Doctor of History
Professor Emeritus
Sokhumi State University

New Archaeological Data on Ancient Colchis (Lazica) in the Context of Historical Geography

Recent findings in Georgian archaeology and historical geography significantly enhance our understanding of ancient urban centers and settlements, known primarily from Georgian written sources, that exhibited urban structures or constituted so-called “countries of cities.” Equally important is the study of their genesis—that is, the identification of earlier settlements corresponding to these cities and the clarification of their historical nature.

A comprehensive study of major settlement centers of historical Egrisi (Western Georgia) and their genesis is possible only through the broad integration of various disciplines—archaeology, historical geography, palaeogeography, and others. In this respect, the creation of an archaeological map, based on systematic fieldwork, rather than general schematic reconstructions, would be of decisive importance.

Here, we will primarily address the urban sites revealed and studied, to varying extents, in the central region of Egrisi (Colchis). Three main groups may be distinguished: (1) Vani and its surrounding “country,” (2) Kutaisi and its “country,” and (3) Vartsikhe and its “country.” To this central region of Egrisi should also belong Mukhurisi, mentioned in Byzantine sources. We once suggested locating it northeast of Kutaisi, at Namashvi, though this hypothesis requires further argumentation—particularly since archaeological excavations have already investigated a site south of the Rioni–Phasis bearing a similar toponym (G. Gamkrelidze).

Further east, adjacent to Iberia, lies Shorapani, attested in both foreign and local sources. References to its importance as a communications hub appear in ancient Greek authors (Strabo and others) as well as Georgian chronicles. According to older records and recent observations, the fortress of Shorapani and its associated structures, both the citadel and the lower town, are significantly damaged. The primary dating evidence for the fortress and lower town consists of Late Hellenistic Near Eastern ceramics, including Pergamene wares. Within the modern settlement east of the fortress, fragments of Classical Colchian pottery (drinking vessels) have also been identified. Particularly noteworthy is the appearance, in an Early Hellenistic stratum of the fortress’s middle terrace, of “Iberian” white-slipped pottery. At present, however, data are lacking for a full discussion of the settlement’s development into a fortified town and its early connections with the Colchian world.

Attention should also be drawn to a second important site mentioned by Leonti Mroveli: Dimi (or “Dimna”). Besides its source reference, this site has attracted the observations and hypotheses of several scholars (N. Berdzenishvili, G. Tskitishvili, G. Melikishvili, and others). Archaeological material from Dimi—mostly chance finds, especially from Upper Dimi—includes complexes of Hellenistic-period qvevri-graves. In particular, a site at Upper Dimi revealed a Hellenistic stratum in the presence of Acad. G. Melikishvili. Of greater importance, however, are the finds from Lower Dimi, where trenches cut by amateur archaeologists confirmed Late Bronze Age cultural layers, while remains of later settlements and, likely, burials containing Late Hellenistic materials were discovered within the modern village. Overall, the data from Upper and Lower Dimi can reasonably be linked with Leonti’s reference to King Pharnavaz’s construction of fortresses at Shorapani and Dimi. Moreover, the early finds from Lower Dimi may, as Melikishvili suggested, relate to the land of Daimena known from Urartian–Assyrian sources.

The central Colchian city of Kutaisi is clearly revealed on the hill now crowned by Bagrati Cathedral. Here, powerful layers of timber structures and plastering have been documented. The remains of earlier settlements, distributed along the chain of hills, were noted already by Dubois de Montpereux, who sketched and published them in his Atlas.

In this central Colchis region, particularly along the Rioni valley and to its north and northwest, a number of artificial settlement mounds dating from the 2nd and 1st millennia BC have been identified, sometimes in clusters. Subsequent settlements and even major urban centers developed around and upon these mounds. A clear example is Vartsikhe–Rhodopolis, which arose in the 4th century AD near the Rioni–Phasis confluence. Despite its location on a plain, this city held a significant strategic position and likely originated from earlier settlements situated along the main transit route of the Rioni valley. The settlements of its “country,” especially those on the left bank of the Rioni, may be connected with earlier sites on the right bank—such as Patriketi, where Bronze Age and later habitation remains, including an Early Byzantine bathhouse, were documented.

Further evidence of ancient habitation was identified near the village of Sviri, where investigations revealed disturbed strata near a Bronze Age defensive (?) wall, including a fragment of a black-glazed Attic (possibly Athenian) kantharos.

It is noteworthy that these artificial settlement mounds of the Bronze–Iron and Classical periods, located along the Phasis–Rioni road corridor, show organic connections with contemporaneous and later sites of northern and northwestern Colchis and Abkhazia. These include fortified mounds of antiquity as well as fortification systems primarily dating to the Early Middle Ages, which extended toward Abkhazia and Svaneti (Prof. Z. Kvitsiani). The Bronze Age and later settlement mounds of the plains, together with the fortified systems of the medieval period, remain a crucial subject for further research.

 

Keywords: Ancient Colchis, Archaeology, Historical Geography, Urban Settlements, Shorapani.