• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

This is a file in the Digital South Caucasus Colletion (DSCC) project: Author: Gamqreliże, Gela Title: Researches in Iberia-Colchology The DSCC is part of the Ancient World Digital Library hosted by the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World Library. The Georgian National Museum has granted permission to the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World of New York University to publish this material electronically in the Digital South Caucasus Collection (DSCC). We are making such material available on a noncommercial basis for research and educational purposes in an effort to expand access to thinly-held and/or out-of-print material related to the study of the ancient world. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes beyond those in accordance with fair use (Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107), you must obtain permission from the Georgian National Museum. We respect the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that you own the copyright to the material made available on this site, please see our takedown policy: http:/dcaa.hosting.nyu.edu/takedown-notice DIGITAL SOUTH CAUCASUS COLLECTION DSC C Otar LORDKIPANIDZE CENTRE OF ARCHAEOLOGY OF GEORGIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM RESEARCHES IN IBERIA-COLCHOLOGY (History and archaeology of ancient Georgia) by Gela Gamkrelidze *** Edited by David Braund Prof. of University of Exeter (UK) gela gamyreliZe: iberia-kolxologiuri kvlevebi. winamdebare wignSi avtoris mier ucxoeTSi gamoqveynebuli statiebis nawilia Tavmoyrili. zogierT statiaSi damatebebia Setanili. wignSi ganxilulia iberia-kolxologiis _ saqarTvelos klasikuri da adremedievuri periodis istoria-arqeologiis sakiTxebi. wigni gankuTvnilia specialistebisaTvis da Cveni qveynis istoriiT dainteresebuli ucxoeli mkiTxvelisaTvis. In the present book the author considers some issues related to Iberia- Colchology, studying history and archaeology of Georgia. The book accumulates scientific essays published in the past and also those written lately. The book is designated for the specialists and also for the readers concerned with history and archaeology of Georgia (in Caucasus). The author, Gela Gamkrelidze is Doctor of historical sciences, Prof., Leading scientist of the Centre of Archaeology of Georgian National Museum. He is the editor of the Journal Iberia–Colchis (Researches of Georgia in the Classical period). He was born in Tbilisi in 7.01.1951. In 1973 he graduated Tbilisi state university. In 1979 he defended Ph.D. thesis and in 1990 DHS dissertation. He participated in Vani, Mtisdziri, Poti, Namakhvami, Vale and other archeological expeditions. In 1979 he explored terms of Mtisdziri settlement. He has discovered the settlement near city Poti-Phasis. He has been studying issues related to the history and archeology of the Georgian Classical period and early middle ages. In particular, relationship of Iberia and Colchis with Greek, Roman and Iranian world; typological classification and topographical archeology of settlements; influence of bio-geo environment on the process of historical development of community in Georgia; the military history of Iberia-Colchis (armament and fortification). He has published books and scientific essays dedicated to the above-mentioned problems (see List of works by G. Gamkrelidze - 1976-2011). He is an authority on the history and archaeology of Georgian Classical period and early middle ages. see: http://www.nplg.gov.ge/bios/en/00000291/ http://www.nplg.gov.ge/dlibrary/coll/0001/000499/ http://www.nplg.gov.ge/dlibrary/coll/0001/001087/ Published for Centre of Archaeology of Georgian National Museum. Address: 14, D. Uznadze str. Tbillisi, 0102, GEORGIA. e-mail: [email protected]. © Georgian National Museum. 2012. Gela Gamkrelidze. ISBN 978-9941-0-4565-3. 2 G. Gamkrelidze ================================================= Contents: THE ARCHAEOLOGY IN GEORGIA ------------------------------------ 5 THE LAND OF COLCHIS AND THE CITY OF PHASIS(Towards a historical-archaelogical study of western Georgia in the Classical period) ----- 38 ON THE EVOLUTION THE COLCHIAN AMPHORAE (the 4th c. BC to the 3rd cent. AD) --------------------------------------------- 75 COLCHIAN AMPHORA WITH STAMP FROM POTI-PHASIS -------- 84 TWO SILVER RHYTONS FROM WEST GEORGIA–COLCHIS (Mtisdziri and Gomi) ---------------------------------------------------- 100 ABOUT THE MILITARY- POLITICAL SITUATION IN IBERIA- COLCHIS (GEORGIA) IN THE 4th cent.BC – 2nd cent.AD. (Written Sources and archaeological evidence) --------------------------------------- 118 SINOPEAN AND COLCHIAN AMPHORAS WITH GREEK GRAFFITI IN THE CONTEXT OF THE TOWN OF PHASIS---------- 139 STAMPS OF ROMAN MILITARY UNITS AND POLITICAL SITUATION IN THE COLCHIS and IBERIA --------------------------- 152 HYDROARCHAEOLOGY IN THE COLCHIAN LITTORAL ------ 162 ABOUT PETROLEUN TRANSPORTATION IN PHASIS & THE “MEDEA’S OIL” ACCORDING TO THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA ----------------------------------------------- 171 A VERSION OF PROTOJEWS IN GEORGIA------------------------- 177 ZUR IDENTIFIKATION DER KOLCHERIN MEDEA AUF EINEM STELENRELIEF VON SUCHUMI-------------------------------- 182 THE PROCESS OF GLOBALISTIC ROMANIZATION AND IBERIA-COLCHIS-------------------------------------------------------------- 193 3 SCHEME OF A MODEL OF THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIETY (Bio-geo-environment and Socio-environment)----------------- 211 ON THE INFLUENCE OF BIO-GEO-ENVIRONMENT AND EXTERNAL FACTOR ON THE PROCESS OF THE COLCHIS HISTORY DEVELOPMENT ------------------------------------------------- 217 PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF GEORGIA'SCLASSICAL AND EARLY MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY---------------------------------- 222 INFORMATION ABOUT THE TOPOARCHAEOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF “Kartlis Tskhovreba”----------------------------------- 227 LIST OF WORKS BY Gela GAMKRELIDZE (1976 – 2010) ------------ 230 Abbreviations -------------------------------------------------------------------- 238 PLATES ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 239 4 G. Gamkrelidze ================================================= THE ARCHAEOLOGY IN GEORGIA Georgia is a land rich in matters antiquarian, and the collecting of antiquities has a long history. Attempts to study these antiquities in a serious manner, and to relate them scientifically to specific periods of Georgian history were only made comparatively late. There was a depository of antiquities at the royal Georgian court in the Middle Ages, overseen by the mechurchletukhutsesi (royal treasurer). Whilst on a visit to a museum in Rome, the enlightened Georgian Sulhkan-Saba Orbeliani (1658-1725) recalled seeing similar objects in the depository of the Georgian king Vakhtang VI (1675-1737). The Georgian historian Teimuraz Bagrationi (1782-1846) also mentions the storage of excavated objects such as coins and weapons, in the royal treasury of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi: ―In various times there were found dead people, buried at differing localities in Iberia [i.e. Georgia], not only in earlier periods, but even in modern times during the rule of Erekle II there were found dead people buried in the period of Idolatry [paganism] with coins put in their mouths and with iron weapons. These artefacts are housed in the depository of king Erekle II...‖. He adds that unfortunately the Royal Court, together with the depository, was pillaged during the Persian sack of Tbilisi (1795). Until the nineteenth century, the study of antiquities in Georgia was of a haphazard nature. Some information was been preserved concerning certain relics. This testimony is most interesting because of its descriptive character, inasmuch as these remains have either been completely destroyed or damaged almost beyond recognition. Despite the untimely destruction of these quintessential Georgian antiquities, copious descriptions of the articles in question are to be found in the works of such Georgian scholars as Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, Teimuraz Bagrationi and Vakhushti Bagrationi. They are mentioned by foreign travellers such as Arcangelo Lamberti, Cristoforo de Castelli, Frédéric 5 Dubois de Montpéreux, Johann Anton Güldenstaedt, and others. In the nineteenth century, the study of Georgian antiquities belatedly acquired a more systematic character. Beginning in 1837, the Georgian Statistical Committee gave attention to the recording and protection of historical monuments; special instructions were drawn up and circulated to administrative offices (see: The Central State Historical Archives of Georgia, depository 16, file 5433). One of the compilers of these pioneering instructions was M. F. Chilashvili, who, as a staff member of the Committee of Statistics was familiar with the state of affairs in this field. While addressing a meeting of the Caucasian Geographical Society on the 8th of December, 1856, he underscored the necessity of conducting an intensive campaign of archaeological excavations throughout the whole of Georgia. The instructions composed by the Committee of Statistics played a special role in the location and preservation of Georgian antiquities and proved to be of importance since many archaeological and historical monuments were saved as a result. But this was only a small step to advance the study of antiquity. The need for a study of Georgian antiquities on a larger scale that was at the same time more flexible led to the start of scientific archaeological excavations. The first excavations undertaken with a truly scientific purpose were conducted in the summer of 1852 at the ancient city site of Uplistsikhe, about 15 km

Load more

  346

Copy Link