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Chaisgora is the middle of three hills located just south of the modern village of Dapnari that formed the foci of excavations carried out from 1967 through 1973: Dapnisgora (A003, A004, A006), Chaisgora, and Tsqvetiligora (A007). Together they form a series of stepped hills oriented northwest-southeast that rise up to the south from the Phasis River plain.
Excavations on Chaisgora were carried out in the middle terrace of the north slope of the hill at a place known as “Ernali” and on the south slope of the hill on the border of a tea plantation. Traces of buildings were also found on the west slope, and portion of the hill at the east end of the modern village was explored with soundings, three of which were then integrated into one of the trenches.
Evidence of settlement from the 6th-3rd centuries B.C. was found on all three hills, but only on Chaisgora were the remains of actual structures identified. Trench 1 in the “Ernali” area of the north hillslope contained burnt daub, materials the excavator identified as adobe bricks, local table- and kitchenware, and imported pottery, including a single fragment of an Attic black-glazed “salt dish” (5th-4th centuries); pieces of Chian (5th century), Thassian (5th-4th centuries), and Sinopean (4th-3rd centuries) amphorae; and a Rhodian amphora handle stamped with the priest eponym “ΚΑΡΠΟΥ”. On the south slope of the hill, in Trench 2, the excavations revealed irregular pieces of burnt daub, the charcoaled traces of slim wooden beams used as wattle, and misshapen, weakly baked materials identified as adobe bricks. These remains, which covered an area of about 12 sq m, were too fragmentary to allow the reconstruction of a building plan. Under the building remains were found a stone mill, a fragment of a stone pan, a whetstone, iron tools for such uses as leatherworking, and local table- and kitchenware, all from 5th-4th centuries. Similar building remains were also identified on the west hillslope of Chaisgora, and a rich assemblage of materials was discovered as surface finds on the east parts of the hill, including, for example, burnt daub, stone mills, and pithoi fragments.
The only two burials found outside of Dapnisgora were located on Chaisgora, one on the very steep west slope and the other on the northwest slope, dating to the Hellenistic period.
In the terrace of Chaisgora, the survey team recorded extensive traces of burnt mud plaster embedded in the earth as well as pottery fragments, including Sinopian amphorae. The terrace takes its name from numerous tea bushes planted here in the Soviet period.
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| Citations to related material |
- Archaeological research at Dapnari began with excavations by the Dapnari team of the Vani Expedition between 1967 and 1973 on all three hills. A short survey was conducted in 2008.
- Kighuradze, N. 1967. Dapnaris samarovani [The Dapnari necropolis]. Istoriis institutis aspirantta da akhalgazrda metsnier mushakta sametsniero konperentsia, tezisebi [Scientific conference of the young scholars and post-graduates of the Institute of History, Abstracts]. Tbilisi. pp. 24-26. (In Georgian.)
- Kighuradze, N. 1969. Dapnaris samarovani, 1967-1968 tsts. kampaniis dziritadi shedegebi [The Dapnari necropolis, the main results of the 1967-1968 campaigns]. XVIII sametsniero sesia, midzghvnili Sakartveloshi 1968 tsels tsarmoebuli savelearkeologiuri kvleva-dziebis shedegebisadmi, mokle angarishebi [The 18th scientific sessions, dedicated to the results of the field-archaeological studies in Georgia in 1967-1968, Short reports]. Tbilisi. p. 21. (In Georgian.)
- Kighuradze, N. 1970. Mdzivebi dapnaris samarovnidan [Beads from the Dapnari necropolis]. Istoriis institutes aspirantta da akhalgazrda metsnier mushakta sametsniero konperentsia, tezisebi [Scientific conference of the post-graduates and young scholars of the Institute of History, Abstracts]. Tbilisi. p. 15. (In Georgian.)
- Kighuradze, N. 1970. Monetebi Dapnaris samarovnidan [Coins from the Dapnari necropolis]. Dzeglis megobari, N 23. Tbilisi. pp. 15-19. (In Georgian.)
- Lordkipanidze, G. A., and N. Sh. Kighuradze. 1970. Arkheologicheskiye otkrytiya 1969 goda [Archaeological discoveries in 1969]. Moscow. p. 365. (In Russian.)
- Jikia, L. 1971. Ant’ik’uri khanis masalebi kutaisis muzeumshi. Kiemm, II. pp. 22-28.
- Kighuradze, N. 1971a. Arkeologiuri gatkhrebi Dapnarshi 1969 tsels [Archaeological excavations in Dapnari in 1969]. Arkeologiuri kvlevadzieba Sakartveloshi 1969 tsels [Archaeological investigations in Georgia in 1969]. Tbilisi. pp. 68-72. (In Georgian.)
- Kighuradze, N. 1971b. Dapnarshi shemtkhvevit aghmochenili arkeologiuri dzeglebi [Archaeological relics discovered accidentally in Dapnari]. Saistorio moambe [Bulletin of History]. Tbilisi. pp. 347-369. (In Georgian.)
- Kighuradze, N. Sh. 1971c. Dapnarskii nekropol [The Dapnari necropolis]. Vsesoyuznaya nauchnaya sessia, posvyashchennaya itogam polevykh arkheologicheskikh i etnograficheskikh issledovanii v SSSR v 1970 godu [The All-Union scientific session devoted to the results of the archaeological and ethnographic studies in the USSR in 1970]. Tbilisi. p. 184. (In Russian.)
- Kighuradze, N. 1971d. Sopel dapnaris kvevrsamarkhi [The pithos burial in the village of Dapnari]. Dzeglis megobari, N 27-28. Tbilisi. pp. 57-61. (In Georgian.)
- Lordkipanidze, G. A., and N. Sh. Kighuradze. 1971. Raskopki Dapnarskogo selishcha [Excavations of the Dapnari settlement]. Arkheologicheskiye otkrytiya 1970 goda [Archaeological discoveries in 1970]. – Moscow. pp. 380-381. (In Russian.)
- Kighuradze, N. Sh. 1972. K istorii naseleniya tsentralnoi Kolkhidy v antichnuyu epokhu. Avtoreferat dissertatsii na soiskaniye uchenoi stepeni kandidata istoricheskikh nauk [Towards the history of the population of central Colchis in the Classical period. Synopsis of thesis to defend the scientific degree of candidate of historical sciences]. Tbilisi. (In Russian.)
- Kighuradze, N. Sh., and G. A. Lordkipanidze. 1972. Itogi issledovaniya Dapnarskogo selishcha [Results of the study of the Dapnari settlement site]. Arkheologicheskiye otkrytiya 1971 goda [Archaeological discoveries in 1971]. Moscow. p. 469. (In Russian.)
- Kighuradze, N. 1973. Dapnaris nasoplari da samarovani [Dapnari settlement and necropolis]. Vanis arkeologiuri expeditsiis 25 tseli (1947-1972), sametsniero sesiis tezisebi da bibliograpia, 27-28 tebervali 1973 tseli [The 25th anniversary of the Vani archaeological expedition (1947-1972), Abstracts of the scientific session and bibliography, the 27-28th of February, 1973]. Tbilisi. pp. 25-27. (In Georgian.)
- Kighuradze, N. 1976. Dapnarskii mogilnik [The Dapnari necropolis]. Tbilisi. (In Russian.)
- Kighuradze, N. Sh., and G. A. Lordkipanidze. 1977. Dapnarskoye selishche I mogilnik (K probleme selskikh poselenii Kolkhidy) [The Dapnari settlement site and necropolis (Towards the problem of village-type settlements in Colchis)]. Kratkiye soobshcheniya Instituta arkheologii, 151. Moscow. pp. 55-64. (In Russian.)
- Kighuradze, N. 1978a. Dapnari. Kartuli sabchota entsiklopedia [The Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia], vol. 3. Tbilisi. p. 401. (In Georgian.)
- Kighuradze, N. 1978b. Kolkhuri sopeli antikur khanashi [Colchian village in the Classical times]. Sakartvelos arkeologiis sakitkhebi [Questions of the archaeology of Georgia], vol. I. Tbilisi. pp. 56, 58-59. (In Georgian with a Russian summary.)
- Kighuradze, N. Sh., 1980. Kolkhskoe selo v ellinisticheskuyu epokhu [Colchian village in the Hellenistic period]. Vsesoyuznyi simpozium po problemam ellimisticheskoi kultury na Vostoke. Mai, 1980 g. Tezisy dokladov [The All-Union symposium on problems of the Hellenistic culture in the East, May of 1980. Abstracts of papers]. Yerevan. pp. 38-39. (In Russian.)
- Tolordava, V. 1980. Dakrdzalvis tsesebi elinisturi khanis sakartveloshi [The burial rites in Georgia of the Hellenistic period.] Tbilisi. pp. 6-23, pls. II-XVIII. (In Georgian with a Russian summary.)
- Tolordava, V. 1983. Antikuri importi vansa da mis midamoebshi. Dapnari [Classical import in Vani and its environs. Dapnari]. Vani VII. Tbilisi. pp. 136-138, pls. 60-62. (In Georgian with a Russian summary.)
- 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’egmberi. p. 17-18. (In Georgian with an English summary.)
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