Ricerche archeologiche dell'Università Ca' Foscari di Venezia in Georgia (2009-2014)

The ‘Georgian-Italian Shida Kartli Archaeological Project’ of Ca' Foscari University of Venice in collaboration with the Georgian National Museum of Tbilisi was launched in 2009. Its main aim is the study of the Late Chalcolithic, Bronze and Iron Age cultures (4th-1st millennia BC) of the central province of Georgia. Activities carried out in the course of the first six seasons include the study of the unpublished materials from the cemetery and settlement of Khashuri Natsargora, excavations of two kurgans at Okherakhevi, at the Natsargora settlement (Late Chalcolithic-Early Bronze Age), and at Aradetis Orgora (Late Chalcolithic-Early Medieval periods), and a wide range of geo-archaeological and palaeoenvironmental researches. The comparative analysis of the stratigraphy and artefacts from the different sites allowed to set some benchmarks in the relative and absolute chronology of the different cultures of the region, and to observe their evolution over a chronological range of several millennia.