BRONZE AGE   CONTENTS   HOME 

Tovuzchai

The site at Tovuzchai was not identified until BTC construction activities reached the area in 2004. This was a large cemetery extending over 100m along the pipeline route. Unfortunately, the site had to be excavated in several phases up to July 2005 and suffered from several episodes of damage by construction equipment. This meant that some graves were damaged without a full record and part of the site plan is incomplete.

A total of 85 graves were excavated, 31 of which contained no evident human remains and, in addition, 12 were accompanied by additional 'sacrifice places' or 'offering places'. Two of the graves contained a pair of human burials, while another two burials were accompanied by the skeleton of a dog and one with a horse skull. As with Zayamchai, several burials were accompanied by decorative bronze ornaments forming head-dresses and other ornaments of spiral rings.

The cemetery is located on the crest of the valley slope above the Tovuzchai River, a similar topographic position to that of Zayamchai and Hasansu. The site is dated by a number of radiocarbon dates, the earliest of which overlaps with that from the settlement of Khunan several hundred metres to the west. The cemetery is broadly contemporary with that of Zayamchai.


 BRONZE AGE   CONTENTS   HOME 

© Internet Archaeology/Author(s)
University of York legal statements | Terms and Conditions | File last updated: Fri Jun 17 2011