Modelling the Skeleton of Future Bioarchaeological Research in Georgia

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The South Caucasus Region: Crossroads of Societies & Polities. An Assessment of Research Perspectives in Post-Soviet Times" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In recent years, the Republic of Georgia has fostered a growing interest for archaeological research in the Southern Caucasus region. This trend has been stimulated both by a strong local contingent of archaeologists, of two generations and of two different systems, and the increasing participation of foreign scientists. This active academic scenario is witness to a welcoming atmosphere to researchers since the fall of the Soviet Union. While collaborative international research is successful in Georgia, allowing for an unprecedented level of cutting-edge archaeological research, its current role as a meeting place for Western- and Soviet-educated scholars in the various disciplines for skeletal analysis, hinders research. In this presentation, I will outline the main research themes and methodologies specific to each intellectual tradition which has tackled skeletal and mortuary analysis in an attempt to understand how this divide was created. I will then present an assessment of the current state in the fields of bioarchaeology and physical anthropology, with examples from recent excavations. I wish to offer avenues for more thorough collaborations using decolonizing methodologies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• The South Caucasus Region: Crossroads of Societies & Polities. An Assessment of Research Perspectives in Post-Soviet Times

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25442