New Archaeological Data from “Ortvala Cave” (Multilayer Cave Complex from Georgia, South Caucasus)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

“Ortvala Cave” (Double Eye) is located in the southern part of Georgia (South Caucasus), a distance of 98 km from present day Georgian-Armenian border, and represents a multilayer cave complex, combining deposits of Mousterian culture (Lower Paleolithic), as well as the deposits of Chalcholithic, Early Bronze, and medieval periods. Archaeological and interdisciplinary studies of “Ortvala Cave” started in 2018 by the International Archaeological Center of the University of Georgia (Tbilisi). Since then, stone chopping tools, levallois flakes, and bone drill tools of Mousterian culture were discovered in the lowest archaeological contexts. Archaeological excavation in 2019–2021 revealed pottery fragments and bone artifacts that are of later periods and belong to the Early Agriculturers and Early Bronze period (Kura-Araks Culture) communities. The presentation of the archaeological materials, data, and the results from “Ortvala Cave” will help to bring the recently studied cave complex to the archaeological society and to share the ideas for future discussions and perspectives.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35522.0