Nokalakevi
Encyclopedia
Nokalakevi, also known as Archaeopolis, is a village and archaeological site
in the Senaki
municipality, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti
region, Georgia
.
, western Georgia
, lie the impressive ruins of Nokalakevi. Occupying some 20ha, the site was known to early Byzantine
historians as Archaeopolis, and to the neighbouring Georgian
(Kartli
an) chroniclers as Tsikhegoji, or the fortress of Kuji — a semi-mythical Colchian ruler or 'Eristavi'. The fortress is located 15km from the modern town of Senaki
on the Martvili
road, and would have commanded an important crossing point of the river Tekhuri, at the junction with a valuable strategic route that still winds through the neighbouring hills to Chkhorotsqu
in central Samegrelo
. Nokalakevi-Archaeopolis played a pivotal part in the major wars fought between the Byzantines
and Sasanians in the South Caucasus during the sixth century AD. It was one of the key fortresses guarding Lazika (modern Mingrelia) from Sasanian, Persian and Iberian (East Georgian/Kartli
an) attack. During the war of AD 540-562, the Persians' failure to take Nokalakevi-Archaeopolis from the Byzantines
and the Laz
eventually cost them control of Lazika.
The early Byzantine
defensive fortifications of Nokalakevi-Archaeopolis take advantage of the site's position within a loop of the river Tekhuri, which has carved a gorge through the local limestone to the west of the fortress. Furthermore, the steep and rugged terrain to the north of the site made the citadel established there almost unassailable. A wall connected this 'upper town' to the 'lower town' below, where excavations have revealed substantial stone buildings of the fourth to sixth century AD. Beneath these late Roman
period layers there is evidence of several earlier phases of occupation and abandonment, from the eighth to second centuries BC
annexation of Samegrelo
, with a visit by the Swiss philologist Frédéric Dubois de Montpéreux in 1833-4. He identified the ruins as the Archaeopolis of Byzantine
historians and argued that the site was Aia, the ancient Colchian capital of the Greek
Argonaut
myth . This, unsurprisingly, stimulated much scholarly interest, which culminated in the 1920s with proposals for an archaeological excavation. In the winter of 1930-31, a joint German-Georgian team, led by Dr Alfonse-Maria Schneider of Freiburg University, traced the line of the walls and excavated about 40 survey trenches and one of the towers, as well as what they erroneously believed to be the agora in the 'lower' town. Their findings — including an impressive hoard of gold solidi of the Emperor Maurice (AD 584-602) — confirmed Dubois de Montpéreux's identification of the site with Archaeopolis, without settling the question of Aia. Most scholars continued (and continue) to prefer the traditional identification of Aia with Kutaisi
.
The political upheavals of the 1930s and the onset of war interrupted further archaeological excavation. Nevertheless interest in Georgia's
history continued to grow, prompting various scholarly visits and articles about Nokalakevi from the 1930s to the 1960s (see for a discussion of previous work at Nokalakevi). Finally in 1973 a major state-sponsored expedition was set up, headed by the late Parmen Zakaraia. This expedition undertook major excavations and conservation work at Nokalakevi until the early 1990s when the collapse of the Soviet Union
and the civil disturbances of Georgia
's early years of independence brought a halt to funding and serious damage to the expedition's infrastructure
Large-scale excavations were resumed in 2001 with a collaborative project, headed by Professor David Lomitashvili, of the S. Janashia State History Museum (now the Georgian National Museum
) and the newly formed Anglo-Georgian Expedition to Nokalakevi (AGEN) co-directed by Ian Colvin, Dr Paul Everill and Benjamin Neil. The Anglo-Georgian Expedition has recently celebrated its tenth anniversary and collaborative work continues at Nokalakevi.
Archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved , and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record.Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a 'site' can vary widely,...
in the Senaki
Senaki
Senaki is a town in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region, western Georgia. It is located at around .From 1935 to 1976 it was called Tskhakaya in honor of the Georgian Bolshevik revolutionary leader Mikhail Tskhakaya....
municipality, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti
Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti
Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti is a region in western Georgia which includes the historical Georgian provinces of Samegrelo and Zemo Svaneti and has Zugdidi as its capital.-Geography:...
region, Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
.
History
Nestled by the picturesque river Tekhuri, on the northern edge of the Colchian plain in SamegreloSamegrelo
Samegrelo/Samargalo or Megrelia, Mingrelia is a historic province in the western part of Georgia, formerly also known as Odishi.It is inhabited by the Megrelians, an ethnic subgroup of the Georgians.-Geography and Climate:...
, western Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
, lie the impressive ruins of Nokalakevi. Occupying some 20ha, the site was known to early Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
historians as Archaeopolis, and to the neighbouring Georgian
Georgian people
The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America....
(Kartli
Kartli
Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari , on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role in ethnic and political consolidation of the Georgians in the Middle Ages...
an) chroniclers as Tsikhegoji, or the fortress of Kuji — a semi-mythical Colchian ruler or 'Eristavi'. The fortress is located 15km from the modern town of Senaki
Senaki
Senaki is a town in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region, western Georgia. It is located at around .From 1935 to 1976 it was called Tskhakaya in honor of the Georgian Bolshevik revolutionary leader Mikhail Tskhakaya....
on the Martvili
Martvili
Martvili is a small town in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti province of Western Georgia. Its monastery was Samegrelo's clerical centre in the Middle Ages...
road, and would have commanded an important crossing point of the river Tekhuri, at the junction with a valuable strategic route that still winds through the neighbouring hills to Chkhorotsqu
Chkhorotsqu
Chkhorotsqu is a townlet in western Georgia, located in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti and functioning as the administrative center of the homonymous district. Its population was 5,900 as of 2007 ....
in central Samegrelo
Samegrelo
Samegrelo/Samargalo or Megrelia, Mingrelia is a historic province in the western part of Georgia, formerly also known as Odishi.It is inhabited by the Megrelians, an ethnic subgroup of the Georgians.-Geography and Climate:...
. Nokalakevi-Archaeopolis played a pivotal part in the major wars fought between the Byzantines
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
and Sasanians in the South Caucasus during the sixth century AD. It was one of the key fortresses guarding Lazika (modern Mingrelia) from Sasanian, Persian and Iberian (East Georgian/Kartli
Kartli
Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari , on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role in ethnic and political consolidation of the Georgians in the Middle Ages...
an) attack. During the war of AD 540-562, the Persians' failure to take Nokalakevi-Archaeopolis from the Byzantines
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
and the Laz
Laz people
The Laz are an ethnic group native to the Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia...
eventually cost them control of Lazika.
The early Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
defensive fortifications of Nokalakevi-Archaeopolis take advantage of the site's position within a loop of the river Tekhuri, which has carved a gorge through the local limestone to the west of the fortress. Furthermore, the steep and rugged terrain to the north of the site made the citadel established there almost unassailable. A wall connected this 'upper town' to the 'lower town' below, where excavations have revealed substantial stone buildings of the fourth to sixth century AD. Beneath these late Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
period layers there is evidence of several earlier phases of occupation and abandonment, from the eighth to second centuries BC
Archaeological work at the site
Modern study of the site began in the decades after the RussianRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
annexation of Samegrelo
Samegrelo
Samegrelo/Samargalo or Megrelia, Mingrelia is a historic province in the western part of Georgia, formerly also known as Odishi.It is inhabited by the Megrelians, an ethnic subgroup of the Georgians.-Geography and Climate:...
, with a visit by the Swiss philologist Frédéric Dubois de Montpéreux in 1833-4. He identified the ruins as the Archaeopolis of Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
historians and argued that the site was Aia, the ancient Colchian capital of the Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
Argonaut
Argonauts
The Argonauts ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, the Argo, which was named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts", therefore, literally means...
myth . This, unsurprisingly, stimulated much scholarly interest, which culminated in the 1920s with proposals for an archaeological excavation. In the winter of 1930-31, a joint German-Georgian team, led by Dr Alfonse-Maria Schneider of Freiburg University, traced the line of the walls and excavated about 40 survey trenches and one of the towers, as well as what they erroneously believed to be the agora in the 'lower' town. Their findings — including an impressive hoard of gold solidi of the Emperor Maurice (AD 584-602) — confirmed Dubois de Montpéreux's identification of the site with Archaeopolis, without settling the question of Aia. Most scholars continued (and continue) to prefer the traditional identification of Aia with Kutaisi
Kutaisi
Kutaisi is Georgia's second largest city and the capital of the western region of Imereti. It is 221 km to the west of Tbilisi.-Geography:...
.
The political upheavals of the 1930s and the onset of war interrupted further archaeological excavation. Nevertheless interest in Georgia's
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
history continued to grow, prompting various scholarly visits and articles about Nokalakevi from the 1930s to the 1960s (see for a discussion of previous work at Nokalakevi). Finally in 1973 a major state-sponsored expedition was set up, headed by the late Parmen Zakaraia. This expedition undertook major excavations and conservation work at Nokalakevi until the early 1990s when the collapse of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and the civil disturbances of Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
's early years of independence brought a halt to funding and serious damage to the expedition's infrastructure
Large-scale excavations were resumed in 2001 with a collaborative project, headed by Professor David Lomitashvili, of the S. Janashia State History Museum (now the Georgian National Museum
Georgian National Museum
The Georgian National Museum is a museum network in Georgia that brings together several leading museums from various parts of the country. The Georgian National Museum was established within the framework of structural, institutional and legal reforms aimed at modernizing the management of the...
) and the newly formed Anglo-Georgian Expedition to Nokalakevi (AGEN) co-directed by Ian Colvin, Dr Paul Everill and Benjamin Neil. The Anglo-Georgian Expedition has recently celebrated its tenth anniversary and collaborative work continues at Nokalakevi.