Cultural Transitions through the Centuries in the South Caucasus (New Archaeological Data from Samshvilde)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Samshvilde in the South Caucasus (Southern Georgia), is a complex and multi-period archaeological site. The historical city occupies an impregnable location on a basalt cape flanked by the deep gorges. This distinctive landscape, combined with environmental conditions and abundant natural resources, have attracted humans for millennia. Samshvilde and its surroundings 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 main fortress and political center. Recent archaeological and bio-archaeological studies of the site revealed the oldest stratigraphic contexts, which are represented by Neolithic and Bronze period contexts. The stone and bone industry of Samshvilde, characteristic for the Caucasian Neolithic gives a new understanding for transitional period from hunter-gatherers to early agricultures. Also, the discovery of the Late-Bronze cemetery in Samshivlde is an important phenomena for understanding the cultural processes at the end of 2nd millennia B.C. Future expansion of the project, priorities, as well as the methods of conservation will be presented. The results of the studies of medieval Samshvilde, located at the Armenian-Georgian border will be also presented.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 29858