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| Geographical range | Transcaucasia |
|---|---|
| Period | Middle Bronze Age |
| Dates | c. 2200 BC – 1600 BC |
| Preceded by | Martkopi culture Shulaveri–Shomu culture |
| Followed by | Lchashen-Metsamor culture Karmir-Berdskaya culture |
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| Timeline •Origins •Etymology |
TheTrialeti-Vanadzor culture, also known simply as theTrialeti culture and previously referred to as the Trialeti-Kirovakan culture, is named after theTrialeti region in present-dayGeorgia and the city ofVanadzor inArmenia. This Bronze Age culture flourished between the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium BCE, marking a significant phase of sociocultural and technological development in the South Caucasus.[1] It arose in the territories previously inhabited by theKura–Araxes culture, representing a notable cultural and material transition that includes advancements in metallurgy, burial practices, and social stratification.[2]
Several researchers have proposed theIndo-European affiliations of the Trialeti-Vanadzor culture,[3][4][5] with recent studies increasingly supporting it as representing an earlyProto-Armenian cultural horizon.[6][7][8][9] This hypothesis aligns with broader theories linking the culture toIndo-European migrations and the gradual emergence ofArmenian ethnicity and language.
The Trialeti-Vanadzor culture eventually evolved into theLchashen–Metsamor culture,[10] marking a continued trajectory of development in theArmenian Highlands. It has also been suggested as a cultural precursor to theHayasa-Azzi confederation mentioned inHittite records,[11][12] and has been linked to theMushki—a people referenced inAssyrian sources.[13]
TheShulaveri–Shomu culture flourished in the region from approximately 6000 to 4000 BCE.[14] This was later succeeded by theKura–Araxes culture.
The Trialeti-Vanadzor cultural horizon emerged and reached its peak toward the end of the third millennium BCE.[15]
During the final stage of the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1700–1500 BCE), the Trialeti-Vanadzor culture formed part of a broader, interconnected cultural sphere that spanned theSouth Caucasus andArmenian Highlands. Other major material culture horizons from this period—likely interacting with or overlapping Trialeti-Vanadzor—included Karmir Berd (also known as Tazakend), Karmir Vank (also referred to as Kizil Vank or Van–Urmia), and Sevan-Uzerlik (also called Sevan–Artsakh)[16]
Black-burnished and monochrome painted pottery unearthed at the cemeteries ofAni and Parget Nerkin (Armenian: Պարգետ Ներքին) inKars Province, Turkey, along with artifacts fromSos Höyük IV inErzurum Province, show stylistic similarities to Trialeti ceramics.[17] It has been suggested that Sos Höyük IV may have had links to theHayasa-Azzi confederation.[12]
By the Middle Bronze Age, evidence of significant social stratification is visible in the richly furnished mound burials associated with the Trialeti-Vanadzor culture. These elaborate tombs bear notable similarities to the EarlyKurgan cultures of theEurasian steppes. The presence ofcremation practices, the introduction of painted ceramics, and the dominance of tin-bronze metallurgy reflect cultural transformations and technological advancement during this period.
The culture also exhibits broad regional connectivity. A remarkable example is a bronze cauldron from Trialeti that closely resembles one discovered inShaft Grave IV atMycenae, Greece, suggesting possible contact or shared symbolic traditions.[15] The Trialeti-Vanadzor culture demonstrates significant links to the civilizations of the ancient world, particularly the Aegean,[18] as well as to regions further south and east.[19]
The pottery of the Trialeti-Vanadzor culture (both monochrome and polychrome) shows strong stylistic parallels with ceramic traditions across the Armenian Highlands and theNear East. One striking parallel is with the so-calledUrmia ware, associated with the region aroundLake Urmia in present-day Iran. Similar ceramic forms are also found in the Sevan-Uzerlik culture and the Karmir Berd-Sevan culture, underscoring the shared aesthetic and technological traits among these interconnected traditions.
Excavations at the Trialeti site began between 1936 and 1940 in connection with a hydroelectric development project. During this period, archaeologists uncovered 46 burial mounds. An additional six kurgans were excavated in a second phase between 1959 and 1962.[22]
TheMartkopi kurgans, roughly contemporary with the earliest Trialeti burials, share architectural and cultural features. These burial sites, located in easternGeorgia, are considered part of the Martkopi–Bedeni cultural horizon, a phase marking the transition into the Middle Bronze Age and viewed as an early expression of the Central TranscaucasianKurgan tradition.[23]
The Trialeti–Vanadzor culture is distinguished by its complex burial customs, particularly the entombment of elite individuals in large, richly furnishedkurgans under earth and stone mounds. Some of these tombs contained four-wheeled carts, suggesting the high social status of the deceased. Numerous grave goods, including finely crafted gold objects, were uncovered, many of which bear stylistic and technological similarities to those from ancientIran andIraq.[18][14]
The Trialeti culture also demonstrated advanced metalworking, including the use of tin and arsenic alloys.[24] The use oftumulus burials and wheeled vehicles mirrors practices associated with theKurgan hypothesis and the proposed earlyProto-Indo-European speakers. Notably, the black-burnished ceramics found in the earlier Trialeti kurgans closely resemble those of the precedingKura–Araxes culture.[25]
The conspicuous display of wealth in Trialeti kurgans, a feature shared with other nearby cultures exhibiting similar funerary traditions, is of particular historical significance. This pattern likely reflects influence from more ancient civilizations to the south, particularly those in theFertile Crescent.[26] The ceramic tradition of the Trialeti–Vanadzor culture is believed to have contributed to the development of theLate Bronze Age Transcaucasian ware, which later spread widely across modern eastern Turkey. This diffusion has been linked to the movement and influence of theMushki.[13]
The Trialeti-Vanadzor culture is frequently considered a strong candidate for theProto-Armenian cultural horizon, with multiple academic perspectives supporting this hypothesis. Flourishing in the South Caucasus during the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2400–1500 BCE), this culture exhibits substantial linguistic, genetic, and material continuities with later Armenian archaeological traditions. Scholars such as Sandra Scham (2025) propose that the Trialeti-Vanadzor culture, emerging in theArmenian Highlands and eastern Anatolia, may reflect one of the earliest Indo-European cultural formations in the region, potentially linked to the nascent stages ofArmenian ethnogenesis.[27] This view aligns with earlier propositions by Gamkrelidze and Ivanov (1995), who identified parallels between Indo-European burial customs and the kurgan tombs characteristic of Trialeti-Vanadzor sites.[28]
Genetic studies have added compelling evidence for continuity in the Armenian Highlands. Research by Iosif Lazaridis et al. (2022) confirmed that modernArmenians show strong genetic ties to ancient South Caucasus populations, with notableBronze Age components linked to steppe ancestry (e.g., R1b-Z2103), suggesting a deep-rooted presence in the region since at least the Trialeti-Vanadzor period.[29] This supports prior findings by Haber et al. (2015), indicating that the Bronze Age admixture in the region shaped the modern Armenian gene pool.[30] Recent archaeogenetic research by Petrosyan and Palyan (2025) further demonstrates thatsteppe-derived populations migrated into the Armenian Highlands during the mid-3rd millennium BCE, contributing significantly to the formation of regional cultures such as Trialeti-Vanadzor, Sevan-Artsakh, Van-Urmia, andLchashen-Metsamor. Their findings reveal that even by the end of theUrartian period, the population in the region still retained a high proportion of steppe patrilineal DNA (up to 75%), lending strong support to theEtiuni hypothesis of Armenian ethnogenesis and suggesting that the language of these Bronze and Iron Age cultures wasProto-Armenian.[31]
Archaeologically, the Trialeti-Vanadzor culture's elaborate burial practices—such as the use of four-wheeled carts, gold ornaments, and ritual animal sacrifices—mirrorIndo-European traditions and find echoes in later Armenian sites like Metsamor and Lchashen.[32] Kossian (1997) further highlights ceramic and metallurgical continuities that suggest a direct cultural lineage from Trialeti-Vanadzor through theLchashen-Metsamor horizon.[33] Joan Aruz (2008) emphasizes that these material and symbolic continuities place Armenian ethnogenesis within a broader network of Bronze Age Indo-European cultures stretching across Anatolia and the Aegean, as evidenced by shared artifact types such as cauldrons and chariots.[34]
Linguistic studies reinforce these connections: theArmenian language, while a unique branch of theIndo-European family, shares phonological and lexical similarities withGreek, suggesting a shared contact zone within the broader Yamnaya horizon during the Bronze Age.[35] Using a mathematical analysis borrowed from evolutionary biology,Donald Ringe and Tandy Warnow propose an evolutionary tree in which Pre-Armenian and Pre-Greek formed a closely related subgroup after 2500 BC.[36] Similarly,David W. Anthony suggests that Pre-Armenian had already begun to separate as early as 2800 BC.[37] Yediay et al. (2024) demonstrate that steppe ancestry, first identified in the South Caucasus during the Middle Bronze Age, coinciding with the cultural shift from the Kura-Araxes to the Trialeti-Vanadzor culture, persisted intoUrartian and pre-Urartian populations. This ancestry, derived from the same western Yamnaya source as contemporaneous Aegean groups, supports theGraeco-Armenian hypothesis and indicates that a proto-Armenian language was present in theArmenian Highlands by the end of the 5th millennium BP[38] These overlapping lines of evidence have led many scholars to posit the Trialeti-Vanadzor culture as a crucial stage in the long trajectory ofArmenian ethnogenesis, although debates continue regarding the precise origins and development of theProto-Armenians.[39]
The Yamnaya expansion also crossed the Caucasus, and by ~4000 years ago, Armenia had become an enclave of low but pervasive steppe influence in West Asia, where the patrilineal descendants of Yamnaya men, virtually extinct across Europe and the steppe, persisted. The Armenian language was born there, and its relationship with faraway Indo-European languages of Europe, such as Greek, reflects their shared Yamnaya heritage.
Steppe ancestry has previously been detected in the South Caucasus from the Middle Bronze Age, coinciding with the transition from the Kura-Araxes culture to the Trialeti culture by the end of the 5th millennium BP. We can now demonstrate that these individuals, as well as those from Urartian contexts, received steppe ancestry from the same, western Yamnaya population as 4th millennium BP individuals from the Aegean. These findings support the linguistic Graeco-Armenian hypothesis and suggest that the linguistic precursor of Armenian was introduced to the Caucasus by the end of the 5th millennium BP.
Later in the Bronze Age (2200–1600 BCE), the Trialeti culture arose in Armenia. This may have been the first Indo-European culture and possibly the origin of what would become Armenian culture.
Archaeogenetic data convincingly prove the migration of people across the Caucasus from the East European steppes to the South Caucasus and the Armenian Highland from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. Those migrants and their descendants created the Trialeti-Vanadzor, Sevan-Artsakh, Van-Urmia and Lchashen-Metsamor cultures of the Middle, Late Bronze and Iron Ages. Even at the end of the kingdom of Urartu (7th–6th centuries BC) the local population in the territory of modern Armenia (the land Etiuni of Urartian sources) still had a significant steppe patrilineal DNA (75%). Armenian had to be the language of the creators of those cultures, and archeogenetic data testify in favor of the Etiuni hypothesis of the origin of Armenians.
Archaeogenetic data convincingly prove the migration of people across the Caucasus from the East European steppes to the South Caucasus and the Armenian Highland from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. Those migrants and their descendants created the Trialeti-Vanadzor, Sevan-Artsakh, Van-Urmia and Lchashen-Metsamor cultures of the Middle, Late Bronze and Iron Ages. Even at the end of the kingdom of Urartu (7th–6th centuries BC) the local population in the territory of modern Armenia (the land Etiuni of Urartian sources) still had a significant steppe patrilineal DNA (75%). Armenian had to be the language of the creators of those cultures, and archeogenetic data testify in favor of the Etiuni hypothesis of the origin of Armenians.
