Trialeti Culture
Trialeti culture, Bronze Age culture. It was discovered and studied mainly in the Trialeti territory and neighboring regions. Archaeological excavations were carried out in 1936–1940 and in 1947 (B. Kuftin). The monuments of Trialeti culture mainly include kurgans (burial mounds) of the end of the Early Bronze Age (end of the 3rd millennium BC) and the Middle Bronze Age (first half of the 2nd millennium BC); Late Bronze - Early Iron Age burials. Some of the kurgans belonged to tribal leaders and noble aristocracy, while smaller and poorer kurgans belonged to the ordinary population. There are several types of kurgans — pit burials, burial grounds, stone-reinforced burial halls, burials with crypts built with beams in pits, and chamber burials cut into the rock. They were covered with earth mound, stone mound, or stone and earth mound. The pit burial and the burial hall were covered with thick beams. The diameter of the largest Zurtaketi (Trialeti) kurgan under earth mound was 100 m, the height — 8 m; the internal area of the burial hall reached 150 m², the height of the walls was 4–6 m. The height of the large burial mound excavated in the Alazani Valley was 15 m; the depth of the pit of Trialeti's X kurgan was 8 m; the dimensions of the XVII Trialeti burial mound were 14 m × 8 m × 6 m. The internal area of the burial hall of Kushchi's XXXVI kurgan was 175 m², its wooden columns were covered with gold (fragments have been discovered). The construction of these kurgans was possible only with the united efforts of clans and tribes. The burials were individual. The remains of the deceased were often placed on a four-wheeled burial cart. The deceased were buried with their items, as well as with slaughtered animals or their parts, sometimes a sacrificed servant or slave. This indicates the breakdown of the patriarchal-generic system. Vessels (finely engraved black-glazed clay vessels; reddish clay vessels with colorful paintings of various styles), obsidian and metal weapons and armor (copper, bronze, silver, etc.), jewelry (gold-silver jewelry and toreutic items, stone and paste beads, etc.) were found in the burials.
Trialeti culture belongs to economically advanced cattle-farming tribes, whose development was facilitated by the natural conditions of southern Georgia. Trialeti culture is the successor of the Mtkvari-Araxes culture. Similar monuments are known in Kakheti, Shida Kartli, Samtskhe-Javakheti and Armenia. Trialeti culture has an independent character with its peculiar forms of handicrafts, artistic style, manufacturing techniques, and burial customs.
Literature: გოგაძე ე., თრიალეთის ყორღანული კულტურის პერიოდიზაცია და გენეზისი, თბ., 1972; მენაბდე მ., დავლიანიძე ც., თრიალეთის სამაროვნები, თბ., 1968; ჯაფარიძე ო., არქეოლოგიური გათხრები თრიალეთში, თბ., 1969; Жоржикашвили Л. Г., Гогадзе Э. М., Памятники Триалети эпохи ранней и средней бронзы, Тб., 1974; Куфтин Б. А., Археологические раскопки в Триалети, I, Тб., 1941; Idem, Археологические раскопки 1947 года в Цалкинском районе, Тб, 1948; Пиотровский Б. Б., Археология Закавказья, Л., 1949.
E. Gogadze
