Use of Water Resources at the Territory of Armenia by the Paleolithic Population

Exploitation of water resources is one of the most important elements of the landscape organization and life supporting strategy of ancient societies, which however has never been the subject of a separate study. In this article we undertook an attempt to outline certain patterns of relations of the ancient inhabitants of Armenia with water bodies, based on geomorphological and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions in comparison with the data obtained from the study of the archaeological sources. The implemented study shows the role of water for shaping the lifeways of ancient hunter-gatherers as one of the primary and crucial factors in the formation of landscape organization strategies of primitive societies. Particularly, it is obvious that the Paleolithic inhabitants of Armenia organized their activities along river nets and embankments of paleolakes, which was related with everyday use of drinking water, for toolstone raw materials procurement and for the search of effective ways of hunting. In general, water consumption traditions in Armenian Highlands were established during the Paleolithic Period and were transformed into special concepts and worldviews as a result of evolution of the similar activities developed by the later societies.