Samshvilde and the Medieval Kingdoms of Kartli

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.

Samshvilde, a settlement in southern Georgia, is a complex and multi-period archaeological site. The city occupies a strategic and impregnable location on a basalt cape flanked by the gorges of the Khrami and Chivchava rivers. This distinctive landscape position, combined with environmental conditions that include a mild climate and an abundance of natural resources, have attracted human occupation for millennia. Samshvilde and its surroundings may have been inhabited since the Neolithic era, but the urban complex dates mainly to the medieval period, under Armenian and then Georgian control, when it became the region's main fortress and political-economic centre. Proximity to the northern branch of the Silk Road further increased the site’s importance. Samshvilde was therefore a place where various ethnic groups and cultures converged. Despite the site’s importance and longevity, until recently there has been little concerted archaeological study of Samshvilde. In 2012 the Samshvilde Archaeological Expedition was initiated by the University of Georgia and has taken a multi-disciplinary approach to the site. Future expansion of the project is envisaged through cooperation between the University of Georgia and research institutions and individual specialists who will bring new perspectives to the study of the medieval occupation in the Armenian-Georgian border region.

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

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23636