3/24/2020 RCCHD : Trialeti Petroglyphs – Under Destruction Regional Co-operation for Cultural Heritage Development რეგიონალური თანამშრომლობა კულტურული მემკვიდრეობის განვითარებისათვის Տարածաշրջանային համագործակցություն հանուն մշակութային ժառանգության զարգացման Національна політика щодо культурної спадщини Mədəni irsin inkişaf Etdimilməsi üçün regional əməkdaşlıq Рэгіянальнае супрацоўніцтва ў мэтах развіцця культурнай спадчыны Home Project Partners News and Events Follow Us Useful Links Contact Heritage Conservation Regional Network E- Journal №5 Journal Heritage at Risk Trialeti Petroglyphs – Under Destruction Dr. Manana Gabunia Georgian National Museum Dr. Mariam Gabashvili Documents, Publications G. Chubinashvili National Research Centre for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation Introducing_Young_People_to_the_Protection_of_Heritage_Sit Ilia State University ENG Details In early twentieth century when the whole series of the Paleolithic cave paintings and engraved drawings (petroglyphs) were discovered over the five continents, the scientific community faced fundamental problems of interdisciplinary character. It primarily concerned the questions of origin and development of art, artistic perception and creative processes. For art historians, archaeologists and anthropologists the prehistoric art is the significant clue helping to explore the mode of life and culture of ancient peoples. The conclusions and interpretations linked with the former constitute the hypothesis turning the visual art of prehistoric era into the most puzzling field. These peculiar “documents” expressed by artistic means represent invaluable material concerning the exciting processes occurring in the mankind’s development – namely, mode of life of the primitive societies, their Networking Policies husbandry, spiritual world, worldview, social relationships, ethnical processes, cultural contacts, migration routes, and for the exploration of their cultural genesis, as well as for the reconstruction of the paleobiogeographical environment in which Homo sapiens sapiens – the ancient man lived. This is the essential part of the problems under study that are still topical for the global archaeology nowadays. Essential for the study of the problem are the unique Trialeti pethroglyphs – yet the only monument of the prehistoric rock art on the Public territory of Georgia, whereas the samples of the visual art of the same range are found in the neighbouring regions of the South Caucasus – Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as North Caucasus (e.g. Chuval-Khvarab-Noho, Chinna-Hita andHaritan petroglyphs in Dagestan, awareness Workshops etc.). Trialeti petroglyphs are found12 km away from little town Tsalka, in the narrow gorge of the river Avdristskali – the right tributary of the river Ktsia, at the edge of the village Gantiadi (former village Tak-Kilissa) in Kvemo Kartli (Lower Kartli). Since earlier the name of the river Avdristskali was Patara Khrami, the name of the petroglyphs found there was established in the scholarly literature as “Patara Khrami Petroglyphs”. E-Resources of National policy for Heritage The named gorge is made-up of four pseudo-terraces the provenance of which is explained by the lava flow of four andesitic-basalts of the developed Late Pleistocene and by the irregular wash away of the rocks feeble for the soil erosion which are located among basalts. At the foundation of the fourth lava flow the rock caves have developed. On the stretch between them, over the bare, irregular rock surface, geometric, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic rock engravings – petroglyphs – are found (Figs. 1a, b). Follow us on: Discussion of this artistic site gives us the best opportunity to follow the origin and further development of the artistic forms not only based on the above mentioned sample but by the exploration of the contemporary artifacts to reveal the significant cross-cultural relations and Like 158 Share specify the place of Trialeti engravings among the world cultural heritage properties. The research of the Trialeti petroglyphs is highly topical as the only white spot on world map indicating the spread of the prehistoric art The project is funded by the European Union has so far been the territory of Georgia. Therefore, the importance of the petroglyphs and the need to study them is obvious, now that the EU is not responsible preliminary study outcomes have already deserved lively interest among the wide scholarly circles. for the content of this website However, at present the principal problem is the protection of this unique site. The rock panels covered with the engravings and over the centuries situated in the open air have been damaged by the natural hazards or mechanical interventions so far as they are mostly overgrown with moss or vegetation (the site is situated at the edge of the village, therefore, it is easily accessible to the inhabitants. Besides, the site is located in the close proximity to the local pasture for the cattle or the sheep and goats. Thus, the engravings are easily liable to involuntary or purposeful damage. After the last archaeological expedition on the site in 1976, it was visited only in June, 2011 by the group of the scholars (archaeologists M. Gabunia, N. Jakeli, T. Aghapishvili, art historian M. Gabashvili). The visit aimed at the assessment of the present state of the petroglyphs and was stimulated by the greatest desire to undertake a monographic research of the site[1]. In fact, as it was presumable, some engravings were accompanied by the inscriptions and drawings of the “contemporary style”, while some images recorded earlier appeared to be lost; parts of the rock surfaces are broken off (Figs. 2a, b, c). Of certain interest is the general picture seen by the discoverer of the site, who had come across it by chance in the environs of Tsalka: “Dear Sir, Evgeny Gustavovich, it is awfully pity you have not come to Tsalka and that is why: imagine, in the gorge of the village Tak- Kilissa I discovered caves, walls of which are covered with engravings of hunting scenes. This is a whole gallery of the drawings of wild tribes who once lived in present Tsalka”… [1]. Such unexpected notes open a letter addressed to the enthusiast for history E. Weidenbaum, sent to him by the enthusiast archaeologist A. Ioakimov who by chance stumbled across the site. The letter dates back to the 1880s. The above mentioned letter is the first evidence of the engravings in the caves in Tsalka region. Tsalka, the central part of the south-east Georgia, historical Kvemo Kartli (Lower Kartli) or Trialeti region became known to the international scientific community in 1930s as the centre of the great archaeological discovery – Trialeti Culture (second half of the third millenniumBC – first half of the second millennium BC). Archaeologist Boris Kuftin active in Georgia had laid foundation to the study of Trialeti Culture, and no wonder that at first he showed interest in Trialeti rock art evidenced by the above mentioned letter; however, as the basic researcher of the Trialeti Culture, he took the evidence skeptically. Notwithstanding this fact, in the 1940s scholars began searching the engravings mentioned in the letter in the area of the village Tak- Kilissa (archaeologist Nino Berdzenishvili and art historian Alexander Javakhishvili), but in vain. Nothing was found and they shared B. Kuftin’s viewpoint that A. Ioakimov’s note had nothing to do with the reality. However, the letter had raised keen interest of another younger archaeologist M. Gabunia who excavated the area in the 1970s. Finding of the petroglyphs was of double interest for her as for an archaeologist of the Paleolithic era and a researcher of the region. M. Gabunia thought that such a letter could not be a fancy as it was considered by B. Kuftin [2]. Georgia, the country rich in archaeological sites of almost all periods, lacked the samples of the rock art of Paleolithic era until 1976, when the whole complex of peculiar petroglyphs once reported by A. Ioakimov was rediscovered by the Trialeti expedition (head of the expedition M. Gabunia) in the gorge of the river Patara Khrami on the smooth rock surfaces, under the moss and vegetation. The engravings are the first and yet the only complex of the prehistoric rock art on the territory of Georgia where the earliest zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images are found. We can also clearly see the week tendencies of the compositional arrangements. The Patara Khrami engravings presumably belong to various chronological stages, the earliest of which is the Mesolithic era and the latest is dated back to the Middle Bronze Age [1] (it is essential to mention that before the engravings of Patara Khrami, other engravings were found in Mgvimevi caves (West Georgia, Chiatura Municipality) by S. Zamyatnin in 1937. The Mgvimevi engravings – crosses, circles, dots, depressions, crossing lines, etc. – were scattered upon the walls of the Upper Paleolithic cave complexes without any order. rcchd.icomos.org.ge/?l=E&m=4-4&JID=5&AID=40&fbclid=IwAR0X9wnJfqyvseqMFVMoksGkmh1OCHbRUdtjSW9sQEqsHHGNfaDKsY7m46k 1/9 3/24/2020 RCCHD : Trialeti Petroglyphs – Under Destruction S. Zamyatnin came to the conclusion that they had magic ritual function [3]. By late 1950s, another cave complex with the Paleolithic engravings was found by L. Soloviov near the village Anukhva in Abkhazia (west Georgia), in Agtsa. Similar to Mgvimevi engravings the Agtsa “images” contained horizontal and vertical crossing lines scattered in disorder on the surfaces of