Paata Bukhrashvili
Has received Postdoctoral education as a Volkswagen Foundation Fellow at the Institute for Oriental Archaeology and Art at the University of Halle-Wittenberg (Germany) with Prof. Dr. Winfried Orthmann between 1998-1999. Research thesis on “The Economic and Cultural Structure of the South Caucasian Population in the Third Millennium B.C.” Has defended doctoral dissertation in 1989 in Pre- and Protohistory at the Georgian National Academy of Sciences (Supervisor Prof. Konstantin Phickhelauri, Prof. Vakhtang Shamiladze) on the topic of “The Dwelling in the Ethnic Mode of Life”. Was a Doctoral Candidate at the State University of Tbilisi between 1985-1989. Graduated from Tbilisi State University School of History (Diploma Excellent) in 1976-1983.Has worked at Ilia State University as a Professor and Dean of School of Humanities and Cultural Studies between 2006-2010. Was Director of the International Caucasological Scientific Research Institute in 1997. Was Professor of Ethnology at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University of between 1990-2006. Professor of Caucasian History at State Pedagogical University of Tbilisi in 1994-2006. Was a Professor of Georgian History at Technical University of Tbilisi 1988-1994. Senior Researcher of Kakhetian Archeological Expedition at Archeological Research Center, Georgian Academy of Sciences during 1983-2006.
Address: Ilia State University
College of Arts and Sciences
Head of the Laboratory of Visual Anthropology and Local History
Cholokashvili Ave 3/5, Room E -231
Tbilisi 0162, GEORGIA
Address: Ilia State University
College of Arts and Sciences
Head of the Laboratory of Visual Anthropology and Local History
Cholokashvili Ave 3/5, Room E -231
Tbilisi 0162, GEORGIA
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Georgia, a distinct religious system, with its own specialized practitioners and
network of sacred sites, survives in the highland districts of Northeast Georgia.
The continued existence of Northeast Georgian vernacular religion is threatened,
however, by such factors as the demographic decline of the highland population,
the hegemonic position of the Georgian Orthodox Church, and, in some
localities, attempts to (re)create a Caucasus “paganism” on the basis of ethnographic
publications and idealized notions of the Georgian past. We present here an
interview, recorded in 2000, with the late Pilip’e Baghiauri, one of the last
khevisberis (shrine priests) to have been formed in the traditional manner,
through oral transmission of ritual knowledge and an agonistic and costly call
to service. In the interview, Baghiauri described how he received his vocation,
several ritual practices and beliefs, and some aspects of traditional highland
Georgian social organization.
The working day -11.09.2018 was particularly successful for the excavation campaign. A unique depot find came to light. This was hoarded to the east of the western part of the rounded sacral building and contained sacral and agricultural objects made of bronze, as well as weapons, a total of 457 sword replicas (a few days later another sword replica in a highly fragmented state was found north-east of the depot find after it was cleared of the densely concentrated pottery vessel fragments), so-called “Kakhetian sword” with the compound handle and a similar dagger, an East Caucasian double ax and a miniature axe, a sickle, various spearheads, 2 “aphti” and discos.
Of particular interest is the double-sided Middle Transcaucasian axe. There are interesting ornaments on it - maybe these ornaments are also hieroglyphs with a certain content.
der Befunderfassung der archäologischen und ethnographischen Materialien, können
wir feststellen, dass die Urbevölkerung vom Zentralkaukasus, auf der ganzen
Linie vom heutigen Abkhasien – Swanetien – Ratscha – Pschavi – Kevsuretien –
Tschetschenien – Dagestanien, seit prähistorischen Zeiten durch eine gemeinsame
religiös-gesellschaftliche Gestaltung charakterisiert war. Diese Gesamtstruktur
stammte aus familiären kultischen Handlungen, die sich im gesamten kaukasischen
Raum bereits seit den äneolitisch-frühbronzezeitlichen Zeiten deutlich erwiesen
haben.
Dedoplistskaro Municipality conducted by the joint expedition of
Tbilisi Ilia State University and Halle Martin Luther University
Sumarry
In 2021, within the framework of the educational-research project developed
at Ilia State University: „To the Origins of Statehood in the Caucasus“,
a joint Georgian-German archeological expedition, staffed by Georgian and
German professors and students, and funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation
(https://www.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/), Oriental Society of Germany
(http://www.orient-gessellschaft.de/) and the University of Halle (http://www.
uni-halle.de/) have resumed excavations in the Dedoplistskaro Municipality:
1. Near the village Samreklo on the location „Sakaraulo Seri“ and
2. On the sanctuary, discovered in previous years on Mount Nazarlebi.
Samreklo Multilayer SiteSeveral horizons of the settlement were revealed and three burials were
observed.
The mentioned burials belong to the later layer of the site. The first of
these followed directly from the topsoil, without grave goods, and contained
only the entire skull and a few human bones. In the second tomb, which was
also located at a depth of 0.3 m from the surface, a deceased in a bent position
was buried on the right side and was accompanied by two small beads of
reddish jasper. The last one was a Pythos Burial, represented by the Butter
Churn, with the infant skeleton inside. There were found black burnished
fine, well-made earthenware, beads of white paste, a bronze earring and as
well as a bronze ring. Small cup and clay animal figurine have been attached
to the rim of the Butter Churn. Pythos Burial can be dated back to end of
5th - beginning of 4th cc BC.
Nazarlebi
From August 19 to September 22, the expedition resumed the archeological
study of the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age Sanctuary, which began in
2018/19, on Nazarlebi Mountain.
Extended the trench on the easternmost part of the sanctuary, where has
been erected Soviet time geodetic point, which disturbed the construction
at the entrance of the sanctuary.
However, after clearing this section, it was still possible to reveal the
fragments of its basement, which gives us at least a partial impression of
the original outline of the entrance of the sanctuary.
In the northeast corner, at about one meter depth from the floor of the
sanctuary, a large pile of stone appeared. Fragments of black polished
pottery from the relatively early period (probably the end of the 3rd - first
half of the 2nd millennium BC) were also found here. All this suggests
that the sanctuary has been built on the flattened platform above the early
period settlement.
On the last day of the field work, the site was conserved: the fence of
the sanctuary and the excavated areas were covered with the coarse fabric
and soil.
(Comparative ethno-archaeological observations)
Résumé
The present article deals with the ethno-archaeological interpretation of the rotunda and the depot find of Nazarlebi. Here the opinion is expressed that the round sacred building in the Nazarlebi ramparts represented a kind of center of the military-theocratic society in its time (Late Bronze and Early Iron Age), which was structured in a pre-class society.
It can be assumed that in this theocratically structured society, which was grouped around the Nazarlebi sanctuary, the beginnings of a so-called temple community can be observed. It is possible that there should be principles here that are typical of such social models and that have been extensively researched in the specialist literature.
It is conceivable that the Late Bronze / Early Iron Age settlements known in the Shiraki Plain, such as Nazarlebi, Didnauri, Samreklo etc., were already structured according to this model. They united around a sanctuary and formed a unit that belonged together economically and culturally.
Georgia, a distinct religious system, with its own specialized practitioners and
network of sacred sites, survives in the highland districts of Northeast Georgia.
The continued existence of Northeast Georgian vernacular religion is threatened,
however, by such factors as the demographic decline of the highland population,
the hegemonic position of the Georgian Orthodox Church, and, in some
localities, attempts to (re)create a Caucasus “paganism” on the basis of ethnographic
publications and idealized notions of the Georgian past. We present here an
interview, recorded in 2000, with the late Pilip’e Baghiauri, one of the last
khevisberis (shrine priests) to have been formed in the traditional manner,
through oral transmission of ritual knowledge and an agonistic and costly call
to service. In the interview, Baghiauri described how he received his vocation,
several ritual practices and beliefs, and some aspects of traditional highland
Georgian social organization.
The working day -11.09.2018 was particularly successful for the excavation campaign. A unique depot find came to light. This was hoarded to the east of the western part of the rounded sacral building and contained sacral and agricultural objects made of bronze, as well as weapons, a total of 457 sword replicas (a few days later another sword replica in a highly fragmented state was found north-east of the depot find after it was cleared of the densely concentrated pottery vessel fragments), so-called “Kakhetian sword” with the compound handle and a similar dagger, an East Caucasian double ax and a miniature axe, a sickle, various spearheads, 2 “aphti” and discos.
Of particular interest is the double-sided Middle Transcaucasian axe. There are interesting ornaments on it - maybe these ornaments are also hieroglyphs with a certain content.
der Befunderfassung der archäologischen und ethnographischen Materialien, können
wir feststellen, dass die Urbevölkerung vom Zentralkaukasus, auf der ganzen
Linie vom heutigen Abkhasien – Swanetien – Ratscha – Pschavi – Kevsuretien –
Tschetschenien – Dagestanien, seit prähistorischen Zeiten durch eine gemeinsame
religiös-gesellschaftliche Gestaltung charakterisiert war. Diese Gesamtstruktur
stammte aus familiären kultischen Handlungen, die sich im gesamten kaukasischen
Raum bereits seit den äneolitisch-frühbronzezeitlichen Zeiten deutlich erwiesen
haben.
Dedoplistskaro Municipality conducted by the joint expedition of
Tbilisi Ilia State University and Halle Martin Luther University
Sumarry
In 2021, within the framework of the educational-research project developed
at Ilia State University: „To the Origins of Statehood in the Caucasus“,
a joint Georgian-German archeological expedition, staffed by Georgian and
German professors and students, and funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation
(https://www.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/), Oriental Society of Germany
(http://www.orient-gessellschaft.de/) and the University of Halle (http://www.
uni-halle.de/) have resumed excavations in the Dedoplistskaro Municipality:
1. Near the village Samreklo on the location „Sakaraulo Seri“ and
2. On the sanctuary, discovered in previous years on Mount Nazarlebi.
Samreklo Multilayer SiteSeveral horizons of the settlement were revealed and three burials were
observed.
The mentioned burials belong to the later layer of the site. The first of
these followed directly from the topsoil, without grave goods, and contained
only the entire skull and a few human bones. In the second tomb, which was
also located at a depth of 0.3 m from the surface, a deceased in a bent position
was buried on the right side and was accompanied by two small beads of
reddish jasper. The last one was a Pythos Burial, represented by the Butter
Churn, with the infant skeleton inside. There were found black burnished
fine, well-made earthenware, beads of white paste, a bronze earring and as
well as a bronze ring. Small cup and clay animal figurine have been attached
to the rim of the Butter Churn. Pythos Burial can be dated back to end of
5th - beginning of 4th cc BC.
Nazarlebi
From August 19 to September 22, the expedition resumed the archeological
study of the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age Sanctuary, which began in
2018/19, on Nazarlebi Mountain.
Extended the trench on the easternmost part of the sanctuary, where has
been erected Soviet time geodetic point, which disturbed the construction
at the entrance of the sanctuary.
However, after clearing this section, it was still possible to reveal the
fragments of its basement, which gives us at least a partial impression of
the original outline of the entrance of the sanctuary.
In the northeast corner, at about one meter depth from the floor of the
sanctuary, a large pile of stone appeared. Fragments of black polished
pottery from the relatively early period (probably the end of the 3rd - first
half of the 2nd millennium BC) were also found here. All this suggests
that the sanctuary has been built on the flattened platform above the early
period settlement.
On the last day of the field work, the site was conserved: the fence of
the sanctuary and the excavated areas were covered with the coarse fabric
and soil.
(Comparative ethno-archaeological observations)
Résumé
The present article deals with the ethno-archaeological interpretation of the rotunda and the depot find of Nazarlebi. Here the opinion is expressed that the round sacred building in the Nazarlebi ramparts represented a kind of center of the military-theocratic society in its time (Late Bronze and Early Iron Age), which was structured in a pre-class society.
It can be assumed that in this theocratically structured society, which was grouped around the Nazarlebi sanctuary, the beginnings of a so-called temple community can be observed. It is possible that there should be principles here that are typical of such social models and that have been extensively researched in the specialist literature.
It is conceivable that the Late Bronze / Early Iron Age settlements known in the Shiraki Plain, such as Nazarlebi, Didnauri, Samreklo etc., were already structured according to this model. They united around a sanctuary and formed a unit that belonged together economically and culturally.
ნაშრომი ეხება შირაქის ზეგანზე, დღევანდელ დედოფლისწყაროს მუნიციპალიტეტში მთა „ნაზარლები“-ს თხემზე, ახლადაღმოჩენილ გვიანი ბრინჯაო - ადრე რკინის ხანის (ქ.წ. XII – X ს.ს.) არქეოლოგიურ ძეგლს.
მასში მოკლედ აღწერილია ძეგლის საველე შესწავლის მიმდინარეობა, გამოთქმულია წინასწარი ვარაუდები და დასკვნები მოცემული არქეოლოგიური ძეგლის ადგილის თაობაზე ცენტრალური ამიერკავკასიის და მისი მიმდებარე მხარეების გვიანი ბრინჯაო - ადრე რკინის ხანის კულტურათა სისტემაში.
ნაშრომი ახლადმოპოვებული არქეოლოგიური მონაცემებისა და ეთნოგრაფიული მასალების შეპირისპირების საფუძველზე, კავკასიის უძველეს მოსახ- ლეთა და მათ მემკვიდრეთა სულიერი კულტურის და რწმენა-წარმოდგენების რეტროსპექტივის ერთგვარ ცდადაც კი შეიძლება ჩაითვალოს.
Brief Description of the Nazarlebi Settlement Site and Sanctuary:
An Attempt of Ethnoarcheological Retrospectiion
A settlement site from the Early Iron-Late Bronze Age on Mount Nazarlebi (Shiraki, Dedoplistskaro Municipality) has been studied by a joint archeological expedition of Ilia State University (ISU) Laboratory of Visual Anthropology and Local History and the Institute for Oriental Archeology and Art History at Martin Luther University, Halle (Germany) since 2017.
The expedition has been funded by the German side, while the research project is a continuation of the ISU project launched back in 2007.
The scientific-research project titled as "At the Origins of Statehood in the Caucasus"was developed at the then Faculty of Humanities and Cultural Studies of ISU and presented to the general public [See At the Origins of Statehood in the Caucasus, 2008]. By the decision of the then Rector of ISU (Prof. Gigi Tevzadze) and the Academic Council, two research groups were formed to conduct archeological study of the ancient settlements in Kvemo Kartli and Shiraki Plain. Reports summarising the findings of the work have been published in various scientific journals.
Later, due to various circumstances, ISU was forced to suspend the project. However, the academic staff at the Faculty (Emeritus Academician K. Pitskhelauri, †Prof. V. Varazashvili, Prof. M. Elashvili, Prof. P. Bukhrashvili, et al) continued to conduct research on their own.
At the turn of 2016, during the visit to the German Institute of Archeology organized with the support from DAAD, agreement was reached with Prof. Dr. Phil. Felix Blocher of the Institute for Oriental Archeology and Art History at Martin Luther University to renew work on the joint project.
In November 2016, Prof. F. Blocher visited the archeological sites of Kvemo Kartli and Kakheti, Georgia and familiarized himself with the infrastructure of ISU, following which an application was submitted to the German Society for Oriental Studies (DOG - Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft) with a request to support the first large-scale archeological reconnaissance of the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age settlement site at Nazarlebi. The application was supported and the project At the Origins of Statehood in the Caucasus, suspended years ago, was restarted.
This is a kind of experiment based on the materials obtained, a retrospective of the spiritual culture and beliefs of the ancient inhabitants of the Caucasus and their descendants.
One prominent feature of Georgian Christianity is the cult of the warrior saint, in particular, that of St. George, which emerged in the official Georgian Orthodox Church in the 9th century (K. Kekelidze), and which some specialists have linked to the consolidation of the feudal monarchical order and its promotion of an idealized notion of the warrior.
The evolution of this cult found expression in the Georgian art of the period. In this respect, we wish to draw attention to a specific motif in medieval Georgian iconography: the representation of St. George driving his spear through the Roman emperor Diocletian. This motif is distinctive to Georgia (G. Chubinashvili), and appears in 11th and 12th-century icons of St. George. The figure of Diocletian, dressed in a cape and wearing an imperial crown, is shown at the feet of a mounted St. George, being pierced by the warrior’s lance.
As is well known, in the first third of the 11th century conflicts emerged between Georgia and the Byzantine Empire, whose expansionist ambitions led it to seek sovereignty over Georgia. Byzantium sought to impeded the unification and strengthening of Georgia, as well as gain control of its border regions.
Tensions led to armed conflict, culminating in the campaign of Emperor Basil II (known as the Bulgar-Slayer) and the Battle of Shirimni of 1021. The defeated Georgian king Giorgi I was forced to agree to onerous terms of peace. Conflict with the Byzantines continued during the reign of Giorgi’s son Bagrat IV. The young king’s opposition with their Byzantine coreligionists drew the support of the Georgian Orthodox Church, as manifested in the campaign of the bishop Saba of Tbeti against the Byzantine forces.
It is entirely likely that the bitter conflict of the Georgian state against the fellow-Orthodox Byzantines found expression in Georgian iconography.
1. We consider it to be sufficient to warrant the supposition that at the dawn of world civilization, in human cognition, the hierarchical disposition of internal (domesticated) and external spaces, correspond to one another and on the basis of the unity of spatial differences of both occured the sense of a single psychic background. Precisely this psychic background, this perception of these theo-psychic streams must have become subsequently the basis of religious world-view and general cosmology.
As we touch on the phenomenon of habitation and the perception of the spatial universe, we want once again to note, that the dividing of space into ‘internal’ and ‘external’ universes must have happened in ancient times, precisely in the period, when a social group took possession of its own agricultural and habitational territory (138, 141). On the territory of the central transcaucausus this stage must have happened in the period of germination and development of early agricultural culture. As is it considered that in this period the achieved level of productive forces aided the permanent dwelling in one spot and the increase in population (265, 67).
Following from this we must conclude, that in the consciousness of tribes dwelling on the territory of the central TransCaucasus, the final formaqtion of spatial division of the universe into two main parts, into the notions of ‘interior’ and ‘exterior’, chronologically, belongs to the end of the 6th millenium BCE and the beginning of the 5th millenium BCE.
2. In the central TransCaucasus (modern Eastern Georgia) in the development of traditions of the contruction of habitations, following from the Eneolithic period developing up to feudalism, according to the archeological data, we believe, can be divided into the following primary stages:
A) The ‘small clay dome’ tradition of construction (Shulaveri-Moshu Tepe culture, 6th-4th Millenia BCE), for which is characteristic so-called ‘Planoconvexes’, smallness of construction, roofing with domes. For construction materials only clay is used.
B) Wooden structured, clay building tradition of construction (Kura-Araxes culture. Second half of the 4th millenium BCE to First half of thje 3rd Millenium BCE). Characteristic is the rectangular, round-cornered, more or less equal sized structures built on a structure of wood with clay plastering. Roofing is flat, clay, based on a central pillar. Situated in the center of the building is a stationary round hearth. In front of the building a corridor has been built on.
G) the building tradition of log buildings (so-called ‘epoch of early burial mounds’—the second half of the 3rd millenium BCE), for which is characteristic the use of massive logs as a building material and cobble stones.
D) Dry stone construction tradition (‘the Brilliant mounds of Trialeti culture’—last quater of the 3rd millenium BCE to the first half of the second millenium BCE), for which is primarily characteristic rectangular structures built with dry stone, fairly thick walls, flat, with roofing supported on a center pole.
E) Half-earthen buildings built with clay and stone building tradition (Late Bronze-Early Iron age monuments), for which is characteristic in the building process the use of the aforementioned materials, clay floors, a hearth positioned in the center (‘middle fire’) and a flat roof supported on a main pillar.
In the building traditions represented by habitations of following periods (Classical Antiquity, Early Feudal, Developed and Late Feudal periods), we already cannot find changes of substantial character: the building materials (types of stone), roof type (flat), location (half-earthen) is unchanged. In these recent periods more visually the principal habitation types are divided by regional differentiating signs. According to the archeological data of developed feudalism, for example, perhaps it is already possible to distinguish the ‘darbazi’ of the Meskhian variety. Mountaineer habitations are also distinguished by their own specific signs.
We consider that in the given region, from the enumerated stages, between stages A and B the question of geneology is sufficiently elucidated and is clear (see 265). As far as stages G and D are concerned, the construction tradition of these periods by its own internal logic and by sharp changeability (as by internal character) appears to be uniquely fallen out of the chain of general logical and geneological development and accordingly, bears the stamp of infiltrated cultura elements.
3. In the habitation the hearth represents the center, heart, of the family, which unites by blood relation and by communal possessions the family as a social unit. The family, is one such totality united by material possessions and kinship relations , but the hearth is a visible, tangible representation of this unity; a united, indivisible symbol of the family.
We consider there to be warrant to suppose that as soon as there appeared the hearth, which in itself means the formation of the habitation and the family, familial religion appeared, genotheism; as a fully formed phenomenon of a social organism (the family). Already from the Neolithic period, when the first systematic settlements appear, in Caucasia we must suppose the formation of familial religion, genotheism. This phenomenon acquires a fully formed appearance in the Eneolithic period, which we think clearly is depicted in materials coming from the studied remains of settlements in the Eastern Transcaucasus (“Shulaveri-Shomuthepe” Culture).
It is also possible to suppose that familial divinities were the objects of worship of unified cohabitants at the same time, inasmuch as in this period settlements were of monogenic composition (354, 136). In a more recent period however all such social collectives were gathered around divinities of fertility, the proof of which is the fact that for example in Inner Kartli of regular complexes the second half of the 2nd Millenium BCE represented icons of fertility divinities in the form of a tree of life iconographically (77, 194-202)
The level of development of productive forces of the Patriarchal-Clan arrangement conditions the size of the family community. The naturally increased community (temi) gradually undergoes segmentation, is divided into a series of smaller familial communities, which time and again grow and in their turn again are divided up. The big [i.e. extended] family historically is a universal phenomenon. It is characteristic of almost every people and not only at a low level of development, but also later. Precisely in such a social unity, in the extended family, began from the earliest stage of development the formation of familial religion- genotheism; more precisely its development began together with and alongside the development of the extended family, as a social organism and the development of familial religion (genotheism) began as the ideological basis of familial unity.
It is especially worthy of note that, as is clarified by the analysis of archeological and ethnographic materials, the given structure along the whole belt of Apkhazeti-Svaneti-Racha-Pshav-Khevsureti-Chechnya-Daghestan and a common religious-social structure characterizes this belt. This got its source from from the Familial cult, from Genotheism, which in the common Caucasian region is attested already established from the Eneolithic-Early Bronze period.
4. If we consider the studied structure on the basis of ethnographic data of the family, we can suppose, that already in the period of the spread of the Kura-Araxes culture the extended (‘big’) family is in appearance by its dwellings, by its type of agricultural territory and settlement. The big family, which in the following periods, almost up to today, is attested in the life of the Caucasian peoples. We are far away from the contention, that the big family of the Kura-Araxes Cultural period is the direct ancestor of the big family studied in ethnographic life, but we think, that this primary social and kinship structure, which thereafter became a foundation for the social entity studied by ethnographer in the central Transcaucasus, in the period of the spread of Kura-Araxes culture already appears to have been worked out and fully developed.