Samtavro burial ground
The approximately 18 hectare cemetery of Samtavro ( Georgian სამთავროს სამაროვანი ), north of Mtskheta , in the east of Georgia was discovered between the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. BC and the 10th century AD. It was first excavated by F. Bayern in the 1870s and 1880s. The excavations started by A. Kalandadze in 1938 are continuing to this day.
The archaeologists examined up to 3,000 graves of various types and determined the stratigraphy of the place. Archaic ceramics, stone tools and burnt structures were discovered in the oldest cultural layer (early Bronze Age ). A Middle Bronze Age burial mound (1st half of the 2nd millennium BC) contained bronze tools, gold jewelry, pearls, etc. Particularly diverse archaeological material was found in pit burials of the late Bronze Age (2nd half of the 2nd millennium BC) and the early Iron Age (9th – 5th centuries BC) found. The artifacts included polished ceramics with geometric patterns and glazed ceramics, bronze and iron tools, engraved bronze belts, bronzes, bones, zoomorphic bronze figures, as well as agates and other jewelry.
The upper layer of Samtavro dates from the 2nd to the 1st century BC. It contained stone graves , stone boxes, stone sarcophagi, crypts made of ashlar, plate and brick graves from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD and stone boxes from the 1st to 9th centuries AD. Century are usually collective burials.
literature
- A. Kalandadze: Pre-antique archaeological sites of Samtavro, Mtskheta IV, Tbilisi, 1980.
- T. Chubinishvili: The oldest archaeological sites of Mtskheta, Tbilisi, 1957.
- M. Ivashchenko: Samtavro burials of the first three centuries, Mtskheta III, Tbilisi, 1980.
Web links
Coordinates: 41 ° 50 ′ 54.5 " N , 44 ° 43 ′ 8.4" E