIL and funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR). An integrative multi-proxy analysis, in collaboration with the Musée des Confluences in Lyon, has been designed to identify whether the region of the South Caucasus was a...

This paper aims to present the context, the methodological approaches and the results of a research project, called ORIMIL and funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR). An integrative multi-proxy analysis, in collaboration with the Musée des Confluences in Lyon, has been designed to identify whether the region of the South Caucasus was a...

Obsidian-tempered ceramics represent a typical production of the Chalcolithic period in the southern Caucasus. Previous studies have already assessed the viability of LA-ICP-MS analysis to identify the provenance of the obsidian temper contained in the ceramic paste. In this article the results of the analyses of the obsidian-tempered ceramics and...

This article deals with a rather rich tomb under kurgan with several inhumations and a four-wheel wagon in a chamber with a wooden roof. It was found during the excavations at Mentesh Tepe (Azerbaijan). It is dated to ca. 2500 BCE and is attributed to the Martkopi phase.

The article presents a personal working experience with Jean-Claude Gardin in Afghanistan. It first deals when he was implementing his theories on the codification of potery using the ceramic material from Aï Khanoum, and then, when, heading a survey in Eastern Bactria, he was elaborating his book A theoretical archaeology. The article shows the me...

Abstract Relationships between Mesopotamia and the Caucasus were first studied in the mid-20th century by Soviet archaeologists after the discovery of artefacts seemingly Mesopotamian in style at Kültepe, Nakhichevan (Azerbaijan), or more recently at Aknashen-Katunarkh, Armenia. However it was only in the 1990s that scholars started more detailed i...

Geomorphological, geochronological and geoarchaeological analysis focusing on six tributaries of the Kura River provide valuable data concerning sedimentation rhythmicity and Holocene human settlement distribution at a regional scale. Seven new radiocarbon dates from the upstream part of these hydrosystems complemented the existing radiocarbon data...

The study of several types of botanical remains from the site of Mentesh Tepe, Azerbaijan, has provided the first data on the vegetation cover and the exploitation and use of plant resources from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age in this part of the Kura River Basin. Riparian woodlands constitute the main fuel source throughout the occupational...

Excavations at Mentesh Tepe, western Azerbaijan, have unearthed Neolithic levels dated to an early stage of the Shomu-Shulaveri Culture, with a specific material culture and several inhumations among which a multiple burial. At that stage, already a full domestication of plants and animals is evident. Many questions have been raised concerning the...

The Caspian Sea relative level variation evolution is based on high frequency and wide amplitude rhythmicity, well defined for the Pleistocene-Lateglacial period and with high resolution for the Holocene. These variations are not strictly correlated with the global climate changes components and the inland effects of such marine oscillations are no...

Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, MCC, LAMPEA UMR 7269, 13094, Aix-en-Provence, France

Plaquette éditée en hommage à Paul Bernard, directeur de la Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan (1965-1980) et de la fouille d'Aï Khanoum (1965-1978)

L’article concerne l’âge du Bronze ancien en Azerbaïdjan, période au cours de laquelle a commencé puis s’est développée la culture Kura-Araxe. Les fouilles anciennes sur des établissements et des tombes ou kourganes de cette culture manquent souvent de repères stratigraphiques et de dates précises. Les sites les plus importants sont revus ici sur l...

Guliev F., Lyonnete B., Pecqueur L., Poulmarc’h M., Hamon C., Bouquet L., Bruley-Chabot G., Raymond P., Samzun A., Baudouin E., Decaix A., Salimbayov Sh. Alakbarov V. Excavations of the Ancient Settlement of Menteshtepe. In: Archaeological Investigations in Azerbaijan-2012. Baku, 2013: pp.329-334 (In Azerbaijani, summary in English and Russian)

Abstract On the basis of recent research on the pottery and comparisons between three important sites with Hellenistic occupation in Central Asia, new dates are proposed for each of them. The article presents both the former data and hypotheses and the recent discoveries, including coins for Afrasiab/Samarkand, which lead to the new proposals. Chan...

Guliev F., Lyonnete B., Bouquet, Bruley-Chabot G., Pecqueur L., Raymond P., Samzun A., Poulmarc’h M., Zamanov O., Mammadov Y., Alakbarov V., Salimbayov Sh., Mirqadirov M., Ibrahimli S.N., Muradova E., Aliyeva A. Archaeological Investigation at Ancient Settlement of Mentesh. In: Archaeological Investigations in Azerbaijan-2011. Baku, 2012: pp. 353-3...

L'indépendance de l'Azerbaïdjan en 1991 a ouvert la voie aux recherches d'archéologie préventive. Les campagnes sur le terrain ont été l'occasion, pour les chercheurs français, d'initier les chercheurs, étudiants et ouvriers d'Azerbaïdjan à leurs méthodes, au conditionnement, à l'enregistrement et à l'étude du mobilier, ainsi qu'à divers ateliers....

The aim of the article is to present what is known of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods in Western Azer­baijan. The first part gives a short review of the research done during the Soviet period: if the Neolithic period was well represented by the excavations at Shomu-Tepe, there was not much evidence of the Chalcolithic except at a small site...

The aim of the article is to present what is known of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods in Western Azerbaijan. The first part gives a short review of the research done during the Soviet period: if the Neolithic period was well represented by the excavations at Shomu-Tepe, there was not much evidence of the Chalcolithic except at a small site c...

Questions about the nature of the relations attested between the Caucasus Area (Maikop and Leilatepe Cultures) and Northern Mesopotamia during the first half of the IVth millennium BC.

L'histoire du Proche-Orient n'a jamais cessé de susciter la curiosité du grand public. Ce dictionnaire est le premier ouvrage français à présenter la civilisation qui s'est développée en Mésopotamie (Irak et Syrie orientale contemporains) pendant trois mille ans jusqu'aux alentours de l'ère chrétienne. Aucun thème n'est oublié (histoire, géographie...