Abstracts - International Initiative for Georgian Cultural Studies

ANCIENT GEORGIA
Nino Shanshashvili, Giorgi Narimanishvili
Archaeological Research Center of National Museum of Georgia. Georgia
Cultural Interaction of Mesopotamia with the South Caucasus in the Early Bronze Age
The period from the late fourth millennium BC to the beginning of the third millennium BC was marked
by the spread of Kura-Araxes culture in the South Caucasus coupled with the emergence of new cultural
elements influenced by the relations with the North Mesopotamia. Cultural innovations included: the use
of adobe in building; burying the dead under dwelling floors; the adornment of building walls with polychrome
paintings; attempting to create ideogram scripts; the development of painted pottery and miniature
architectural models, such as incense burners, anthropomorphic clay figurines, horned pot stands, seals and
stamped pottery; and an anthropomorphic clay hot-relief. Such cultural practices emerged in Mesopotamia
in the seventh millennium BC and remained in use until the second millennium BC. The artifacts discovered
in the South Caucasus were local imitations of Mesopotamian works.
What instigated the penetration of cultural innovations into the South Caucasus? Was this process linked
to the beginning of the Bronze Age and to the import of metal? What kind of interaction was there between
the ancient communities of the South Caucasus and Mesopotamia?
The period between the end of the fourth millennium BC and the beginning of the third millennium BC
in the South Caucasus was marked by a series of social changes. The period saw the emergence of large
and small shrines and the burial of pagan priests and “kings” in special graves with distinct burial inventory
and insignia. Seals and stamped pottery also have been uncovered at ancient settlements from this period.
These facts attest to the presence of a social class enjoying greater privileges than ordinary community
members. Religious, or community property already existed in this culture, that needed protection. The
sign system served to record and to store related information. These cultural innovations must have been
linked to the expansion of trade routes and to the promotion of trade and exchange, which was becoming
more organized.
It is possible that the commercial interests of the Mesopotamians spurred the development of metallurgy
as well as the beginning of the Bronze Age with its concurrent economic and cultural revival. Despite this,
small villages of the Kura-Araxes culture failed to develop into cities/towns. There are no traces of monumental
architecture, and sign-symbols failed to turn into written language. At the turn of the third millennium,
an administrative bureaucratic machine, which was a primitive copy of the Mesopotamian theocratic
administrative model, was in the process of forming in Shida Kartli. Evidence of burnt strata at Shida Kartli
ancient settlements may well be a sign of the final failure of this attempt.
Zurab Makharadze
Archaeological Research Center of National Museum of Georgia. Georgia
The Works of Art from Multilayered Site at Tsikhiagora
The multilayered site of Tsikhiagora is located in shida (inner) Kartli, in the Kaspi region, north of the
village of Kavtiskhevi and on the right bank of the Mtkvari River. For more than three decades, exploration
of the site has been progress. The cultural layers, which were up six meters, unveil the layers of following
epochs:
rd • Early Bronze Age settlement, five building layers – 3 millennium BC;
nd • Middle Bronze Age Kurgans – 2 millennium BC;
nd • Late Bronze-Early Iron Age settlement, two building layers – second half of 2 millennium - first
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