Beshtasheni Archeological Monuments
The archaeological monuments of Beshtasheni are located in the historical village of Beshkenasheni (Tsalka Municipality). They represent various archaeological artifacts discovered and studied during the Trialeti archaeological expedition in 1938-39 (led by B. Kuftin). Three cultural layers were uncovered:
The first layer was dated to the Early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC). Remains of buildings and hearths, a farming pit, stone arrowheads with triangular notches, knives, stone hammers, grindstones, copper rings, colored stone beads, and a clay animal figurine were discovered here. These materials are attributed to the Mtkvari-Araxes culture. Near the fortress, a tomb from the same period was discovered, containing several clay vessels.
The second layer (Late Bronze Age) contained ceramics and bones of domestic and wild animals, while the third layer dates to the Feudal period. In this layer, rectangular buildings and remains of Tone (special furnace for baking bread) were uncovered. The age of the cyclopean fortress remains in Beshtasheni is undetermined.
In the same area, seven burial mounds were excavated, four of which belong to the end of the Early Bronze Age (2400/2300–2000 BC), and three belong to the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age (early 2nd millennium BC). Archeologists discovered bronze, flint, and obsidian weapons; gold jewelry; colored stone beads; and decorated ceramics, which genetically link the Mtkvari-Araxes and Trialeti cultures.
Beshtasheni burial pit tombs can be divided into several chronological groups, generally falling within the 2nd millennium BC (second half) and the early 1st millennium BC. In the stone coffins, pyramid-shaped bronze pins, dome-like buckles, an iron knife (with a bronze hilt and a lion’s head depiction), and ceramics were found. These tombs date to the transitional Urartian period (8th-7th centuries BC). Most of the tombs were looted in ancient times. B. Kuftin dated the 69 stone coffins excavated in the southern part of the burial site belonging to the 5th century BC. For the first time, red-fired and burnished pottery was found here, which replaced the black and gray ceramics characteristic of the Early Iron Age.
The archaeological materials are housed in the National Museum of Georgia.
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E. Gogadze
