spearheads. We also have a ceremonial dagger edged in gold from Lori Berd (Figure 7.21(5)).

Burial Ceramics

Vessels of Trialeti type are quite different to their predecessors and are generally divided into two groups. The majority of the first group (referred to as Trialeti-Vanadzor I in Armenian studies) have a black, grey, or brown matte surface, have a gritty texture and are generally poorly baked. Fine wares, on the other hand, have a crisp fabric and a black polished exterior. Potters now manufactured rounded pots or ovoid jars with high shoulders and a cylindrical neck (Figure 7.22(2–4)).The main distinguishing feature is decoration, restricted to the upper part of the vessel. Patterns mostly comprise punctate designs produced with a comb or roulette, or incised patterns including nested or hatched triangles pendant to the neck; solid knobs were used occasionally to define the juncture of the neck and shoulder.

Black wares with fine, incised linear designs (Figure 7.22) continue into the second phase (Trialeti-Vanadzor II), when quite different and striking painted ceramics were crafted. Jars are usually well fired to a grey colour and slipped on the exterior in red, dark brown, or black. Motifs include bold spirals, swirling snake patterns, and volutes executed in brown or black paint. Other designs include chevrons, zigzags, and wavy lines painted in black on a smoothed red surface (Figure 7.22(4)). Although the painted wares have the same forms as black polished vessels and often accompany them in barrows, the concept of ornamentation is introduced from the south, in the Ararat Plain and Araxes Valley where we shall encounter highly developed painted pottery traditions.

Settlement Ceramics

Didi Gora and Tqisbolo Gora have now provided a new understanding of settlement ceramics of the Middle Bronze Age, which for so long had been represented only by the funerary gifts placed within the barrow burials.Although the pottery from these sites comprises a homogenous assemblage, they differ significantly from the funerary repertoire.The bulk of the ceramics are simple kitchen and storage containers with a coarse fabric; the fine black polished wares found in tombs are not common (25–30 per cent), and painted pieces are quite rare. In terms of quantity, the sherds collected from the Middle Bronze Age levels are considerably fewer than in the later periods, supporting the theory of mobility.

Gabriele Kastl has noted that the pottery is handmade and generally poorly fired, often displaying a dark grey inner core.131 Surfaces are roughly smoothed and baked to colours that range from pale brown to dark grey, suggesting no controlled firing. The fabric is generally tempered with sandy grit, occasionally with obsidian inclusions, and rarely with chaff. Forms are

131 Kastl 2008: 189.

Figure 7.22. Trialeti-Vanadzor pottery from Lori Berd, Armenia (after Devedjian

2006).