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Summary 134
axes show that they were used to excavate the pit houses and were not used as agricultural
hoes.
As a result of the investigation of the small finds and their architectural context it can be
said that there is no compelling evidence for specific differences within the settlement that
indicate social stratification. It is probable that the development of social stratification was
probably prevented by the short duration of the settlement activity in this region.
The type and quality of the small finds point to a rather low level of prosperity. Animal
husbandry seems to be the most important activity of the residents. Secondary evidence for
agriculture includes remains of a threshing sledge as well as many (bread) stamps and grinding
stones.
Food-storage probably took place in the citadel, even though no particular concentrations
of storage vessels were found at this point. There is no evidence for the central management
of surplus foods in case of famine based on the small finds.
One category of small finds includes a large number of grinding stones consisting of a very
coarse-grained porous rock, probably basalts and andesits. These grinding stones also had a
secondary function as building bricks or stones and may have been used to secure the roofing
of houses. Grinding stones were an important commodity as trade items. The chemical
analysis gives an indication of a common area of origin. The Udabno artefacts correspond to
geological samples of eruptive basalt from the Southeast-Georgian area around Bolnisi and
Dmanisi in the Kwemo-Kartli region. This mineralogical evidence for the sources of the
material used for grinding stones in Udabno as well as the obsidian analyses provides the
basis for a reconstruction of trade routes and intra regional relationships during the Bronze to
Iron Age transition.
This dissertation on the small finds from Udabno is the first attempt to carry out an
interdisciplinary systematic assessment of the artefact assemblage from a settlement in eastern
Georgia.
The picture of the “agricultural” and “industrial” activities we have gained from our
analyses shows us the daily lives of a rural population in the Late Bronze-/Early Iron Age
which had individual trade links to the southeast of Georgia (Tsalka), northern Armenia and
eastern Anatolia. This work can be seen as a contribution to the ongoing intensive research
into the prehistory of a region which is characterised by major lacunae in our knowledge due
to insufficient research in the 20 th century. The results of the excavations in Udabno have
revealed an interesting example of a characteristic rural settlement between the Greater and
Lesser Caucasus mountains. However, a final assessment will only be possible by combining
all of the results of the current investigations.