Kura in Motion! Humans, plants and animals in the Middle Kura Valley, 6th to 3rd mill. BCE

Kura in Motion！旨在调查南高加索沿着库拉河中游地区人类、景观、动物和植物之间的流动模式。这一地区从东到西包括：南阿塞拜疆的米尔平原、西阿塞拜疆的托武兹地区和门捷什山，以及东格鲁吉亚的博尔尼西地区和阿鲁希洛。按时间顺序，我们的注意力将集中在前和原始历史时期，从sedentism开始（第6轧机。青铜时代早期（3rd mill）。BCE）。 Kura in Motion！这个项目是从同一地区的一个项目（古库拉）发展而来的，大多数相同的法国和德国演员一起工作，其中互补的研究帮助我们重建了一个可靠的时间顺序和一般环境框架，并更好地描述了这个地区的早期文化。我们的研究结果显示，在生活方式的几乎每一个方面，特别是在流动模式的三个地区平行，但个别的战略。运动的特点是：（1）景观的演变与里海的水位变化密切相关;（2）自新石器时代以来，短期职业和/或轻型建筑的定居模式发生变化;（3）原始动物、牲畜和植物物种以及放牧策略的巨大变化;（4）原材料资源的可获得性。Kura in Motion！是一个新的项目，将侧重于了解这四个领域的运动的各个方面。（1，2）应通过景观考古学、地质考古学和详细的植被和气候研究方法，解决三个地区之间住区格局的频繁变化以及不同战略的问题。(3)动物和植物物种或高加索模式的高度变异性似乎与扎格罗斯的一个类似现象有关，这涉及初级驯化。但是，新石器化的动力可能也涉及牲畜和谷物的引入，这可以解释最早的人口是从一整套驯化的植物和动物开始的。这些数据暗示了早期移动的生活方式。这些问题将通过对动物骨骼进行系统的aDNA分析和对动物牙齿进行同位素研究来解决。(4)使用的各种材料也进入这些运动策略，包括里海贝壳，沥青，红玉髓和绿松石，变质岩，燧石，黑曜石和金属，这些材料可能部分通过移动的生活方式被带到或交换。有些陶器也可能是从很远的地方引进的。为了回答有关其来源的问题，将进行化学分析以及技术和功能研究。总而言之，这项研究计划有望对南高加索的人类，植物，动物和材料的流通模式有新的见解。

Kura in Motion! aims at investigating patterns of mobility among humans, landscape, animals and plants in the Southern Caucasus along the Middle Kura River. This area includes from east to west: the Mil Plain in South Azerbaijan, the Tovuz Region with Mentesh Tepe in West Azerbaijan, and the Bolnisi region in Eastern Georgia with Aruchlo. Chronologically, our attention will focus on the pre- and proto-historic periods, from the beginning of sedentism (6th mill. BCE) to the Early Bronze Age (3rd mill. BCE). Kura in Motion! has grown out from a previous project (Ancient Kura) in the same region and with most of the same French and German actors working together, in which complementary studies helped us rebuild a reliable chronological and general environmental frame together with a better characterization of the early cultures of this area. Our results show parallel but individual strategies in the three regions in almost every aspect of lifestyle and especially in patterns of mobility. Movement characterizes (1) the evolution of landscape which is strongly related to changes in the level of the Caspian Sea; (2) shifts in settlement patterns with short-term occupations and/or light architecture since the Neolithic; (3) great variability in the original animal livestock and plant species and in the herding strategies; and (4) the accessibility of raw material resources. Kura in Motion! is a new project which will focus on the understanding of the various aspects of movement in these four fields. (1, 2) The frequent shifts in settlement pattern together with the diverging strategies between the three areas shall be addressed through methods of landscape archaeology, geoarchaeology and detailed vegetation and climate studies. (3) The high variability in the animal and botanical species or Caucasian pattern seems related to a similar phenomenon in the Zagros which involves primary domestication. But the dynamics of neolithisation probably also involved the introduction of livestock and cereals which could explain that the earliest populations started with a full set of domesticated plants and animals. Some hints at an early mobile way of life surround this data. These questions will be addressed through systematic aDNA analyses on animal bones and isotope studies on animal teeth. (4) The various materials at use also enter these movement strategies and include Caspian Sea shells, bitumen, carnelian and turquoise, metamorphic rocks, flint, obsidian and metal which were brought or exchanged over long distances, maybe partly through the mobile way of life. Some ceramics may also have been introduced from far away. To answer the questions on their provenance sources, chemical analyses as well as technological and functional studies will be done. Altogether, this program of research promises new insights into the patterns of circulation of humans, plants, animals and materials in the Southern Caucasus.