Archaeometric analyses of Early Bronze Age pottery from Khashuri Natsargora (Georgia)

•Archaeological and archaeometric differentiation of Early Bronze Age pottery from the Southern Caucasus.•Archaeological, compositional and technical differentiation of South-Caucasian EBA pottery.•Archaeometric characterisation and differentiation of Kura Araxes, Bedeni and Martqopi pottery. Ca 50 samples of Early Bronze Age (late 4th-3rd millennium BC) pottery from the South-Caucasian province of Shida Kartli (Georgia), most of them from the site of Khashuri Natsargora, were submitted to archaeometric investigations aiming to their characterisation and to the determination of raw materials (provenancing) and production technology. The main aim of the study was to identify the distinctive features of the Kura-Araxes end Early Kurgan (Martqopi and Bedeni) pottery groups. The analytical methods included powder-XRD, OM on thin section, ICP-AES and ICP-MS for major, minor and some trace elements, WDS microanalysis on single minerals. The analyses proved that in all cases local clays were employed. They were often used as found, but sometimes tempered with volcanic sands whose composition reflects the regional geology of the production area and sometimes with the addition of grog (for the Kura-Araxes) or crushed obsidian (for the Bedeni fine group). The study of rock fragments present in the temper allowed in most cases a clear differentiation between the Kura-Araxes Ware and the Bedeni wares. Most vessels were handmade but, in the case of Bedeni fine ware, they were occasionally finished with a slow wheel. Significant differences between the Kura-Araxes and Bedeni groups were also observed in surface treatment. Firing temperatures resulted mostly in the interval of 600–800 °C.