theType A swords from the Aegean and the Levant.13 Even so, no scheme as yet adequately explains the transitions between the three Trialeti phases. At best we have a series of spot dates.

In the Middle Bronze Age III period (ca.1700–1450 BC) the cultural homogeneity of the south Caucasus broke down, and cultural practices such as the appearance of stone cist tombs foreshadowed things to come.A series of richly painted pottery traditions, also found in eastern Anatolia and north-western Iran, heralded change, as the Trialeti complex petered out in the central south Caucasus.

THE NATURE OF THE EVIDENCE

A contextual analysis of the barrow burials from the Caucasus is faced with several difficulties. Plunder and re-use in antiquity is our first obstacle. Given the considerable investment of energy that went into constructing a barrow,the use of a pre-existing structure would have saved on effort and expense without losing the prestige associated with monumentality.Yet disentangling intrusive secondary burials from earlier interments is not always straightforward, especially when the grave furnishings reflect only modest change.Then, secondly, there is the issue of methodology.As was often the practice in the early history of archaeology, some of the less eye-catching items, such as plain coarse ceramics, were simply not collected.14 Furthermore, in the case of Trialeti barrows, it seems that some barrows were not fully excavated.15 To complicate matters, there is more than a sprinkle of conflicting and incomplete data and confusing terminologies. On the matter of burial terminology, I follow Roderick Sprague’s classification when describing the form of disposal, the articulation and position of the skeleton, the number of interments and other elements.16

Jan-Krystoff Bertram has produced a thorough and useful study of burials and mortuary practices of this period. He is correct in suggesting that to understand distribution patterns it is necessary to take into account three inter-related criteria: the tomb architecture; the nature of the burials (number and position of the deceased); and the grave goods.17 Bertram has identified the following grave types concealed beneath barrows:

•Flat burial areas with no modification to the earthen surface

•Rectangular earthen pit graves

•Round, oval or irregular earthen pit graves

•Stepped earthen pit graves

13Abramishvili 2001. On Aegean-Caucasian connections see Rahmstorf 2010.

14See, for example, Rubinson 1976: 25 with reference to the Trialeti barrows.

15Zhorzhikashvili and Gogadze 1974: 16–17. For a history of research in theTrialeti region, see Zischow 2008; Narimanishvili 2010.

16Sprague 2005.

17Bertram 2003: 25–7.