Salt is and essential resource for life, perceived as a commodity of first necessity during Antiquity. Its monopoly has also played a significant role in the prosperity of ancient societies, as it was the case for archaic Rome and the Venice of the lower Middle Ages. For their supplies, the Greeks and Romans mainly exploit the salt marshes around the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, this type of installation leaves traces called “weak” and is very rarely documented by Archaeology. The same applies to Geoarchaeology, for which the ancient salt marshes remain a blind spot. Ultimately, the history of these ancient saltworks is based mainly on scattered textural sources and on hypotheses of continuity of occupation. These do not take into account the high variability of lagoon environments over the long term and its impact on the potential to exploit this ressource. The recognition of these ancients saltworks is both a major challenge to trace the history of salt production contexts during Antiquity, but also a methodological lock to be lifted. In this context, the project ANR GeoSal aims to serve as a springboard for a project ERC Starting Grant that aims to meet the scientific challenge of a geoarchaeology of absence. This research will be based on a regressive approach, at the intersection of geohistory and geosciences. Its purpose is to identify the previously imperceptible “traces” left by the scraping and de-bracing activities that accompany salt mining and destroy sedimentary records. A microstratigraphic study, coupled with the study of biological and sedimentological indicators, will be used to reconstruct palaeosalinities at very high resolution and document breaks in sedimentation. It will be complemented by a geo-historical approach to these objects still too little known, conducted from historical archives (textual, iconographic, etc.) to propose a diachronic evolution of the gestures, practices and landscapes associated with these saltworks

This project is a development of previous investigations carried out respectively in Azerbaijan, on the salt mine of Duzdagi and the settlement of Ovçular Tepesi, and in Georgia, on the gold mines and related landscape of Sakdrissi/Dzedzvebi. Our research programme will take place in two regions: 1) the Naxçivançay valley in Azerbaijan (Nakhchivan); 2) the Mashavera valley in Georgia. Our work will concentrate on the early mining and associated mining economy of salt and gold, but also copper, since major copper mines (Misdagi) are attested in Nakhchivan in the vicinity of the Duzdagi, together with several Late Prehistoric settlements. The main objectives of this project will be to study the conditions (social, economic, technological, environmental) that presided over the development of early mining in the Caucasus (salt, copper and gold), with a special focus on the reasons why early mining was so intimately linked to the Kuro-Araxes cultural complex. Our goal is to complete the information so far retrieved from the mines themselves (Duzdagi and Sakdrissi) by data to be obtained from the miners’ settlements (Kültepe I and Dzedzvebi), especially as concerns technology, socio-economic structures and subsistence strategies. In Nakhchivan, work on early mining and the mining economy will be extended to the copper mines of Misdagi and the coppersmiths’settlement of Zirinçlik. In both Georgia and Azerbaijan, archaeological excavations and surveys will be associated with specific environmental studies in order to complete our data on subsistence strategies. Another aim of these studies will be to reconstruct the environmental setting in which these new technologies (mining, metallurgy) developed. Isotope analyses carried on animal teeth (caprines) will also help to assess the nature of pastoral herding (local/long-distance) and provide indirect clues to the intensity of interregional exchange (goods, animals, people). The extension of the mining economy, as well as the impact of new technologies upon surrounding regions, will also be studied through provenance studies on gold and copper artefacts from Caucasian sites (Ovçular Tepesi, Kültepe I, Zirinçlik, Dzedzvebi, Soyuk Bulaq, Sioni) but also from Eastern Anatolia (Arslantepe) and Northwestern Iran (site ?). Several operations are planned: in Nakhchivan, work will be divided into excavations and surveys: 1) excavations on the salt mine of Duzdagi, inside the tunnels; 2) excavations on the miners’ settlement of Kültepe I (1 ha); 3) excavations on the coppersmiths’ settlement of Zirinçlik (0,2 ha); 4) surveys on the copper mine of Misdagi. All these sites are known for their significant remains of Kuro-Araxes exploitation or settlement. In Georgia, work will focus on Dzedzvebi, which is an outstanding settlement (60 ha) located on a plateau at the foot of the Sakdrissi gold mine. Previous, small-scale excavations on this site have yielded Kuro-Araxes graveyards, workshop-areas related to gold-processing, as well as domestic quarters. Emphasis will be laid on the reconstruction of the chaîne opératoire through experimental studies and the econometrics of gold production, in order to assess the quantity of excavated gold. In this project, Kültepe I/Duzdagi represents an earlier (ca. 4500-3800 BC), Zirinçlik/Misdagi an intermediate (ca. 4000-3500 BC) and the Maschavera group a later step (ca. 3400-3000 BC) of the Kuro-Araxes culture and its mining development. Beside archaeological operations, the coring of marshy areas both in Georgia and Azerbaijan should provide mineralogical and organic proxies (insects, pollens, molluscs) in order to document the interactions between the evolution of the climate, the vegetation cover and pastoral herding. These operations will be completed by the study of the erosion/accumulation sequences within the embedded watersheds of the Naxçivançay, the Arpaçay (Nakhchivan) and the Mashavera rivers (Georgia).

This project aims to study the socio-economic and environmental adaptation strategies of civilizations in a context of multifactorial upheavals that could lead to the collapse. Echoing the difficult situations that our contemporary society faces, the project will investigate an emblematic but still poorly documented case, the disappearance in Central Asia of the Oxus civilization and the formation of the Sine Sepulchro cultural complex during the transition between the Bronze and Iron Ages (around 1500 BCE). While the search for direct causes of this disappearance is currently inconclusive, this project aims to question societal transformations by focusing on the processes of adaptation during this transition and the period that followed (2nd half of the 2nd mill. BCE). The strategies implemented appear to have been successful, since the Early Iron Age was characterized by an extreme stability for five centuries. This pivotal period, however, remains little studied because it was long considered a period of decline caused by “barbarian invasions”. In order to contribute to a better understanding of the interactions between human societies and their environment during this transition, the TransOxus project intends to question societal resilience at the local level. It will focus on a recently discovered settlement area in southern Uzbekistan, the Kayrit oasis. It is unique for several sites dating from this transition period have been recorded there, which constitute the only known settled complex in an altitude area and in proven contact with cultures from the steppe of northern Central Asia, which certainly played a role in this phenomenon. This multidisciplinary project will combine archaeology, bioarchaeology, geophysics, geography and GIS. It is organized around two main axes and is based on three field missions and a significant laboratory analyses component. The first axis will aim to document and diachronically characterize the material culture and settlements of the Kayrit Oasis, and will include geophysical surveys on the identified sites, archaeological soundings, and study of material production. These studies will contribute to our understanding of settlement type, land occupation, material culture and socio-economic practices. They will provide a reliable chronological framework that will also be supported by a radiocarbon dating program. The second research axis will aim at reconstructing agricultural practices and the relationship of the oasis’ inhabitants with their environment. Archaeobotanical studies (analyses of botanical macro-remains, phytoliths, isotopes) will aim to document the interaction between man and plants. Geoarchaeological and geographical studies will reconstruct the ancient environment and evaluate existing resources and constraints, document subsistence and exploitation strategies (cultivated areas, gardens or livestock parks), and identify and date irrigation networks. They will be based on prospecting and auger drilling, as well as sediment analyses (grain size analyses, organic matter and calcium carbonate rates, OSL and C14 dating). Particular attention will also be paid to current agricultural practices in mountain areas, which are still very traditional. All the data obtained as well as those available in the scientific literature on other types of neighbouring sites (petroglyphs, kurgans) will be integrated into a geographical information system, allowing multiscalar data to be read and queried at site and oasis level and beyond.

Faced with the real estate and infrastructure development in many countries, it is important to implement strategies to be able to understand the earliest possible issue of the study and preservation of heritage, taking into account the administrative and legal specificities which supervise the operations of preventive archaeology in different countries. The non-EU countries have not signed the Convention of Malta (except Turkey), or equivalent agreement: preventive archaeology then suffers a considerable delay compared to western countries. This often push the local services of Antiquities which have in charge the emergency excavations - and sometimes with little human and financial resources- to look after optimized tools for heritage management which help them to prevent new real estate or infrastructure projects in poorly known areas. In this context, exploration by geophysical methods, coupled with other methods of archaeological survey, is a crucial preliminary approach for the management of archaeological heritage. The objective of the Joint Laboratory GEO-HERITAGE is to develop tools offering to the services in charge of heritage protection an appropriate protocol analysis to evaluate the environmental and archaeological potential of a site or given regional area. Called to be used in very different environmental, geographical and geological contexts, the developed package must be able to integrate different sources of data from the archaeological survey (geophysical and geomorphological reconnaissance, aerial and pedestrian survey) while allowing mobility, easy setup and rapid implementation. A first line of research will focus on mechanical and ergonomic optimization of equipment used and the data acquisition systems, particularly in geophysics. This will increase the mobility and performance of existing geophysical equipment by creating towed systems adapted to different ground conditions. The design of a universal acquisition interface, adaptable to different methods of geophysical survey, will allow simplified management of data as well as making simultaneous measurements in the case of a multi-methods surveys. The acquisition of large amounts of data will also require the development of specific software for the automation of data processing protocols and automatic detection of relevant information on geophysical images. A second line of research will focus on the development of a unified use and extensive exploitation of different sources of data (i.e. geophysical, geomorphological and archaeological data). This complementary approach, especially for geophysical and geomorphological results, will return to the most informative state of a site - or a set of sites- in its environment. The integration of comparable metadata within a open source GIS (like QGIS by instance) will require the development of appropriate plug-ins protocols. The ultimate goal is to have a package of tools and protocols for environmental and archaeological reconnaissance in agreement with the need for a better management of heritage.

Contrary to its immense historical impact on the cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean, the Achaemenid Empire (539-331 BC) has been difficult to grasp archaeologically outside its centres, the impressive monumental complexes of Persepolis, Susa and Pasargadae. This is particularly surprising given the historic and epigraphic evidence for the existence of a very tight-knit, efficiently organized administration. Wherever major Achaemenian sites outside Iran had been investigated, it appeared that religious practices, local power structures and pre-existing customs were respected and adapted in a deliberate attempt at cooperative rule. During the past 15 years, the implementation of survey projects benefiting from technological advances in landscape archaeology (especially in geophysics) led to new archaeological discoveries that have changed this picture. Firstly, in the centre of the empire, the extent and internal structure of centres like Pasargadae and Persepolis is now much better understood thanks to the extensive application of combined survey methods and targeted excavations. The impressive monuments from these two sites are only the visible remains of cities loosely distributed within a landscaped environment made up of gardens and parks. Secondly, in a peripheral corner of the empire, the Southern Caucasus, administrative complexes were found which bear all hallmarks of ‘Iranian Achaemenid’ monumental architecture, from building standards to the physical organization of the landscape. Taken together, this suggests that the Achaemenids did create and export within their realm a fundamentally new way of representing rulership, by managing space on an unprecedented scale and creating new imperial landscapes. Their ‘paradises’ were at the same time luxurious residences with spacious gardens and administrative centers, playing an important role for the control of the dependent territories. In order to pursue this theory, five geographically and hierarchically differentiated centres of the Achaemenid Empire have been selected for study: Pasargadae, the foundation of Cyrus the Great, and two still underexplored secondary sites, Borazjan and Farmeshgan, in Iran. Karacamirli, a major centre recently brought to light in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Gumbati, a contemporary complex in Georgia. They will be investigated by a German-French team and its partners with archaeological, geophysical and geomorphological methods. Our project is organized around complementary tasks, with the objective of a comprehensive reconstruction of Achaemenid landscaping in its centres of power in order to better understand their functioning. Existing capabilities will be shared among project partners, with the aim of advancing the interpretive possibilities of archaeological landscape studies.