Fig 1.
Topographic map of the Greater Caucasus (including Armenia) and the Ancient Near East.
(a) Map of the Greater Caucasus and Ancient Near East displaying the extent of the Kura-Araxes cultural phenomenon in dashed lines, approximated [19] (AR is Armenia, GR is Georgia, AZ is Azerbaijan, and IR is Iran), representing sites mentioned in text (1) Natsargora and (2) Chobareti in Georgia, (3) Mentesh Tepe in Azerbaijan, (4) Köhneh Shahar and (5) Godin Tepe in Iran. (b) Map of Armenia, including rivers and one of the major freshwater lakes in the region, Lake Sevan. Sites: (1) Karnut-1, (2) Gegharot, (3) Margahovit, (4) Talin Tombs, (5) Mokhra-Blur, (6) Shengavit, and (7) Sotk-2. These settlements are distanced between 17 and 176 km, where Shengavit and Mokhra-Blur are 17 km apart. Maps produced by Lily Manoukian using Geosoft Inc. Oasis Montaj (Version 2021.2.1 [20220125–11]) (www.seequent.com); Data is public and available through Geosoft Inc.: (a) Digital Terrain Elevation Model, SRTM30 Plus v7. Data source: http://topex.ucsd.edu/WWW_html/srtm30_plus.html; (b) Digital Terrain Elevation Model, SRTM 1, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 1 Arc-Second Global. Data source: https://lta.cr.usgs.gov/SRTM1Arc.
Table 1.
Summary of occurrence of lipid classes detected in pottery vessels at each site.
Fig 2.
Combined scatter plot showing δ13C values of the major fatty acid components (n-C16:0 and n-C18:0) prepared from lipid extracts from examined sites.
Shengavit (c, j), Gegharot (f, m), Karnut-1 (g, n), Margahovit (e, l), Sotk-2 (b, i), Mokhra-Blur (d, k) and Talin Tombs (a, h). Each data point corresponds to an individual vessel. Residues with evidence of plant processing, see S3 Table for labelled data points. Plots (a-g): The values of reference fats are represented by confidence ellipses (±1σ) for animals raised on a strict C3 diet [46]. The three annotated fields correspond to P = 0.684 confidence ellipses relating to modern fats of animals raised on a purely C3 diet in Britain [46]. Plots (h-n): The difference in the δ13C values of the n-C18:0 and n-C16:0 fatty acids (Δ13C = δ13C18:0 - δ13C16:0) obtained for the n-C16:0 and n-C18:0 fatty acids prepared from lipid extracts from all sites. Ranges depicted represent the mean ± 1 s.d. of Δ13C values for a global database published elsewhere comprising modern reference animal fats from various geographical settings that include: Africa [86], UK [44], Kazakhstan [95], Switzerland [96], and the Middle East [97]. Triangle symbols represent TLEs with evidence of plant processing with CPI values >5; blue symbols represent TLEs with evidence of aquatic components (APAAs and IFAs). Analytical precision is ±0.3‰.
Fig 3.
Chromatograms depicting plant lipids, terrestrial and aquatic fats.
(a) Partial GC-FID chromatogram from Margahovit (MG2) depicting birch bark tar biomarkers, numbered black squares; (1) Lup-2,20(29)-diene, (2) Lup-2,20(29)-dien-28-ol (TMS ether), (3) Allobetul-2-ene, (4) Lupeone, (5) Lupeol (TMS ether), (6) unknown terpenoid, (7) 28-oxoallobetul-2-ene, (8) Betulone (TMS ether), (9) 3-oxoallobetulane, (10) Betulin (TMS ether), (11) Allobetulinol (TMS ether); (b) partial GC-MS chromatogram from Gegharot (G31) classified as a dairy residue with isoprenoid fatty acids: 4,8,12-trimethyltridecanoic acid (TMTD), pristanic and phytanic acids; (c) partial GC-MS chromatogram from Shengavit (SH32) illustrating the distribution of compounds characteristic of plant lipids with a CPI of 18.8. Plasticisers are marked with asterisks. IS, internal standard, C34 n-tetratriacontane.