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93tallest in Europe) with their own linguistically very archaic Svanetian language, archaicnon-rhythmic poetry, impressive 8-12 th century family towers (still in everyday use), anda fiercely egalitarian society (they have never been under anybody’s rule, including anyof the local noblemen). Together with this variety of archaic features, Svanetians havequite outstanding polyphonic traditions (Araqishvili, 1950).The following set of features will give the reader a general picture of Svanetianvocal polyphony: (1) all Svanetian songs are three-part (except for a few solomonophonic genres, sung mostly by women); (2) the great majority of Svanetiantraditional songs are (or grow into) round-dances; (3) starting relatively slowly, Svanetiansong-dances usually get faster by the end (4) unlike many other traditions of Georgiandialects, the melodic range of Svanetian songs is very narrow (usually within the fourth);(5) although dissonances are one of the most characteristic features of all regional stylesin Georgia, they play a particularly important role in Svanetian polyphonic songs; (6)ostinato formulae and parallel movement of the voices (“chordal unit polyphony”) leadsin Svanetian polyphony, although a rhythmic drone is also important; (7) unlike mostother Georgian singing traditions, where the mens’ and womens’ singing is gendersegregated,in Svaneti the men and women often sing and dance together; (8) the singingvolume in Svaneti is extremely loud; (9) most Svanetian songs are performed as theantiphon alternation of two choirs (sometimes competing with each other in loudness andendurance); (10) syllables and words that do not have any meaning are very widely usedin Svanetian songs (some songs are completely built on nonsense syllables).If we add here that some of the geographical names from the Upper Svanetianregion and mythology that do not have any current meanings, are mentioned in writtensources from the ancient Sumer from Mesopotamia (creators of the first written languagein the history of civilization, a language which was already dead about four millenniaago), the range of archaic features of Svanetian culture will be clearer for the reader. Hereis an example of a Svanetian round dance, which starts slowly and finishes very fast, andis performed as an antiphon, and a big part of famous “Lile”, a ritual song dedicated tothe cult of the Sun:Ex. 36. Svanetian Round Dance (Garakanidze, Jordania, 2004:96)