The fruits of migration: Understanding the ‘longue dureé’ and the socio-economic relations of the Early Transcaucasian Culture
Introduction
Mobility in one form or another has played an important role in human existence. From the movement of hominids out of Africa, to the spread of agriculture, and the development of long-distance trade, communities have negotiated great distances in our early history. Invoking these ‘movements’ as an explanatory mechanism for the spread of a historical or archaeological ‘culture’ is one of the oldest and most persistent themes in historical and archaeological reconstructions; yet, as ubiquitous as migrations are, the study of the role that they play in cultural change has a rather untidy history in archaeological studies. Early in the history of this discipline, cultural historical approaches generally understood the spatial translation of an archaeological ‘culture’ as a result of the movement of individual carriers having traversed from one region to the next. Unfortunately, such facile interpretations have been exploited on several occasions, sometimes with appalling consequences.1 In reaction to these abuses, the use of migration as an explanation of cultural change and popularity of has vacillated in archaeological and anthropological literature (Adams, 1978; Adams et al., 1978, Anthony, 1990, Anthony, 1992, Anthony, 1997, Chapman and Hamerow, 1997, Batiuk, 2005, Burmeister, 2000, Brettell, 2008, Brettell and Hollifield, 2008). Underlying many of the debates, however, have been valid criticisms of the methodological approaches used to identify and understand migrations in the archaeological record (Todd, 1973, Adams et al., 1978, Chapman and Dolukhanov, 1992), many of which have only recently begun to be addressed. Building on studies by geographers and demographers, we have now begun to understand migrations as a patterned human behaviour or social strategy, and have made important advances in identifying potential methods for determining where changes in material culture are truly the result of ancient migrations, rather than the result of emulation, diffusion or trade (see Anthony, 1997, Burmeister, 2000, Brettell and Hollifield, 2008). These preliminary achievements aside, there are still fundamentally larger unaddressed questions in the examination of ancient migrations. While in some cases we have begun to understand the structure of migrations [the ‘how’ and perhaps even the ‘why’ a given migration might have occurred], we have yet to really address what happens to migrants after they have settled in a new region. More specifically, there has been minimal discussion of what happens when migrants move into regions that are already inhabited by emerging or complex societies (Greenberg and Goren, 2009, Paz, 2009, Yasur-Landau, 2010, van Dommelen, 2002), and in particular, how these immigrant populations are integrated into the indigenous communities, not merely in the physical sense, but also from a social, political and economic point of view as well. Although discussions on how migrant group identity is constructed and maintained is finally emerging (Paz, 2009, Bernardini, 2005 and to an extent Yasur-Landau, 2010), investigations into how cultural assimilation of migrant groups may or may not occur, is an important avenue of investigation that is generally taken for granted, and presently lacks sufficient discussion in archaeological literature (van Dommelen, 2005), even though it has been examined by sociologists and demographers for almost a hundred years (Thomas and Znaniecki, 1918, Gordon, 1964, Gans, 1992, Portes and Zhou, 1993, Portes et al., 2005, Waters and Jiménez, 2005). The distribution of the Early Transcaucasian Culture (henceforth ETC), is broadly accepted to be one of our best archaeologically documented, as well as one of the most studied cases of a prehistoric migration (Batiuk, 2005, Batiuk and Rothman, 2007, Greenberg and Goren, 2009, Kelly-Buccellati, 1979, Kohl, 2009, Kushnareva, 1997; Rothman, 2004; Sagona, 1984), and therefore provides an ideal venue in which to explore these processes.
Two main models have dominated any discussion of the economic activities of the ETC: pastoral nomadism and trade in metals, and these two models have formed the explanatory basis for the mechanics of the purported ETC migrations. Given the huge chronological and geographical expanse in which this ‘culture’ is found, imposing two overriding models on such a complex web of interactions is a highly simplistic approach. This is not to deny that pastoral-nomadism or trade in metals did not play a part in the movements of the people bearing the ETC culture in the Near East, only to suggest that it may not have played a part in the success and longevity of settlement of the ETC in their new ‘homelands’. Groups can migrate for one reason, but can remain and be successful in an area for different reasons. The questions that must be pursued are: how would these new groups integrate into their new home lands not only socially, but economically? In a period which sees the development of regional state societies, and the growth of more integrated and monolithic material cultures, how would they be able to resist assimilation? It is with this general framework of examining the maintenance of group identities in their new migrant communities’ vis-à-vis assimilation, that I re-examine the ETC population of southeastern Anatolia and northern Syria, in particular investigating the role their subsistence economy may have played, and come to a new understanding of the Early Transcaucasian Phenomenon. In this vein, I would propose, in the case of northwestern Syria, that the ETC was involved in the production of wine, which provided it with a unique economic niche in which to integrate at a macro scale into the communities where they settled, while remaining economically but more importantly, culturally independent. Viti- and vini-culture (grape cultivation and wine production), which have a long history in the Caucasus, would have provided the migrants with a unique skill set and economic advantage through production of a high status commodity – wine – which would have been in demand among the local elites of the region at a critical point in the development of regional complex societies. Although wine production may not have been introduced into the migrant regions by the ETC, these groups may have played a role in its development as an industry and in increasing its demand, particularly among the emergent local elites, and eventually in the population at large in northwestern Syria in the Early Bronze Age.
Section snippets
The ETC phenomenon
The Early Bronze (EB) Age (c. 3400–2000 BC) is one of the most active and dynamic periods of social development in the history of the Near East. During this period we witness the flowering of urbanism and elite social structures that shape socio-political institutions of the region for millennia to follow. At the same time, we see the appearance of the ETC, a unique and highly distinctive archaeological culture, which had developed out of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures of Transcaucasia
The nature of the data
Given the paucity of excavated ETC sites, settlement pattern analysis lies at the heart of any discussion of the ETC, although its relevance is frequently not fully realized. Over the years, as researchers began identifying more sites belonging to this culture, starting with Munchaev, 1971, Sagona, 1984, and finally Batiuk (2005), they plotted simple maps, which identified particular patterns – gaps and clusters in the distribution of the ware (see Fig. 1). These patterns did not fit with the
Understanding the ETC phenomenon within the ‘longue durée’
The acceptance of migration as playing a significant role in the appearance of the ETC in the different regions of the Near East is by no means universally accepted (cf. Philip, 1999, Palumbi, 2008). These debates notwithstanding, the question has been explored in detail by the author (Batiuk, 2005) and numerous scholars (Rothman, 2004, Greenberg and Goren, 2009, Iserlis et al., 2010) and further treatment is outside the immediate purview of the present investigation. Proceeding from this
Pre-adaptations and the ETC
Ethnohistoric studies have shown that, with rare exceptions, most migrating groups move into new territories to which they are pre-adapted. The degree of fit to a particular set of environmental conditions can limit or open up potential new migratory routes (Rothman, 2004). The degree of fit is inherently linked to the subsistence patterns of the groups involved, as they are moving into familiar environments with agricultural potential similar to their homelands. With that in mind, can we
The ETC and wine production
The wild grape vine (Vitis vinifera sylvestris) has a large indigenous distribution in the Near East. It is found in a wide variety of environmental zones, including the intermountain valleys of the Caucasus, highland plateaus of central Anatolia, the steppes of northern Syria, and the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts. However, grapes are not uniformly distributed over these areas, but rather are concentrated in particular habitats. When one overlays the modern distribution of wild grape vine
Wine in Early Bronze Age society
The earliest evidence for the domestication of Vitis vinifera and the production of wine in the ancient world can be found in Transcaucasia – specifically the Neolithic sites of Shulaveris-Gora and Shomu Tepe in Georgia (Ramishvili, 1983, Zohary, 1995, McGovern, 2003). These Caucasian cultures had a long history with viti- and viniculture. However, the domestication and exploitation of the grape inevitably occurred in several places at different times. Paleobotanical evidence from Tell
The archaeology of the ETC and evidence for viti- and Viniculture
The earliest evidence for viticulture and viniculture in the ancient world is found in Transcaucasia – the homeland of the ETC (McGovern, 2003). One could infer then that these local groups would have had significant experience with the cultivation of the vine, and would have had a long tradition of viticultural skills, including the skills necessary to adapt it to or, more importantly, expand production into new regions.
Evidence specifically linking the ETC and viti- and viniculture can
ETC distributions, pastoralism and Dimple and Groove Ware
When examining the distribution of the ETC with regards to the distribution of Vitis vinifera (Fig. 4), it rapidly becomes evident that a portion of eastern Anatolia/Armenia (in particular, the Muş-Van Region) and Central Western Iran (with significant concentrations of Class 1 and 2 settlements) are not home to the wild varieties of modern Vitis vinifera. The discovery of a Late Chalcolithic wine jar and grape wood at Godin Tepe Period VI:1 (formerly Period V, approximately 3200–3000 BC) in
ETC settlement patterns, “terroires” and “bodegas”
‘Terroire’ is term used in viticulture to represent the sum effects of geography and ecology on the quality of wine. In general, vines prefer well-drained soils, with volcanic or calcareous soils being the most productive environments (McGovern, 2003). Plant variety, soils, drainage, weather conditions, aspect, and slope all play an important role in the character of the resultant wine. Quantification of these characteristics is difficult and controversial but has a long history. Pliny the Elder
The Amuq Plain and the ETC
The Amuq Plain (Fig. 11) is situated on the modern border between Turkey and Syria. It consists of a roughly triangular alluvial plain 30 by 30 km in size, surrounded by the Amanus Mountains on the west, the Kurt Daģ to the east and the Jebel al-Aqra and al-Ala Mountains to the south. Snow is limited in winter, but its fertile soils are fed by many streams, rivers, and springs, providing rich agricultural potential along with pastureland in the surrounding foothills and mountains. The plain
Cultural reverberations: wine culture in the northern Levant and the ETC
It is generally argued that the effects of contact between two societies of different levels of social complexity will have the greatest impact on the less complex of the two involved in the interaction (Algaze, 2001: 63). Curiously, with regard to the ETC in northwestern Syria, it would appear that such an assumption is not entirely correct. Instead, one could argue that it was the more complex urbanizing indigenous societies that underwent significant cultural development that benefited from
Production and consumption of wine in the Bronze Age of northwestern Syria
The site of Ebla (modern Tell Mardikh) in modern Syria, some 55 km southwest of the modern city of Aleppo, was the center of an important regional kingdom in the late 3rd Millennium. Excavations by the Italian team over the past forty-five years, and in particular the discovery of the royal archives of Palace G (c 2300 BCE – contemporaneous to Amuq Phase I), have dramatically altered our understandings of the cultures on the ‘periphery’ of the Mesopotamian world (Matthiae, 1977). The archives
Wine production in the Amuq Valley
The site of Tell Atchana – ancient Alalakh, becomes the principle settlement in the Amuq Valley in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, after the abandonment of Tayinat at the end of the Early Bronze Age. Excavations undertaken by the British uncovered a capital city of a small regional kingdom known as Muqiš (Woolley, 1953). The archives unearthed in the excavations are an invaluable source of information regarding the history, politics, and economy of the entire region in the Late Bronze Age. In
Conclusions: migration, wine production and the ETC – a workable model?
As migration has once again become a viable topic of investigation in archaeological literature, discussion of what happens to these migrants must also come to the forefront, particularly how group identity is maintained, or lost over time through assimilation. The model proposed here for northwestern Syria is a viable model with which to explore migration over a larger area.
What must be emphasized first is that the proposed model is not suggesting that viticulture was the primary motivation
The fruits of the Early Transcaucasian Culture migration into northwestern Syria
The ETC migration into northwestern Syria established a new horticultural industry that filled an economic niche in the developing wealth-finance societies of the area. The consumption of this high-status commodity was initially critical in the creation and reinforcement of social identity among the growing elites in the region and, as a corollary, helped to create and reinforce the social identity of ETC Diaspora communities who were in charge of its production. The success of this industry
Acknowledgments
This research was partially funded by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) for which I am deeply grateful. I am also thankful for the assistance of Tim Harrison, Lisa Maher, Jim Phillips, Cathy D’Andrea, David Lipovitch, Kevin Fisher, and Lynn Welton, who generously spent time commenting on the numerous drafts of this paper.
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