Issue: 55-B

This article describes a first attempt to study the technologies of the Dmanisi Paleolithic industry. To reconstruct the complete technological process, a distribution map of the raw material used by the Dmanisi hominids was created, then raw materials for our experimental study were col-lected from the same places as were used by Paleolithic hominins. The article discusses the results of the experimental technological studies using amphibolite and tan tuff as a raw material. The original archaeological artifacts are compared with the experimental industry made with the same raw material. Both industries were created by applying the hard hammer techniques.

This article concerns the possible interpretation of a structure discovered on the territory of the Dekhviri open-air archaeological and ethnographical museum (northwest Georgia, Lekhumi region) as an antique-period sepulcher. The context of this structure is archaeological evidence found in the villages Dekhviri and Tskheta and their adjacent territory (I millennium BC, Antique and medieval material).
In 2017, an archaeological team led by R. Isakadze and Sh. Buadze investigating the medieval period in the study area as part of the Lechkhumi (Tskheta-Dekhviri) archaeological expedition (directed by N. Sulava) investigated a stone structure. The excavators interpreted it as a church of the medieval period, but we propose that it is a Late Antique/ early medieval burial sepulcher. The nearby archaeological context supports the proposition that this sepulcher belonged a member of the local elite.

The village of Navdaraantkari is located in Mtskheta municipality, on the northwestern slope of the Saguramo ridge (41˚53’57.9″ N, 44°48’32.9″ E). Several antique and early medieval archaeological sites have been confirmed in the area. An archaeological excavation at this site was initiated after a group of burials was discovered while preparing a foundation for a modern residential building. Of the nine burials found in the study area, three were stone cists and six were pit-graves. All remains were oriented approximately east–west, with slight deviations. Archaeological excavation of the cemetery revealed several groups of artifacts, including a fibula clasp, ring, pendant and earring crafted out of silver, iron and bronze. Having examined the clusters of tombs and identified the artifacts, we can unequivocally categorize them amongst the tombs and burial mounds of the Late Antique and early medieval periods that are common in the region.

This paper deals with the results of archaeological investigations conducted in 2021 in the mountainous part of eastern Georgia, in Khadistskali valley. During this campaign, a medieval tower and associated stone structure were excavated. Towers with so-called rounded back walls were fortifications typical to the Mtiuleti region between the 5th and 10th centuries. The tower presented in this article should be attributed to the same period. Tentatively it was destroyed in 1394-1400 as a result of Tamerlane’s invasion of Georgia. The stone structure that is situated near the tower had a ritual function, as in this region, sanctuaries are normally located near towers.

Pottery with so-called zoomorphic handles occurs in the Colchis, Central Transcaucasus and Shida Kartli (Samtavoro) cultures in the same period; that is, in the early phase of the Late Bronze Age. It is supposed that this type of pottery came to Shida Kartli from the Samtskhe (Zveli kurgans) and Zemo Imereti (Modinakhe) regions, where the earliest examples are found. It is proposed that pottery with zoomorphic handles in Colchis can be associated with the appearance of the wave of Zanuri-language speakers.