Anatolia and the Transcaucasus Themes and Variations ca. 6400–1500 B.C.E.

This article examines Anatolian–Transcaucasian interactions spanning the Chalcolithic through the Bronze Age. The five millennia surveyed here have highlighted some broad patterns of cultural interaction. At present, evidence suggests that farming was introduced to the Transcaucasus. It appears fully fledged in the late seventh millennium BCE, together with compounds of round houses built for the most part with plano-convex bricks. The degree of interplay with surrounding regions cannot be ascertained, but it does appear that in these formative centuries Transcaucasian communities remained isolated and developed their own distinctive cultural identity. Attitudes changed in the Late Neolithic when Halaf networks made inroads into the mountains of southern Transcaucasia, probably to exploit the rich sources of obsidian. The tempo of communication accelerated during the Late Chalcolithic period.