Shepsi, the Oldest Dolmen with Port-Hole Slab in the Western Caucasus

The dolmen known as Shepsi was accidentally discovered on the Black Sea coast (Tuapse region, Russia). Radiocarbon dates show that the classic trapezoidal construction of the Caucasian dolmens with a port-hole appeared in the region as early as 3250 BC. The distinctive structural characteristic for...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Radiocarbon 2014, Vol.56 (2), p.743-752
Main Authors: Trifonov, V A, Zaitseva, G I, van der Plicht, J, Kraineva, A A, Sementsov, A A, Kazarnitsky, A, Burova, N D, Rishko, S A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Eurasian Archaeology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The dolmen known as Shepsi was accidentally discovered on the Black Sea coast (Tuapse region, Russia). Radiocarbon dates show that the classic trapezoidal construction of the Caucasian dolmens with a port-hole appeared in the region as early as 3250 BC. The distinctive structural characteristic for dolmens of that time was a floor slab laid between the side slabs, which were embedded in the ground. The material complex and 14C dates show that this type of dolmen coexisted with the Novosvobodnaya-type of the Maikop culture, located on the northern slope of the main Caucasus ridge. This leads to a new hypothesis concerning the regional origin and further development of the megalithic structures in the western Caucasus.
ISSN:0033-8222
1945-5755
DOI:10.2458/56.16927