Dimitri Narimanishvili | Georgian National Museum (original) (raw)

Papers by Dimitri Narimanishvili

Antiquity, 2019

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"Gold & Wein. Georgiens älteste Schätze", 2018, 2018

Trialeti Culture of the Middle Bronze Age is represented with huge burial kurgans of “kings” and ... more Trialeti Culture of the Middle Bronze Age is represented with huge burial kurgans of “kings” and chiefs. Special attention must be paid to the unique, hitherto unknown and very precious materials, which were discovered in burial chambers of deceased. Golden and silver adornments, standards, toreutics, silver and bronze weapons, black polished and painted pottery, which were discovered in the kurgans of the 3rd – 2nd millennium B.C. thoroughly occupied its place not only in Caucasian, but in the world culture treasury.
According to the resent data we can say that the Trialeti culture was spread in the central, eastern and southern parts of Caucasus.
Till the resent times, sites of Trialeti culture mainly were represented with burials. During the last decades settlements of Trialeti culture were discovered in the central part of South Caucasus (Kakheti, Kartli, Lore). Settlement of the last stage of Trialeti culture was discovered in Trialeti, near Jinisi village.
Graves of the Middle Bronze Age are kurgans with earth mound, stone mound and with stone-earth mound. The burial chamber of kurgan is arranged in the center of it. According to the burial chambers there are distinguished two types of burials – kurgans with pit or without pit burials. The construction of such compound complexes of this scale, required a lot of time, money and labor, and possibly lasted for several years. Apparently, the construction of a large kurgan used to start even during the lifetime of the buried. With the funeral rite were connected stone-paved roads, which were built for procession. They were organic part of kurgan. The ritual roads of Trialeti kurgans have no analogues in the distribution area of the kurgan cultures. The grandeur of stone roads is evidenced by their size. The length of some of them reaches 500 meters, and the width is 5-6 meters. They adjoin to kurgan exactly from the east and sometimes are a continuation of a dromos.
In the Trialeti kurgans, sometimes deceased was buried together with a four-wheeled cart. Some of the carts were disposable and were made just for a funeral ritual. Some scientists believe, that deceased, or his ashes, were brought to pit or large kurgans with funeral halls through dromos, into already closed funeral hall, on a chariot harnessed by bulls. The procession used to move along the ritual road.
Ritual-processional roads, discovered in Trialeti, date from the end of the 3rd millennium B.C. and the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C. and belong to the Middle Bronze Age. The ritual roads of Trielti kurgans have no analogues in the distribution area of the kurgan cultures. They have big similarity with the ritual-processional roads known in the Old World. Particular similarity is observed with the so-called "Ascending Roads" of the Egyptian pyramids.

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Foraging Assemblages. Volume 2, 2021

Historical Javakheti (nowadays Samtskhe-Javakheti) is located in southern Georgia, on the Minor C... more Historical Javakheti (nowadays Samtskhe-Javakheti) is located in southern Georgia, on the Minor Caucasus high plateau, and represents one of the vastest regions in the southern Caucasus volcanic mountains, a region generally marked by small valleys. Volcanic-erosive forms are dominant in its relief formation, expressed by hollows surrounded by volcanoes. The geology of the Javakheti region abounds in fossils and minerals as well as obsidian. The largest obsidian mine in Georgia is located in the north-eastern part of Javakheti, near Pharavani Lake, on the Tchikiani Mountain slope. Workshops and shelters that belong to the Mesolithic period have also been confirmed around Pharavani Lake, near the Samsari Mountain system. Major trade routes are known to have passed through the Javakheti region since antiquity. Among the oldest items of trade was obsidian.

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Uluslararası Tarih Boyunca Anadolu Gürcistan İlişkileri Sempozyumu, 2020

State Tariuni is mentioned repeatedly in Urartian written sources. Exact localization of it is no... more State Tariuni is mentioned repeatedly in Urartian written sources. Exact
localization of it is not determined so far, though all scientists who worked on this problem place it in eastern Anatolia or Southern Georgia. This was stipulated due to later historical data confrming in this region toponyms such Tortomi, Tora, Triala, Trialeti and etc. It is worth mentioning that as state Tariuni also its contemporary neighbouring states (Diau(e)hi, Igani, Zabahae and etc.) include territory where many Cyclopean fortresses are spread. Their concentration, position and naturally defended landscape create certain areas where some of
the states mentioned in Urartian written sources could be localized. The aim of the article is to test the localization of state Tariuni according to written and archaeological sources.

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Vishap Between Fairy Tale and Reality, 2019

In 2017-2019 an archaeological survey has been conducted in Shida Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti ... more In 2017-2019 an archaeological survey has been conducted in Shida Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti Regions, Georgia. During the work almost 30 menhirs, some of them with images of animals and solar symbols were documented. Some menhirs with images were photographed especially for later photogrammetric proceedings. This article presents the results of study of menhirs by means of photogrammetric method. Also, the distribution map of menhirs recorded during the survey is given. Drawings and sketches which were made in earlier years have been corrected.

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Antiquity, 2019

In 2017, archaeological survey recorded more than 160 Late Bronze–Iron Age cyclopean fortificatio... more In 2017, archaeological survey recorded more than 160 Late Bronze–Iron Age cyclopean fortification complexes in the historical Javakheti region, Georgia. The author relates different types of cyclopean complexes mentioned in Urartian written sources to the sites found in Javakheti.

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"Gold & Wein. Georgiens älteste Schätze", 2018

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Aramazd, 2017

Beshtasheni cemetery is located in South Georgia, in Kvemo Kartli region, north-west from the vil... more Beshtasheni cemetery is located in South Georgia, in Kvemo Kartli region, north-west from the village Beshtasheni in Tsalka municipality, directly on the road from village Beshtasheni to village Shua Kharaba
(formerly known as Saphar-Kharaba), on the right bank of the river Geriak-Chai. Cemetery belongs to ‘Beshtasheni Cyclopean Settlement’.
In this article we would like to give brief description of the graves found in 2015-2016, which contained artefacts and osteological material. Focus will fall on the features and material of special importance for the archaeological investigations of the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age period of South Caucasus.

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First appearance of textile in south Caucasus is dated back to Early Bronze Age. Whatever the tex... more First appearance of textile in south Caucasus is dated back to Early Bronze Age.
Whatever the textile was found in south Caucasian Bronze Age sites, we have no information about costume style and its facture. It is possible to fill this lack by studying dress of human figures made from different materials and ornamental pictures.
The rich information about costume of the end of the III millennium B.C. and the beginning of the II millennium B.C. are represented on the silver goblet from Trialeti and Karashamb.
Thus, study of the south Caucasus archaeological materials shows us that the population of this region in II millennium B.C. have had many kinds of tunics and hats, kilts and pants, shoes with upturned points.
Unfortunately we have very poor information about textile from south Caucasus in this period. Practically we know nothing about style and colour of costumes in the second half of 3rd and first half 2nd millennium B.C. But we have some data from Safar-Kharaba and Artik graveyards (second half of 2nd millennium). According on the palynological research there were discovered three kinds of textile (flax, wool, cotton) and also some different dyes (red, blue, brown, black).
According on archaeological materials we can say that people represented in south Caucasian sites were wearing especially Caucasian costume. This costume did not endure the changes for thousands of years and some of its elements are preserved to our days in mode of life of mountain population.

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