New insights into desert kites in Armenia: the fringes of the Ararat Depression

Autor: Dafna Langgut, Boris Gasparyan, Dani Nadel, Naomi Porat, Guy Bar-Oz, Anna Khechoyan, Gal Bermatov-Paz, Amir Katinaa, Amnon Nachmias, Eli Crater-Gershtein, Dan Malkinson, Samvel Nahapetyan, Polina Spivak
Rok vydání: 2015
Předmět:
Zdroj: Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 26:120-143
ISSN: 0905-7196
Popis: The Armenian kites are the northernmost known kites in south-west Asia. In contrast to those in the deserts further south, their research has only recently begun. The Armenian kites are situated at high elevations, mostly between 900 and 1500 m above mean sea level, in steppic conditions where Artemisia is at present the dominant shrub on the landscape. In our ongoing project we excavated three V-shaped kites and one enclosure kite. The two kinds are similar in construction details, but they differ in size and location: the former run down into gullies, while the latter were placed on the plateau. Six OSL ages suggest terminal Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age construction dates, while geomorphological considerations and surface artefacts suggest earlier dates. A preliminary palynological study suggests a gradual increase in grazing-resistant vegetation since the mid-Holocene, probably reflecting human impact on the natural vegetation through the herding of grazing animals.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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