Series | Antiquity Studies
Edited book | Wine Cultures
Chapter | The Archaeology of Wine in the Southern Caucasus
The Archaeology of Wine in the Southern Caucasus
New Methods for an Old Tradition
Abstract
The Southern Caucasus belongs to the core area where viticulture and wine production first developed in the Neolithic period (sixth millennium BC). Since then wine occupied, and still continues to occupy, a central role in the local cultures, as part of the subsistence economy, a focus of ritualised consumption and a source of visual symbols. Archaeology provides ample material evidence of this tradition and of its continuity/development, in particular from the territory of Georgia: wine production installations, areas for storage, consumption and deposition, specialised tools and vessels, wine-related iconography, etc. The article presents a selection of the different categories of evidence and focuses on the new results obtained on the ‘Archaeology of Wine’ in the region through a multidisciplinary approach and with the help of bioarchaeology and ‘archaeological science’.
Submitted: Oct. 5, 2023 | Accepted: Feb. 19, 2024 | Published Oct. 8, 2024 | Language: en
Keywords Southern Caucasus • Viticulture • Georgia • Wine culture • Bioarchaeology
Copyright © 2024 Elena Rova. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-816-3/005
