Archaeo-geophysical survey of Bronze and Iron Age fortress landscapes of the South Caucasus

Abstract

Bronze and Iron Age fortresses in South Caucasia have long been interpreted as evidence for the region's first territorial polities with complex bureaucracies, but it has only been through recent intensive survey and examination of settlements beside fortresses that archaeologists have developed a better understanding of the inhabitants of fortress-polities and their landscapes. Near-surface geophysical prospection near two hillforts overlooking the Arpaçay river valley, Naxçıvan Autonomous Republic, Azerbaijan, evaluated previously published hypotheses about Bronze and Iron Age fortresses. These two forts, Oğlanqala, a 12-hectare hilltop fortress inhabited in the Iron Age, and Qızqala 1, a 2-hectare fort with Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age pottery, were previously documented through survey and excavations as part of the Naxçıvan Archaeological Project (NAP). Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetic gradiometry surveys focused on areas of potential significance identified in the NAP. Magnetic gradiometry survey in the plain between Oğlanqala and Qızqala located a fortification wall segment that connects to previously recorded surface features argued to date to the Middle Iron Age; the path of this wall lends support to the hypothesis that it enclosed least 324 ha surrounding Oğlanqala and Qızqala and limited access to a narrow mountain pass and fertile lands in the river valley. Geophysical prospection at a settlement site on a bedrock shelf near Qızqala 1 suggests that architectural remains are preserved within part of the large enclosure. Geophysical prospection elsewhere in the alluvial plain did not reveal evidence for preserved architecture within or outside of the hypothesized enclosure, though this could be a result of soil conditions. Magnetic gradiometry of a Middle Bronze Age kurgan field outside of the enclosure identified the potential locations of burials that were not identified during surface survey. New sources of historical satellite imagery aided interpretation of geophysics results from highly-disturbed alluvial areas.