The question of origins 221
The Mycenaean parallels to this Trialeti spearhead were found at Prosymna and
Ialysos.^13 It was assumed by Kuftin, and also by later observers, that the southern
Caucasian pieces were modeled on Aegean prototypes: that the Aegean could have
owed something to southern Caucasia was hardly considered. The Trialeti spear -
head, however, is at least a century earlier than its Aegean counterparts.
Kurgan XV in the Trialeti also yielded another striking parallel, which remained
unnoticed until observed by Ellen Davis, who in turn brought it to Rubinson’s
attention. A copper cauldron, or kettle, that Kuftin found in the Trialeti kurgan in
1938 is virtually identical to one of the kettles that Schliemann found in Shaft
Grave IV at Mycenae.^14 In his study of Aegean bronzework, a study done long
before the parallel had been noticed, Hector Catling suggested that the Mycenae
kettle must have been made in Crete, noting that the many bronze vessels found
in Grave Circle A were completely without precedent on the Greek mainland.^15
In contrast, inclusion of bronze kettles in a burial was not uncommon in southern
Caucasia.^16 It therefore appears that southern Caucasia is a better candidate than
Crete for the Shaft Grave kettle in question. As Rubinson describes the two kettles,
the copper cauldron from Mycenae is the same shape as the Trialeti example,
and the same size, with a diameter of approximately 56 cm. The example from
Mycenae, like the Trialeti specimen, has an extra piece of copper folded over
the rim and riveted on, and handles split, with leaf-shaped ends, attached to
the inside and outside of the cauldron.^17Kurgan XV in Trialeti is one of the Middle Bronze III group, for which
Rubinson originally suggested a date between 1600 and 1450 BC.^18 There is some
circularity here, because the date for the kurgan rests in part on the copper kettle’s
virtual identity to the one from Shaft Grave IV, but carbon dating has raised all
of the Trialeti dates. According to the ArAGATS team, “[r]adiocarbon dates...
suggest that the Middle Bronze III period should be dated from the eighteenth/
seventeenth centuries to the last quarter of the sixteenth century B.C.”^19 Mikheil
Abramishvili dates Kurgan XV no later than the middle of the eighteenth century
BC.^20 On the historical chronology used here I will assume a date in the seventeenth
century BC, in any case much earlier than the burials in Shaft Grave IV.
Another important correspondence between southern Caucasia and the Aegean
is the representation of two men in a chariot, pursuing a deer. That scene, as is
well known, appears on a gold ring from Shaft Grave IV. Less well known is that
the same scene, rendered in a bronze model, was a favorite in southern Caucasia.
There the bronze model served –as Stuart Piggott noted—as a yoke ornament for
an actual chariot.^21 Three such models were found at Lchashen, and a fourth has
been found at Lori Berd, both sites in Armenia. The kurgans under which they
were found are usually dated ca. 1400 BC.^22 When Piggott wrote his book only
poor photographs of the models were available, but Maria Pogrebova published
fine drawings of each of the four.^23
The workmanship on the gold ring from Shaft Grave IV is far superior to that
of the southern Caucasian models, probably because the princes at Mycenae were