Abstracts - International Initiative for Georgian Cultural Studies

ANCIENT GEORGIA
Mikheil Abramishvili
Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi Archaeological Museum. Georgia
From Çatalhöyük to Svetitskhoveli - Extracts from the Enduring Cult of the Bull
Having an enduring history, the bull cult is one of the most conservative of human beliefs. It appears on
numerous works of art spanning a large area from India to Europe and from the Caucasus to Egypt.
Although the first images of the bull are traced back to the Stone Age, its chief symbolic meaning, associated
with fertility and a procreative power imbued with the idea of masculinity, emerged during the
transition to a farming economy – the so-called “Neolithic Revolution”. The most obvious example of bull
iconography of this period comes from the ancient Çatalhöyük settlement with its numerous shrines, in
which the bull was the primary object of worship.
Besides having endured for millennia, the bull cult has merged harmoniously with various religions. The
signs of this cult are evident at some of the medieval Georgian Christian sites, e.g. the bull heads on the
capital of Bolnisi Sioni Church and on the west porch of the Svetitskhoveli circuit wall and on its eastern
elevation, as well as the tradition of embellishing a cross with bull horns in highland Svaneti.
Despite having a history counting several thousand years, the symbolism of this cult appears to be highly
conservative. Normally used to plough the land, which is the precondition of the birth of new life, a bull
symbolizes a permanent life-death cycle and acts as a mediator between earth and heaven. It is this ancient
symbolism that explains the practice of bull depiction in Georgia, which is inherent to the Medieval Georgian
Christian tradition.
Goderdzi Narimanashvili, Kakha Khimshiashvili
Archaeological Research Center of National Museum of Georgia. Georgia
Bronze Age Settlements in Trialeti
The findings of the archaeological digs on the territory of the South Caucasus suggest that the local architecture
of the Bronze Age (from the third to the first millennium BC) was dominated by three main types
of buildings: cribwork, clay and stone. Of particular note among stone buildings are “cyclopean” structures,
the monumentality of which, as well as the large scale of the respective ancient settlements, make this type
of architecture different from the rest of the monuments found in the South Caucasus.
“Cyclopean” ancient settlements and fortifications contained dwellings, fortified walls and separately
standing fortresses characterized by masonries consisting of large rocks. This building technique was prevalent
in the South Caucasus region beginning from the third millennium BC to the middle of the first millennium
BC, when it was almost fully abandoned. After that time, stone was only used for the foundations
of walls, above which adobe brick was laid. Simultaneously, timber architecture became widespread. Wood
was employed both for wall reinforcement and facing masonry. Small stone and adobe mass were used as
a filler material. It was also at that time that ashlars stone began to be used in construction. In the Middle
Ages, though villages and large settlements in various regions in the South Caucasus were characterized by
dry masonry, no fortresses or fortified systems were built using this construction technique.
Only the sites with dry masonry fortified walls can be considered as ancient “cyclopean” settlements
and fortifications.
The perimeter of such settlements and fortifications coincided with the outline of the site. With a few
exceptions, defense systems and simple fortresses have no towers. The construction of “cyclopean” fortifications
started in 16 th century BC and developed further in the following epoch. The discovery of ancient
“cyclopean” settlements unearthed on the Trialeti plateau can be used to date this type of monument to
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