Ivane Javakhishvili Institute of History and Ethnology
Doctor of Archaeology
Tbilisi/ Georgia
Ninotavartkiladze3@gmail.com
Abstract
Throughout human history, numerous severe infectious diseases have caused mass mortality. A recent example is the COVID-19 pandemic, which confronted the world with an unprecedented crisis. Of particular significance is plague, an acute bacterial infection caused by Yersinia pestis. This pathogen is known to have caused hundreds of millions of deaths during historical pandemics.
Plague is also documented in Georgian written sources. It is first mentioned in the eleventh-century medical treatise Ustsoro Karabadini, while its bubonic form is described in the fifteenth-century medical text Samkurnalo Tsigni Karabadini.
Ethnographic and historical sources from Georgia’s mountainous regions describe practices of isolating infected individuals during epidemics. In Khevsureti, this phenomenon is associated with the Anatori crypts, also known as the “City of the Dead,” where human skeletal remains have been preserved and are traditionally linked to a plague epidemic. According to oral traditions, during the epidemic the inhabitants of Anatori voluntarily isolated themselves inside the crypts.
The aim of this study is to conduct bioarchaeological and ancient-pathogen analyses of the individuals buried in the Anatori crypts in order to determine whether they were associated with a plague outbreak or another infectious disease. Despite the richness of the oral tradition, the site has never been systematically studied, and both its chronology and the causes of death remain uncertain.
This research presents the first bioarchaeological analysis of human remains recovered from the Anatori crypts. A commingled assemblage was identified in Crypt No. 3, consisting of both skeletal and mummified remains. The minimum number of individuals (MNI) is 27. The assemblage includes both adults and children, suggesting non-selective mortality that affected the entire community.
Osteological analysis revealed a range of pathological conditions and traumatic injuries, including healed fractures and dental diseases, providing evidence of the population’s health status and biological stress.
The combined analysis of bioarchaeological and oral evidence makes it possible to assess the historical basis of the Anatori tradition and its possible connection with epidemic events.
Overall, the study demonstrates that integrating archaeological, biological, and ethnographic data is essential for reconstructing past population processes and for distinguishing cultural memory from biological reality.
Keywords: Anatori; bioarchaeology; epidemic; palaeogenomics; palaeopathology.