Neolithic Sites in the Mil Steppe: Locations and Characteristics
Intensive field walking surveys over five field seasons (2010–2014) have revealed a dense
Neolithic occupation on the lower river terraces along the streams crossing the Mil Steppe (Fig.
3). The preferred location for sites was on natural elevations, which may have afforded some pro-
tection from flooding; it is likely that springtime flooding contributed to the formation of natural-
ly irrigated zones used for early agriculture. Most sites were flat or formed very low mounds, in-
dicating a short duration of habitation or intermittent, shifting occupation. The preferred building
materials were hand-formed mudbricks, reed, branches and daub, and a variety of building forms
is known, including single circular buildings, joined rectangular chambers, and special structures.
Out of the total of 174 sites recorded during the survey, 66 can be safely assigned to the
19 Andrea Ricci, Barbara Helwing, and Tevekkül Aliyev, “The Neolithic on the Move: High Resolution Settlement
Dynamics Investigations and Their Impact on Archaeological Landscape Studies in Southwest Azerbaijan,” in
“Landscape Archaeology Conference (LAC 2012),” special issue, eTopoi. Journal for Ancient Studies 3 (2012):
369–75; Andrea Ricci, “Archaeological Landscape Studies within the ‘Kura in Motion’ Project: The 2012–2014
Field Activities,” in The Kura Projects: New Research on the Later Prehistory of the Southern Caucasus, ed. Bar-
bara Helwing et al., Archäologie in Iran und Turan 16 (Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 2017), 305–23.
20 A. A. Iessen, “Iz Istoriceskogo Proslogo Milsko-Karabachskoje Stepi: Trudy Azerbaidzanskoj Archaeologiceskoj
Ekspedicii,” Materialy i issledovanija po archeologii SSSR (1965): 10–35.
21 I. G. Narimanov, Kul’tura Drevnejsego Zemledel’ Cesko-Skoto-Vodceskoyo Naselenija Azerbajdzana (Baku: Ėlm,
1987).
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