Khashuri Natsargora: New Research on the Kura-Araxes and Bedeni Cultures in Central Georgia

The paper summarises the results of four seasons of work by the joint "Georgian-Italian Shida Kartli Archaeological Project" at the site of Khashuri Natsargora at the western limit of the Shida Kartli province of Georgia. Two seasons (2009-2010) were devoted to the study of the unpublished material from the settlement and cemetery excavations by Al. Ramishvili (1984-1992), and two seasons (2011-2012) to renewed excavations on top of the settlement mound. The debated stratigraphic relation and relative chronology of the Kura-Araxes and Bedeni occupations of the site were clarified and anchored to 14C dates from secure contexts. An integrated approach by archaeologists, geo-archaeologists and geo-morphologists allowed the collection of important information about site formation processes, as well as the internal organisation of the settlement and its evolution in the course of time. In particular, different kinds of firing installations and sequences of prepared external surfaces were investigated through soil micromorphology techniques. The implications of the project's results are discussed in the wider perspective of Early Bronze Age archaeology in the region.