The Javakheti Plateau: Megaliths, Villages, and Obsidian mines in the Prehistory of the Lesser Caucasus of Georgia

The surveys carried out during the last decade in the Javakheti Plateau (Lesser Caucasus, Georgia) led to the discovery of hundreds of archaeological sites among which are obsidian mining-fields, different types of megaliths and kurgans, complex villages, and basalt/andesite quarries, which were exploited mainly during the Bronze Age. All sites are located between c. 1500 and 2500 m of altitude, where present temperatures are well below 0° Celsius during the winter months. This chapter discusses the complexity of the archaeological landscapes we have investigated, their probable seasonal exploitation, and suggested complementarities between residential, funerary, and mining areas, whose archaeological remains in no case overlap. The systematic occurrence of megalithic structures and scatters of obsidian artefacts, sometimes located dozens of km from the extractive sources, poses many questions regarding their distribution and presence rarely asked by archaeologists.