Abstract An increasing number of field investigations in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia have revealed that the Neolithic socio-economy in the Southern Caucasus had emerged by the early 8th millennium cal BP. Although this probably occurred during the expansion of the Southwest Asian Neolithic, the local hunter-gatherer societies might also have contributed to the establishment of the Caucasian Neolithic cultures. However, the absence of well-dated Mesolithic sites immediately preceding the earliest Neolithic has prevented this process from being discussed in detail. This paper reports the discovery of such evidence from the 2016–2017 excavations at the Damjili Cave in West Azerbaijan. Dated from the Mesolithic of the final 9th millennium cal BP, this discovery offers the first opportunity to compare a late Mesolithic cultural assemblage with the early 6th millennium Neolithic one to investigate the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Southern Caucasus. The new evidence highlights the need to understand the complex nature of Neolithization in the Southern Caucasus, apparently involving both continuity and replacement between the local Mesolithic and the incoming Neolithic socio-economies.

中文翻译：

---

高加索南部的中石器时代-新石器时代界面：阿塞拜疆西部Damjili洞2016-2017年发掘

摘要在亚美尼亚，阿塞拜疆和格鲁吉亚进行的越来越多的实地调查表明，南高加索地区的新石器时代社会经济是在公元8000年初期出现的。尽管这可能是在西南亚新石器时代的扩张过程中发生的，但当地的狩猎者-采集者社会也可能为建立高加索新石器时代的文化做出了贡献。但是，由于最早的新石器时代之前尚无日期明确的中石器时代的遗址，因此无法对此过程进行详细讨论。本文报告了在西阿塞拜疆的Damjili洞穴2016-2017年发掘中发现的此类证据。从最后的第9个千年BP的中石器时代开始，这一发现提供了第一个机会，可以将晚期的中石器时代文化与新石器时代的6世纪初进行比较，以调查南高加索地区的中石器时代到新石器时代的过渡。新证据强调，需要了解南高加索地区新石器时代的复杂性质，显然涉及地方中石器时代和新来石器时代的社会经济之间的连续性和替代性。