Relics, woodworking, and the skins of reptiles : the material culture of Caucasian Albania

Movsēs Dasxuranci's History of the Caucasian Albanians has received little scholarly attention in general and is virtually unknown to art historians. Accessible through the translation and subsequent articles by Charles J. F. Dowsett, the text provides a view of the tumultuous political history of the medieval Caucasus that complements and differs from that provided by medieval Armenian and Georgian historians. I focus on the material culture of these people, who had their own language, history and ruling houses, but lost their lands to the emirs of Azerbaijan and their ethnic and historical identity when absorbed by Georgian and Armenian cultures. I divide my analysis into four categories: relics, ceremonial and gifting, artists, and nature. These artificial divisions facilitate the presentation of unique aspects of Caucasian Albanian culture as well as that of comparative practices and materials from other medieval cultures.