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Ponte Academic Journal
Sep 2016, Volume 72, Issue 9

COLLECTIONS IN THE EUROPEAN MUSEUMS – THE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF THE ANCIENT CAUCASUS SCATTERED ACROSS A CONTINENT

Author(s): Dr. Nourida Ateshi

J. Ponte - Sep 2016 - Volume 72 - Issue 9
doi: 10.21506/j.ponte.2016.9.36



Abstract:
Quite a few problems have been found in the historiography of the late Bronze and early Iron Ages in the Southern Caucasus; some of them had been caused by the incoherency of the cultural material accessible to international research. Investigating intensively the material in the museums, of the archive documents, and the original excavation reports in German, Russian and Azerbaijani we find different versions of historiography of the Caucasus collection in the Museum for Prehistory and early History (MVF) in Berlin for the very same period. Russian and international archaeologic circles should be drawn to this problem.\r\nBeginning in the middle of the 19th century there was a rush on the archaeological sites in the Caucasus. Archaeological excavations often were not taken out for scientific reasons but rather for material gains, or they were done by hobby archaeologists from various countries, disturbing the archaeological coherence. In establishing the various collections on the late Bronze and early Iron Ages in the Caucasus they broke the history and heritage of the Caucasus to parts.\r\nFinds were sent to the museums of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Lyon, to Vienna and to Berlin.\r\nThis article submits the Caucasus collections in European museums to a thorough review.\r\nThe scattering of the artefacts of the Caucasus collection in the Museum for Prehistory and early History (MVF) in Berlin across museums in Russia, in the Caucasus and in Europe is still causing problems to science in Europe, especially in Germany and in Russia, as well as in Azerbaijan. With concrete facts the author shows where several collections can be found which are unknown to date to the international science community and closed to international research. \r\nWhen casting new light on some aspects of the Khojaly-Gedebey Culture, also known as Central South Caucasian culture or Genje-Karabakh Culture which is still unknown to the international science community - this culture covered a vast area of the Central and Southern Caucasus in the late Bronze and early Iron Ages -, some problems of the archaeologic evaluation of the finds belonging to that culture emerged.\r\nAlthough this culture was one of the outstanding cultures of the Caucasus, it still requires a complete, systematic research and examination, because the scientific investigation of the finds and the conclusions to be drawn remain incomplete to date. The collections should be opened to the international scientific community attracting German, French, Russian and Caucasian scientists to fill the gap existing till today in the archaeologic research of the Caucasus, starting from the Bronze Age.\r\nThe comprehensive research of this culture should include numerous artefacts, the original excavation reports starting with diggings in the thirties of the 19th century (E. Roesler, W. Belck, Graf von Schweinitz and others), the archive materials treasured in many museums and libraries in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia (including the Republic of Dagestan) and Germany; the publications edited in several languages containing general scientific investigation of this period should also be scientifically reviewed. \r\nThe new and uninvestigated collections (collected by Graf von Schweinitz, F. Korthaus, F. Bayern) which the author discovered in the Berlin Museum for Prehistory and early History (MVF) must be made accessible for scientific purposes. A great part of the collections which had been treasured in this museum had been brought to the Soviet Union after World War II and were subsequently scattered across Russian museums, mainly the State Historic Museum, the Pushkin Museum of Performing Arts (both in Moscow) and the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg. They have not been opened to scientific research till today. The attention of \r\nThe finds from the Redkin-Lager collection are a paragon of the fragmentation of Caucasian heritage; they are scattered across museums in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Germany, France, and Russia and could not be completely investigated until now.
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