A BRIEF REPORT OF THE PROJECT – “KURGANS OF SOUTH GEORGIA”

Abstract

Javakheti, renowned for its archaeological and architectural monuments, is in southern Georgia's Samtskhe-Javakheti region. Kurgans occupy a prominent place here. As a result of archaeological survey work carried out in 2022-2023 within the framework of the Young Scientists Grant (№YS-21-1724) funded by the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation, more than 3,000 Bronze Age kurgans were discovered in the territories of Ninotsminda and Akhalkalaki municipalities. Interestingly, burial mounds with ritual roads were discovered in this region. Of particular importance were the burial mounds discovered on the Chatakhi and Shish-Tapa mountains, whose ritual roads, unlike other cases, are strictly oriented on the southeast-northwest axis. It should also be noted that the ritual road revealed on Chatakhi Mountain is cut through scree, which makes it unique. According to Mircea Eliade, the sacred mountain is the centre of the world, to which in some cases a “difficult road” – dûrohana leads. This idea is ideologically consistent with the Shaori and Chatakhi Mountains in southern Georgia and the complexes on them. In the case of Shaori Mountain, we are dealing with a temple complex, to which a serpentine road built of unconquerable stone slabs leads, while the Chatakhi Mountain complex and the Shish-Tapas burial mound, whose ritual path is oriented towards Chatakhi Mountain, clearly form a single complex, which indicates the complicated religious roots of the Bronze Age population of historical Javakheti.

Key words: Georgia; Javakheti; Kurgans; Bronze Age; dûrohana.