Collections in the European Museums – the Cultural Heritage of the Ancient Caucasus scattered across a Continent

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. Beginning 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. Finds were sent to the museums of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Lyon, to Vienna and to Berlin. This article submits the Caucasus collections in European museums to a thorough review.