The Georgian-Italian Shida Kartli Archaeological Project: A Report on the First Two Field Seasons 2009 and 2010

The Shida Kartli Archaeological project is a collaborative endeavour of the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the Georgian National Museum, dedicated to the investigation of the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age cultures of the Shida Kartli province of Georgia and of their relations with the contemporary cultures of the northern regions of the Near East. The paper presents the results of the first two field seasons (2009 and 2010) of the project. The main activities were the study of the unpublished material from the important EBA settlement and cemetery of Natsargora in the Khashuri district in the western part of the province, the excavation of two kurgans at Okherakhevi at its eastern border, between the Kaspi and Mtskheta districts, and a remote-sensing-assisted geo-morphological and archaeological survey of the province. A program of sampling for archaeometric analyses and radiometric dating of different Early Bronze Age sites of the region was also launched.