An attempt at re-defining the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age sequence of the Shida Kartli region of Georgia (Southern Caucasus) on the basis of data from recent excavations

Abstract

Research for my PhD thesis, named “An attempt at re-defining the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age sequence of the Shida Kartli region of Georgia (Southern Caucasus) on the basis of data from recent excavations” began in September 2013. The Shida Kartli region is located in central Caucasia. Caucasia itself is a large territory occupied by mountains which forms a sharp geographic boundary between the Eurasian steppes to the north and the highland plateaus of Anatolia and Iran to the south. The physical border created by the Caucasus is much sharper than that which divides the steppes and deserts of Central Asia from northern Afghanistan and northeastern Iran on the eastern side of the Caspian sea. (Kohl 2007, 62). Systematic archaeological investigations were carried out in the territory of Georgia and a large number of new sites were discovered. The new researches that took place gave the opportunity to the scholars to better define the chronological distribution of the different cultures on the basis of comparative stratigraphy. All the problematic questions of the chronology of Late Bronze-Early Iron rises with missing archaeological data of settlements, so mainly chronology bases on the materials of the cemetery goods. Second problem is few C14 dates from the sites of Shida Kartli area. This chronological gap is filled by new data from resent excavation By Georgian-Italian Shida Kartli Archaeological project on archaeological site Aradetis Orgora. Aradetis Orgora is one of the most important archaeological sites not only for Shida Kartli scale, as well for all south Caucasus archaeology. Aradetis Orgora, situated on the western bank of the Western Prone River near its confluence with the Kura, consists of three different mounds and a cemetery area (Rova Elena 2014, Pp:51), along the Tbilisi-Leselidze highway, some 13 km away from city Karely (Co: 42°02’48.66’’N; 43°51’37.75’’E). The mounds are divided by natural (?) long trench where the torrent flows through. The main mound has triangle shape and the high is 34 m from the level of the river Prone, 677 m from the sea level. The mound’s top platform is 3500 sq.m. On the E side of the mound locates second one, which is less high and much big in the scale. On the north side of the two mounds locates third one, which was leveled during the Soviet times in order to built rabbit farm on it. However archaeological layers were found on it. The purpose of our research is to propose a new periodization, supported by absolute dates, for the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age periods in the Shida Kartli region, on the basis of: 1) analysis of the new data recovered by the Georgian-Italian mission at Natsargora and Aradetis Orgora, 2) a revision of the old excavation material from the region and comparison with the new results of the Khovle Gora expedition, and 3) a general review of the published evidence from the neighboring regions (other provinces of Georgia, Armenia, etc.