The diversity of Late Pleistocene and Holocene wild ungulates and kites structures in Armenia

Kites in Armenia were recently discovered, and investigations into their construction, typology and dating are ongoing. With these discoveries, it has become necessary to investigate a series of unsolved questions. In order to test the functions of kites, we conducted a synthesis describing the occurrence and habitat range of Late Pleistocene and Holocene wild ungulates in Armenia. Wildlife is discussed by emphasizing animal behavior and distribution, along with the hunting strategies adopted by the communities that inhabited Armenia. In spite of the fact that wild ungulates did not contribute largely to the daily meat intake or to the major raw products needed by humans since their domestication (around 6000 cal. BC), wild goats, gazelle and red deer were the animals most frequently hunted in Armenia in different time periods and in a variety of landscapes. Hypotheses put forward suggest that these preferences might be linked to using kites as traps for herds at different seasons of the year and on different altitudes, between 3000 and 500 BC.