Trialeti-Vanadzor culture

Bronze Age archaeological culture in the Caucasus The Trialeti-Vanadzor culture, also known simply as the Trialeti culture and previously referred to as the Trialeti-Kirovakan culture, is named after the Trialeti region in present-day Georgia and the city of Vanadzor in Armenia. This Bronze Age culture flourished between the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium BCE, marking a significant phase of sociocultural and technological development in the South Caucasus. It arose in the territories previously inhabited by the Kura–Araxes culture, representing a notable cultural and material transition that includes advancements in metallurgy, burial practices, and social stratification. The Trialeti culture was discovered and named by Boris Kuftin in the late 1930s. Several researchers have proposed the Indo-European affiliations of the Trialeti-Vanadzor culture, with recent studies increasingly supporting it as representing an early Proto-Armenian cultural horizon. This hypothesis aligns with broader theories linking the culture to Indo-European migrations and the gradual emergence of Armenian ethnicity and language. The Trialeti-Vanadzor culture eventually evolved into the Lchashen–Metsa