Kura–Araxes culture

The Kura–Araxes culture (also named Kur–Araz culture, Mtkvari–Araxes culture, Early Transcaucasian culture, Shengavitian culture) was an archaeological culture that existed from about 4000 BC until about 2000 BC, which has traditionally been regarded as the date of its end; in some locations it may have disappeared as early as 2600 or 2700 BC. The earliest evidence for this culture is found on the Ararat plain in the Armenian highlands; it spread north in the Caucasus by 3000 BC. Altogether, the early Transcaucasian culture enveloped a vast area about 1,000 km by 500 km, and mostly encompassed the modern-day territories of the Armenia, eastern Georgia, Azerbaijan, northwestern Iran, the northeastern Caucasus, eastern Turkey, and as far as northern Iraq. The name of the culture, coined by Boris Kuftin in 1940, is derived from the Kura and Araxes river valleys. Some local variations of the Kura–Araxes culture are sometimes known as Shengavitian, Karaz (Erzurum), Pulur (after a site renamed later as Sakyol), and Yanik Tepe (Iranian Azerbaijan, near Lake Urmia) cultures. It gave rise to the Khirbet Kerak-ware culture found in the Levant and Trialeti culture of the South Caucasus and Armenian highlands. In Nakhchivan region of Azerbaijan and nearby areas, Kura–Araxes culture was followed by Nakhchivan culture. This civilization was characterized by an agricultural sedentary economy

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).