The Peopling of the Caucasus Early Human Settlement at the Crossroads of Continents

Aram Yardumian
Bryn Athyn College, Pennsylvania
and Theodore G. Schurr
University of Pennsylvania
Located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, the Caucasus region
has played a critical role in the dissemination of languages, ideas, and cultures since
prehistoric times. In this study, Aram Yardumian and Theodore Schurr explore the
dispersal of human groups in the Caucasus beginning in the Palaeolithic period.
Using evidence from archaeology, linguistics, and anthropological genetics, they
trace changes in settlement patterns, cultural practices, and genetic variation.
Highlighting the region’s ecological diversity, natural resources, and agricultural
productivity, Yardumian and Schurr reconstruct the timings and likely migration
routes for human settlement following the Last Glacial Maximum, as well as the
possible connections to regional economies for these expansions. Based on analysis
of archaeological site reports, linguistic relationships, and genetic data previously
published separately and in different languages, their synthesis of the most up to
date evidence opens new vistas into the chronology and human dynamics of the
Caucasus’ prehistory.
1. Prolegomenon; 2. Geography and Ecology; 3. Paleoanthropology; 4. Modern Human
Entry into the Caucasus; 5. Neolithic Revolution; 6. The Caucasus Chalcolithic and Bronze
Age; 7. Linguistic Diversity in the Caucasus; 8. Genetic History of the Caucasus; 9. A
Synthetic View of the Peopling of the Caucasus; 10. Further Research into the Peopling of
the Caucasus Studies; Glossary.

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‘This is a timely and valuable
resource on the Caucasus, and an

important first in its thorough and up-
to-date coverage of the geographical

setting, genetics, archeology, and
linguistics. Especially welcome is its
grounding in current best work on
linguistic relationships and prehistory.
Clear and readable even on technical
matters, it can be recommended to
both scholarly and general readers.’
Johanna Nichols,
University of California, Berkeley
January 2025
253 x 177 mm 350pp
Hardback 978-1-00-952023-2

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