The Kurgans of the Alazani Valley: a Remote-Sensing Study

Abstract

My research is part of the Georgian-Italian Lagodekhi Archaeological Project directed by prof. Elena Rova, and it is linked to the survey carried out in collaboration with Kristen Hopper of Durham University in 2018 and 2019 in the Lagodekhi Municipality. The Kakheti region is known for the presence of Bronze Age kurgans dated between the mid-III and the second half of the II mil. BC. The municipality of Lagodekhi has shown its full potential with the discovery, in the course of the two survey seasons, of a considerable number of huge burial mounds. The aim of my research is to contextualize these finds and search for possible evidence attributable to other kurgans by using a Remote-Sensing approach, thereby trying to understand if their position follows a precise pattern. By comparing CORONA imagery of the Soviet period with Google Earth images I will try to follow the evolution of this territory during the last fifty years and the impact of recent land use on what we can see from satellite imagery of the archaeological landscape. The archaeological evidence collected was inserted into a database and classified on the basis of predefined indicators of certainty. Moreover, attempts were made to attribute the archaeological traces to a precise chronological horizon. The work shows how the association of remote-sensing and survey can provide a reliable preliminary understanding of the distribution of past features on the territory, thus helping to plan further investigations.