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Image Credit: Antiquity (2026)
Survey and Excavation Project Brings New Focus to Southern Georgia Archaeology
New results from the Samtskhe-Javakheti Archaeological Project are offering fresh insight into the cultural history of the highlands of southern Georgia, a region long considered one of the least explored parts of the South Caucasus. Since 2017, the joint Georgian-Italian project has documented around 168 archaeological sites and carried out excavations at key locations including Meghreki Fortress and Baraleti Natsargora.
The research shows that the Javakheti Plateau was not an isolated upland zone, but an active cultural frontier shaped by mobility, fortification, and long-term interaction between highland and lowland communities. Survey work has identified a wide range of sites, from settlements and fortifications to necropolises, with repeated occupation visible at several locations from the Bronze Age onward.
At Baraleti Natsargora, excavations in 2023 and 2024 revealed a long occupation sequence extending from the Early Bronze Age to the Iron Age. Archaeologists identified multiple settlement layers, repeated burning episodes, defensive architecture, and domestic remains including partition walls and clay installations. The site has also produced a finely decorated bronze solar disk, a notable example of symbolic metalwork in southern Georgia.
At Meghreki Fortress, the project uncovered a deeply stratified settlement with evidence of continuous reuse from the Early Bronze Age through the Iron Age and into the medieval period. Excavations exposed perimeter walls, storage spaces, domestic compounds, and clay installations provisionally dated to the Late Iron Age or Achaemenid horizon. Particularly striking are the fired clay plaques decorated with incised and painted geometric motifs, an uncommon form of architectural ornament in the South Caucasus.
According to the project, these results refine the archaeological framework of the Javakheti Plateau and highlight a landscape shaped not only by conflict and fortification, but also by continuity, symbolic expression, and adaptive strategies. The findings place southern Georgia more firmly within broader discussions of resilience, mobility, and frontier dynamics across the South Caucasus and eastern Anatolia.
Published on: 21-04-2026
Edited by: Abdulmnam Samakie
Source: Antiquity Journal
