THE PALEODEMOGRAPHY OF THE MIDDLE KURA BASIN IN BRONZE AGE

Abstract

The discovery of bronze and extensive dissemination of bronze tools played an important role not only in the cultural and historical development of the ancient people, but also on the growth and settlement of population, and the settlement of new areas. Beginning from the last quarter of the 4th millennium, the Bronze Age, characterized by significant growth in economic and social life, and new and unique features in the field of material culture contributed to the expansion of the ancient farming economy in the Middle Kura basin and the new rise in cattle-breeding, and the overall improvement of economic conditions led to the increase of the population and necessitated the use of large areas in agriculture. The agricultural economy and culture of the Bronze Age were not random occurrences but the manifestations of the new development of agriculture, which had been formed during the early Chalcolithic period. It is no coincidence that the remnants of Bronze Age settlements are often found on the Chalcolithic monuments. Archaeological investigations show that the newly discovered Bronze Age settlements in Ganja-Gazakh region are many in number and close to each other and proved to be one of the most populous regions in the Caucasus at the
end of the 4th -the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The group of Gazakh and Mingechevir monuments can be cited as an example of such settlements. The extension of residential areas to the mountainous and foothill areas was also due to demographic growth. The population density and food shortage led people to look for new pastures and arable lands. The expansion of the agricultural and cattle-breeding farms in the Middle Kura valley, the formation of metallurgy and metalworking in the developing stage of the Bronze Age cultures had led to the formation of new social relations here, resulting in the emergence of large tribes on the basis of the family tribal unions. This, in turn, led to the transformation of separate small settlements belonging to the tribal communities into large tribal residential areas. Demographic growth had expanded the range of residential areas.