The name of the archaeological culture derives from sites in the district of
Trialeti in south
Georgian Khrami river basin. These sites include Barmaksyzkaya and Edzani-Zurtaketi. In Edzani, an Upper Paleolithic site, a significant percentage of the artifacts are made of obsidian. The
Caucasian-
Anatolian area of Trialetian culture was adjacent to the
Iraqi-
Iranian Zarzian culture to the east and south as well as the
Levantine Natufian to the southwest. Alan H. Simmons describes the culture as "very poorly documented". In contrast, recent excavations in the Valley of
Qvirila river, to the north of the Trialetian region, display a Mesolithic culture. The subsistence of these groups were based on hunting
Capra caucasica,
wild boar and
brown bear.
Trialetian sites Caucasus and Transcaucasia: • Edzani (
Georgia) • Chokh (
Azerbaijan), layers E-C200
Eastern Anatolia: •
Hallan Çemi between the Trialetian and the
Caspian Mesolithic of the southeastern part of the
Caspian Sea (represented by sites like Komishan,
Hotu,
Kamarband and Ali Tepe), even though the Caspian Mesolithic had previously been attributed to Trialetian by Kozłowski (1994, 1996 and 1999), Kozłowski and Aurenche 2005 and Peregrine and Ember 2002. These differences have been established through a detailed study of the site of Komishan and are driven by the underlying differences at the level of
cultural ecology. While Trialetian industry developed in steppe riparian and mountain ecozones, as for example in the Khrami river and the mountainous site of Chokh respectively, the Caspian Mesolithic took place in a transitional ecotone between the sea (Caspian Sea), plain and mountains (
Alborz mountain range). The Caspian Mesolithic hunter-gatherers were adapted to the exploitation of marine resources and had access to high quality raw material, whereas in the Trialetian sites as Chokh and Trialeti there is imported raw material from distances of 100 km.
Relation with Kmlo-2 Kmlo-2 is a rock shelter situated on the west slope of the
Kasakh River valley, on the
Aragats massif, in
Armenia. This site seems to present three different phases of occupation (11-10k cal BC, 9-8k cal BC and 6-5k cal BC). The
lithic industry of the three phases show similarities such as the predominance of
microliths, small cores and
obsidian as raw material. Let us quote a few words from Gasparyan Kmlo tools are characterized by "continuous and parallel retouch by pressure flaking of one or both lateral edges". Similar tools have been found, as the associated to the Paluri-Nagutny culture in Georgia), the so-called "Çayönü tools” (Çayönü, Cafer Höyük, Shimshara), found in Neolithic sites from the 8th to 7th millennia BC in eastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia, and some found in the layer A2 of the Kotias Klde cave. It has been suggested that the Kmlo tools are distinctive features of a culture established circa 9-8k cal BC on the highlands of western Armenia and continued at least until the 6th-5th millennia calBC. A local development of the Kmlo tools has also been hypothesized.
Final phase Little is known about the end of the Trialetian. 6k BC has been proposed as the time on which the decline phase took place. From this date are the first evidence of the
Jeitunian, an industry that has probably evolved from the Trialetian. Also from this date are the first pieces of evidence of Neolithic materials in the Belt cave. In the southwest corner of the Trialetian region it has been proposed that this culture evolved towards a local version of the PPNB around 7k BC, in sites as
Cafer Höyük. Kozłowski suggests that the Trialetian does not seem to have continuation in the Neolithic of Georgia (as for example in Paluri and Kobuleti). Although in the 5k BC certain
microliths similar to those of the Trialetian reappear in Shulaveris Gora (see
Shulaveri-Shomu) and Irmis Gora. circa 7500 BC, with main sites of the
Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. In this map we can see some sites that have been associated with the Trialetian culture, such as
Hallan Çemi and
Nevali Çori. == Genetics ==