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  • Saqanchia A001

    work
    Creator:
    Vani Archaeological Survey
    Description:
    Saqanchia is a level area on the northeastern outskirts of Vani, at the edge of the Phasis River plain (ca. 2 km north of the archaeological site). A substantial settlement was discovered here in the 1970s. Excavations supervised by V. Licheli revealed cobblestone foundations marking the complete outlines of two small buildings and the partial outlines of several others, local and imported ceramics, and terracotta figurines, all of which date the occupation of the area to the Hellenistic period. Saqanchia is currently a mixed use area, combining pasture land, holding ponds, small agricultural plots, a cemetery, and a number of Soviet-era industrial buildings, now mostly derelict with the exception of one operating saw mill. The derelict industrial buildings include a factory used for the production of sewing-machine parts, abandoned playing fields, likely associated with the factory, and two large greenhouses. The greenhouses were once supplied with natural hot sulphuric water, which still flows out of one operating spout in the area. In 2009 the survey project investigated the area using two methods of geophysical prospection, electrical resistivity and magnetic survey. In 2010 excavations were carried out in three trenches to investigate anomalies detected by geophysical prospection and to test the stratigraphy in the area of the excavations conducted by Licheli. In all cases, extensive modern disturbance had removed any stratified remains of earlier occupation, but large quantities of unstratified Hellenistic pottery and tile fragments were recovered. One well-preserved building, excavated in 1975-1976 and identified by the excavator as a complex comprised of two “dwelling-houses” (165 sq. m.), a “service-house” (32.86 sq. m), and a yard (346.5 sq m), may be described in detail. This structure is oblong in outline and oriented roughly north-south. Its exterior dimensions are 16.5 m x 10 m; both the exterior and the interior walls are 0.8 m wide. The “dwelling-house” portion of the building is divided into four rooms, symmetrically disposed across a central north-south wall. On the basis of the cobblestone foundations and tile fall, the excavator reconstructed a wattle and daub structure with timber framework and double-pitched roof of terracotta tiles sloping down in two directions from the central north-south wall. An additional suite of three rooms was attached to the north end of the four-room structure; the excavator called this a “service-house.” These rooms included two similar rooms, 3.5 x 3.4 m, 2.7 x 3.4 m, and a narrow room. 6.2 x 1.8 m. Between the “dwelling-house” and “service house,” the team excavated a garbage pit, 2.5 x 3 x 1 m deep, completely filled during the time the building complex was in use, with 3rd to mid-2nd century materials at the bottom. A pithos was found in the yard of the “dwelling-house,” 1.3 m deep, and a ditch was discovered in same area (3.7 m long, 0.7 m wide, and 0.3 deep) running in an east-west direction, turning to the north for a distance of 1.8 m, then a hard turn to the west for a length of 2.4 m long, when it was 0.8 m wide and 0.2 m deep. Traces of an earlier building of the late 3rd or early 2nd century BC were found under the pressed clay floor of one of the rooms of the “dwelling-house.” These remains included a thin layer of tiles, found just under the pressed clay floor, and poorly preserved building foundations. A tile structure found among these remains was interpreted by the excavator as a family altar concurrent with the earlier structure, but it may in fact have been a storage bin.
    Keyword:
    Hellenistic and Settlement
    Citation to related publication:
    Archaeological work at Saqanchia started with a discovery of chance finds in 1972. Archaeological research began in 1974 with the excavation of a test trench and the collection of surface materials. Additional small scale survey took place in 2008., Dundua, G. 1973. Sakartveloshi gavrtselebuli alexandre makedonelisa da lisimakes sakhelit motchrili monetebi vanidan. [The coins known from Georgia struck by the names of Alexander the Macedonian and Lysimmachus in Vani.] Matsne [Herald] no. 1, 1973: 51-65., Licheli, V. 1977. Akhalaghmochenili nakalakari saqhanchias velze [The recently found ancient site of the Saqanchia valley]. Vani III. Tbilisi. pp. 52-57, pls. 21-24. (In Georgian with a Russian summary.), Licheli, V. 1981a. Dzveli tseltaghritskhvis III-I saukuneebis shida kolkhetis materialuri kulturis shestsavlisatvis (saqhanchias namosakhlari) [Towards the study of the material culture of Inner Colchis in the 3rd-1st cent. B.C. (Saqanchia settlement)]. Matsne (Istoriis, arkeologiis, etnograpiis da khelovnebis istoriis seria) [Herald of the Academy of Sciences, Series of history, archaeology, ethnography and history of art)], N 2. Tbilisi. pp. 41-51. (In Georgia with a Russian summary.), Licheli, V. T. 1981b. Materialnaya kultura vnutrennei Kolkhidy III-II vv. do n. e. [Material culture of Inner Colchis in the 3rd-2nd cent. B.C.]. Avtoreferat dissertatsii na soiskaniye uchenoi stepeni kandidata istoricheskikh nauk [Synopsis of thesis to defend the scientific degree of candidate of historical sciences]. Tbilisi. 25 pp. (In Russian.), Licheli, V. 1982a. Saqanchias nakalakaris 1976 tsis gatkhrebis shedegebi (Gvianelinisturi sakhlis rekonstruktsia) [Results of excavations of the city site of Saqanchia in 1976 (restoration of a Late Hellenistic building)]. Arkeologiuri dziebani. Akhalgazrda mkvlevarta II da III sametsniero sesiis masalebi [Archaeological investigations. Materials of the 2nd and 3rd scientific sessions of young researchers]. Tbilisi. pp. 31-41. (In Georgian.), Licheli, V. T. 1982b. Torgovo-remeslennoye poseleniye II-II vv. do n. e. vo vnutrennei Kolkhide [A trade and artisan settlement of the 3rd-2nd cent. B.C. in Inner Colchis]. Materialy III Vsesoyuznogo simpoziuma po drevnei istorii Prichernomorya na temu: Ellinizm i Prichernomorye. Tskhaltubo, 21-27. V. 1982 g. Tezisy dokladov i soobshchenii [Materials of the 3rd All-Union symposium on the ancient history of the Black Sea littoral on the theme: “Hellenism and the Black Sea littoral.” Tsqaltubo, 21-27. V. 1982. Abstracts of reports and communications]. Tbilisi. pp. 54-55. (In Russian.), Licheli, V. 1983. Antikuri importi vansa dam is midamoebshi. Saqanchias namosakhlari [Classical import in Vaniand its environs. The Saqanchia settlement]. Vani VII. Tbilisi. pp. 113-125, pls. 50-51. (In Georgian with a Russian summary.), Licheli, V. T. 1985. Torgovo-remeslennoye poseleniye III-I vv. do n. e. vo vnutrennei Kolkhide [A trade and artisan settlement of the 3rd-2nd cent. B.C. in Inner Colchis]. Prichernomorye v epokhu ellinizma. Materialy III Vsesoyuznogo simpoziuma po drevnei istorii Prichernomorya. Tskhaltubo, 1982 [The Black Sea littoral in the Hellenistic times. Materials of the 3rd All-Union symposium on the ancient history of the Black Sea littoral. Tsqaltubo, 1982]. Tbilisi. pp. 468-473. (In Russian with an English summary.) , Licheli, V. 1991. Dzveli Vani. Sameurneo ubani [Ancient Vani. Industrial district]. Tbilisi. (In Georgian with summaries in Russian and English.), and Kharabadze, S. 2008. “Vanis Qveq’nis” Arqeologiuri Ruk’a (dzv.ts. VIII – akh.ts. III ss.). (Archaeological Map of the Vani Land, 8th Century BC – 3rd Century AD). Tsardgenilia Doqt’oris Ak’ademiuri Khariskhis Mosap’oveblad. Saqartvelos T’eqnik’uri Universit’et’i. Tbilisi, 0175, Saqartvelo. Seqt’emberi. p. 20. (In Georgian with an English summary.)
    Discipline:
    Social Sciences and Humanities

  • Mound survey

    User Collection
    collection
    Creator:
    Galaty, Michael
    Description:
    TBD
    Keyword:
    archaeology
    Discipline:
    Humanities and Social Sciences
    0Works