Explaining the Kura-Araxes 217 Chapter 9 Explaining the Kura-Araxes Mitchell S Rothman Introduction The Kura-Araxes existed from roughly 3500 to 2500 bc. As such, it is part of a millennium recognized as one of the most dynamic in humankind’s long story of development and change.1It was during this time in Mesopotamia that poli- ties at the level of complexity of states, urban systems, economic and political centralization, mass production for exchange over vast areas (the Uruk expan- sion2), and the formalization of religion into temple systems evolved. Not just trade goods but populations were on the move throughout this time, and con- nections existed from the Near East to the Eurasian steppe and to South Asia.3 In the mountains and hills neighboring Mesopotamia to the north (Taurus and Caucasus), east (Zagros), and west (the Southern Levantine hills along the Great Rift Valley) societies (see below for definition) came into existence, devel- oped, and disappeared into a time Smith4 describes as mobile and militaristic. Scholars to date5 have envisioned a Kura-Araxes with a homeland in the mod- ern South Caucasus countries of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan (Nachiçevan), and northeastern Turkey. Groups from the homeland then migrated6 into a huge diaspora extending across the Taurus Mountain front and southwest into the southern Levant,7 southeast into the Zagros Mountains around Lake Urmia to the Kangavar Valley,8 across the littoral to the south of the Caspian Sea,9 as well as north into Dagestan and the North Caucasus10 (Fig. 9.1). Because of this wide dispersal, it is referred to by many names: Kura-Araxes (after Kuftin11), 1 Rothman 2001; Pollock 1999. 2 Algaze 1993, 2008. 3 Kohl 2007; Frachetti 2008; Wilkinson 2014. 4 Smith 2005. 5 Smith et al. 2009; Rothman 2006, 2003a, b; Sagona 1984; Burney and Lang 1971. 6 Batiuk and Rothman 2007; Batiuk 2005; Rothman 2003b. 7 Greenberg et al. 2012. 8 Rothman 2011. 9 Fahimi 2006. 10 Kohl 2007; Sagona 1984; Burney and Lang 1971. 11 Kuftin 1944. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2017 | doi 10.1163/9789004325470_011 218 Rothman Black Sea Caucasus Mountains Kvatschelebi Tbilisi Velikent Caspian 3300 BCE Sea 3500 BCE Kura R Lake Sevan Baku GegherotGegharot Yerevan Shengavit Sos 3300-3100 .. Erzurum BCE Kultepe Taurus Mountains Araxes R 3000 Pulur 3000 Kara Ravaz Malatya BCE .. .. 3300-3100 BCE Norsuntepe, Mus, gunduz Lake Van Tabriz Arslantepe Yanik Diyabakir Shelgiyyah Geoy Lake Urmia Tepe Zagros Mountains 2800 BCE Tell Brak Gawra Amuq Euphrates Mosul R 3100, Khabur R 2900 BCE Mediterranean T Godin Tepe Sea igris R Diyala R Damascus Baghdad Archaeological Site 26502750 BCE Amman Modern city Beth Yerah (Khirbet Kerak) Area with Kura Araxes Jerusalem Figure 9.1 Distribution of Kura-Araxes cultural tradition (drawing by M.S Rothman). Early Transcaucasian (after Burney and Lang12)), or as names of early type sites, such as Shengavitian,13 Pulur,14 Karaz,15 Khirbet Kerak (after Amiran16), etc. However, whatever name one chooses, what does it actually represent? Is it a period, a unitary culture, an ethnicity, or must one retreat to calling it vaguely a “phenomenon”, as Kohl17 does? Is it a single entity or an umbrella term for a variety of cultural manifestations that encompassed a broad geographical space and time period? Smith18 opines, “we do not have a clear understanding 12 Burney and Lang 1971. 13 Simonyan 2013. 14 Koşay 1976. 15 Işikli 2015. 16 Amiran 1965. 17 Kohl 2007. 18 Smith 2005:258..