On the Shoulders of Prometheus: International Collaboration and the Archaeology of Georgia

Chapters in this volume, with contributions from a a wide range of multidisciplinary specialists, demonstrates the diversity and vibrancy of international research collaboration in the archaeology of Georgia and underlines the enormous potential of the country’s archaeological resource.

Despite some high-profile exceptions, the archaeology of the South Caucasus (present-day Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan) remains marginalised and often overlooked – not receiving the wider exposure it deserves. This situation is partly a consequence of decades of occupation and academic isolation, and partly because of an unfortunate (and incorrect) perception that the South Caucasus is simply peripheral to the archaeologies of Europe and Asia. The chapters collected in this volume demonstrate the diversity and vibrancy of international research collaboration in the archaeology of Georgia, while all underline the enormous potential of the country’s archaeological resource. The importance of seeing the South Caucasus in its unique context, rather than as peripheral to Europe or Asia, is evident throughout. The increasing application of scientific techniques to archaeological research and landscape archaeology features prominently in many of these chapters. However, the key element is the multidisciplinary nature of much of the work, which allows specialists drawn from a wide range of backgrounds and scholarly traditions to contribute to the better understanding and appreciation of the Georgian historic environment.

Introduction - Emanuele E. Intagliata and Paul Everill Chapter 1: The Javakheti Plateau: Megaliths, Villages, and Obsidian Mines in the Prehistory of the Lesser Caucasus of Georgia - Paolo Biagi, Renato Nisbet Chapter 2: Household Archaeology and the Agricultural Economy of an Iron Age Village: The 10th-3rd Centuries BC at Grakliani Gora, Shida Kartli, Georgia - Katie Campbell, Davit Naskidashvili, Katya Turchin, Vakhtang Licheli Chapter 3: The East Georgian Sanctuaries of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages - Simone Arnhold, Paata Bukhrashvili, Felix Blocher, Shorena Davitashvili Chapter 4: Work- and Lifescapes in 1st Millennium BC Udabno - Sabina Brodbeck-Jucker, Rene Kunze Chapter 5: Nokalakevi-Archaeopolis: Twenty Years of Anglo-Georgian Collaboration - Paul Everill, Nikoloz Murgulia, Davit Lomitashvili, Ian Colvin, Besik Lortkipanidze Chapter 6: Lighting up Arrian's Room. Preliminary Remarks on the Lamps Found in the Roman Fort in Apsaros (Gonio, Georgia) - Maria Jaworska Chapter 7: Early Christian (4th-6th Centuries AD) Monuments of the Kingdom of Lazika, West Georgia - Nikoloz Murgulia, Besik Lortkipanidze, Davit Lomitashvili Chapter 8: A New Late Antique Church Complex at the Foot of the Greater Caucasus - Machkhomeri Hill (Khobi Municipality) - Emanuele E. Intagliata, Revaz Papuashvili, Andrey Vinogradov, Davit Naskidashvili, Gogita Chitaia Chapter 9: The Results of Landscape Survey from Samshvilde Environs (Chivchava River and Khrami River Valleys) - David Berikashvili,

Introduction – Emanuele E. Intagliata and Paul Everill

Chapter 1: The Javakheti Plateau: Megaliths, Villages, and Obsidian Mines in the Prehistory of the Lesser Caucasus of Georgia – Paolo Biagi, Renato Nisbet

Chapter 2: Household Archaeology and the Agricultural Economy of an Iron Age Village: The 10th–3rd Centuries BC at Grakliani Gora, Shida Kartli, Georgia – Katie Campbell, Davit Naskidashvili, Katya Turchin, Vakhtang Licheli

Chapter 3: The East Georgian Sanctuaries of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages – Simone Arnhold, Paata Bukhrashvili, Felix Blocher^, Shorena Davitashvili

Chapter 4: Work- and Lifescapes in 1st Millennium BC Udabno – Sabina Brodbeck-Jucker, René Kunze

Chapter 5: Nokalakevi–Archaeopolis: Twenty Years of Anglo-Georgian Collaboration – Paul Everill, Nikoloz Murgulia, Davit Lomitashvili, Ian Colvin, Besik Lortkipanidze

Chapter 6: Lighting up Arrian’s Room. Preliminary Remarks on the Lamps Found in the Roman Fort in Apsaros (Gonio, Georgia) – Maria Jaworska

Chapter 7: Early Christian (4th-6th Centuries AD) Monuments of the Kingdom of Lazika, West Georgia – Nikoloz Murgulia, Besik Lortkipanidze, Davit Lomitashvili

Chapter 8: A New Late Antique Church Complex at the Foot of the Greater Caucasus – Machkhomeri Hill (Khobi Municipality) – Emanuele E. Intagliata, Revaz Papuashvili, Andrey Vinogradov, Davit Naskidashvili, Gogita Chitaia

Chapter 9: The Results of Landscape Survey from Samshvilde Environs (Chivchava River and Khrami River Valleys) – David Berikashvili

Emanuele E. Intagliata is Assistant Professor at the Università degli Studi di Milano where he teaches Medieval Archaeology. His research focuses on borderland communities and frontier defensive systems in Late Antiquity and the early Islamic period – particularly in Syria, northeastern Turkey, and western Georgia.

Paul Everill is Reader in Archaeology at the University of Winchester. He has co-directed the Anglo-Georgian Expedition to Nokalakevi in western Georgia since 2002, working in collaboration with colleagues at the Georgian National Museum. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Royal Anthropological Institute.

• Edited by Emanuele E. Intagliata
• Edited by Paul Everill