Znori
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Znori წნორი |
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| State : |
 Georgia
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| Region : | Kakheti | ||
| Municipality : | Sighnaghi | ||
| Coordinates : | 41 ° 37 ′ N , 45 ° 58 ′ E | ||
| Height : | 360 m. ü. M. | ||
| Residents : | 4,815 (2014) | ||
| Time zone : | Georgian Time (UTC + 4) | ||
| Community type: | city | ||
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Znori ( Georgian წნორი ) is a small town in the Kakheti region in eastern Georgia .
It is located in the Alasani Valley at an altitude of 360 m , four kilometers east of the city of Sighnaghi . Znori has 4815 inhabitants according to the 2014 census. Znori has had city rights since 1965.
Kurgane
Two burial mounds ( Kurgane ) from the Trialeti culture were discovered during archaeological excavations near the site . A Kurgan has the extraordinary dimensions of three hectares in an oval 168 meters long at a current height of over eleven meters. The embankment consists of earth, clay, sand and field stones. The outer edge once consisted of a 30-meter-thick bed of stone, which was supposed to protect the hill from erosion. The burial chamber formed a three meter deep pit, the area of which was 166 square meters. It was covered with two layers of logs and a layer of clay. Beneath them were ceramics, gold objects, arrowheads made of bone, flint and obsidian, as well as knives and other bronze articles in large numbers on a two meter high platform supported by vertical wooden posts . The grave goods in the burial chamber had already been robbed in antiquity, so the skeleton of the main character could not be clearly identified. It was found that the deceased had been brought in on a wooden cart and buried. The remaining skeletons could have belonged to a human sacrifice ritual. This took place in the central room, which was used as a place of worship, around which a corridor probably led.
The remains of a smaller mound rise seven kilometers northwest today still 2.5 meters above the area. Its diameter is 80 × 90 meters. It was heaped up with earth and protected at the edge by a layer of stone ten meters thick. The burial chamber in the middle measured 10 × 10 meters and 2.5 meters deep. It was also covered with a construction made of wooden beams and a clay packing. Judging by the holes in the floor, the ceiling joists rested on nine symmetrically arranged posts. The rammed earth floor was covered with bast mats. Here a woman and a man were buried in a crouch on their right side. Only the male skeleton was abundant in gold and silver jewelry. This grave room also contained a wooden cart on which over 40 clay pots were placed. The most important find is the 5.2 centimeter sculpture of a lion made of cast gold.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Article Znori in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (BSE) , 3rd edition 1969–1978 (Russian)
- ^ Melvin Ember, Peter N. Peregrine: Encyclopedia of Prehistory . Springer, 2001, p. 35, ISBN 0-306-46258-3
- ^ Otar Lortkipanidze : Archeology in Georgia. From the Paleolithic to the Middle Ages . (Sources and research on prehistoric and Roman provincial archeology) VCH, Acta humaniora, Weinheim 1991, p. 57f, ISBN 3-527-17531-8