In the course of the 2017 field season, Flavia Amato completed the analysis of the microlithic items excavated in 2013-2016 by the Georgian-Italian Shida Kartli archeological project on the Aradetis Orgora Main Mound (Fields A and B) by fully analysing the items from the 2014 and 2015 seasons. At the same time, she carried out the analysis of the microlithic finds from the 2012-2013 Doghlauri cemetery excavation. The data achieved by separation, items-counting, drawings and photography of the lithic material were recorded in two dedicated FileMaker Pro Database files.
The analysed items were distinguished on the basis of the rock type (obsidian, flint, basalt, igneous rocks, quartz). Flint and obsidian tools were attributed to the following categories: cores, scrapers, denticulates, perforators, projectile points, blades, sickle blades, microblade cores and microblades.
Each lithic find was measured, photographed, drawn and described following a series of categories included in a specifically designed Lithic Tools Database. Projectile points have been described following the paradigmatic method used by Fowler (1999: 105; see also Binford 1963). Having partially integrated his terminology, we considered a set of morphological traits in order to describe the objects: serration (present or absent to any degree), hafting element (un-notched, side-notched, basal, tri-notched, stemmed), blade shape (triangular, excurvate, incurvate, ovate, incurvate-excurvate), base shape in un-stemmed points (straight, concave, convex, basal notched), stem shape (straight, expanding, contracting, pointed), stem base (straight, concave, convex, indented, rounded).
Retouch was described following – with minor modifications - the Laplace’s terminology (Laplace 1968: 24-32), considering the following categories:
-Morphology: scaled retouch, stepped retouch, sub-parallel retouch, parallel retouch;
-Extent: short retouch, long retouch, invasive retouch, covering retouch;
-Position: direct retouch, inverse retouch, alternate retouch, bifacial retouch;
-Delineation: linear retouch, denticulate;
-Localisation: lateral or side retouch (left, right, bilateral), transverse retouch (distal, mesial, or proximal).
The following paragraphs include a short description of the main results of the analysis. The second part of the study, to be carried out in Italy in the next future, will consist of elaborating the collected data in order to obtain from them well-structured information about the past behaviour of the people who lived in the examined area.
Season 2014, Aradetis Orgora
503 obsidian debitage flakes, 136 flint debitage flakes, 1 water worn pebble, 1 quartz element, 4 chalcedony and 3 sardonic pebbles were collected during the 2014 season. 60 lithic tools were discovered in different loci, 8 of which were obsidian tools and 52 flint tools. Obsidian items consist of 3 blades, 2 scrapers, 1 core, 2 projectile points. Flint items include 38 sickle blades, 9 blades, 3 projectile points, 1 core, and 1 cutting tool.
Kura Araxes period
Kura Araxes levels in the Field B yielded four items. All of them are made of flint: 2 sickle blades, 1 blade fragment, 1 arrowhead and 1 spearhead.
Late Bronze Age
Thirty-three elements were recovered in Late Bronze levels, of which only 3 are obsidian tools: 2 blades and 1 core. The remaining ones are all flint tools: 21 from Field A and 9 from Field B. Among them, there are 25 sickle blades (Fig.16, a), 3 blades, 1 core and 1 point.
Late Bronze/Early Iron Age transition
4 elements, all coming from Field A, were attributed to these phases: 2 flint sickle blades, 1 flint blade and 1 obsidian arrowhead (Fig.16, b).
Iron Age
The Iron age items are 18, all from Field B. Fourteen are flint and four obsidian tools: 13 flint sickle blades (11 of them from the layer accumulation 2162), 1 flint blade fragment, 1 obsidian blade, 2 obsidian scraper, and 1 point.
Season 2015, Aradetis Orgora
The 2015 season yielded 607 obsidian debitage flakes, 148 flint debitage flakes, 5 basalt flakes, 1 tuff flake and 1 stone flake. The lithic tools are 39, which 11 were obsidian tools and 28 flint tools. The obsidian items consist of 5 scrapers, 2 cutting tools, 2 microblades, 1 blade, 1 core. The flint items are 12 sickle blades, 8 blades, 4 projectile points, 1 core, 1 cutting tool, 1 microblade, 1 drill.
Kura Araxes period
There are 8 tools coming from the Kura Araxes layers in Field B. All of them are made of flint, and consist of four blades, two arrowheads, one core and a cutting tool. Four of these tools were found in locus 2427, defined as a greyish filling (2 blades, 1 arrowhead and 1 cutting tool); one blade from floor 2407; one arrowhead from layer 2445; one blade from layer 2450 and one core from layer 2455.
Middle Bronze Age
Seven tools were recovered from the levels of Middle Bronze period: all of them come from locus 1893 in Field A: they consist of 2 obsidian scrapers, 1 obsidian cutting tool, 1 obsidian microblade, 1 flint blade fragment and 2 flint points.
Middle Bronze-Late Bronze transition
Only one tool was assigned to the Middle Bronze/Late Bronze transitional period. It is an obsidian scraper from the deep sounding in Field A.
Late Bronze
The number of Late Bronze tools amounts to twenty-three, 19 of which are from Field A and 4 from Field B. 5 obsidian tools (2 scrapers, 1 core, 1 blade, 1 cutting tool) and 14 flint tools (11 sickle blades, 1 drill, 2 blades (Fig.16, c) were recovered in Field A; one obsidian microblade, one flint microblade and 2 flint sickle blades were collected in Field B.
Doghlauri cemetery
The Kura-Araxes graves of Doghlauri cemetery yielded 36 chipped stone items: 34 from the graves excavated in 2012 and 2 from those of 2013. The graves of the 2012 season which contained lithic items are: G-25, G-51, G-52, G-92, and G-121.
Four stemmed flint arrowhead with triangular blade, very similar to each other in shape and dimensions were found in grave 25. From grave G-51 came a black, not translucent and banded obsidian arrowhead. It is stemmed, serrated, corner-notched and has a triangular blade. A reddish-brown flint shatter of medium-fine texture, rounded by water, was found in grave G-52. Furthermore, a flint flake and a stemmed flint arrowhead were found in grave G-92. The arrowhead has a triangular blade and is corner-notched.
From the point of view of lithic finds, the richest burial is undoubtedly G-121, which contained a side-notched flint spearhead with stemmed base and triangular blade and 25 small flint arrowheads (see Fig. 12, above). All the 25 arrowheads are stemmed and have triangular blades. They are very similar to each other in shape and dimensions.
As for the graves unearthed in 2013, G-114 yielded a flint stemmed arrowhead and grave G-175 a flint blade.
