Kirill Popov exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
The Abkhazian land is full of archeological monuments. The oldest of them belong to the Stone Age (one of the earliest settlements on the territory of the former USSR), the youngest – to the Middle Ages. Alexander Skakov, the scientists of the Archeology Institute of the RAS told Vestnik Kavkaza about one of them – the unique burial complex on the Dzhantukh Mountain.
The Dzhantukh Mountain is situated in south-east of Abkhazia, near the town of Tkuarchal. The first diggings were undertaken here in the 1980s by Abkhazian archeologists. However, later scientists had no opportunity to renew a study of the monument which experienced intensive looting during subsequent years. When in 2006 archeological work renewed, it appeared that the necropolis was too big for robbers, they had been unable to entirely destroy it.
The monument belongs to an original local variant of Inguri-Rioni Colchics culture – Dzhantukh-Larilar after two main burial grounds: Dzhantukh in Abkhazia and Larilar in modern Svanetia. Inguri-Rioni culture belongs to the vast Cobano-Colchics cultural and historic community which existed in the Western and Central Caucasus till the 3rd century B.C. It included many tribes which could differ in language, but had similar culture. A part of tribes of the community, which lived in basins of the rivers Ingur and Rioni, left us the unique reminder about their history – the Dzhantukh burial ground.
First of all, it is unique for its obsequies. People who established it at first hanged corpses on trees (supposedly in special woodblocks). Some time later (3-10 years) bones were taken off and put into a big hole, on the bottom of which a fire was lit. Items which had to be taken by a departed together with him was thrown there; that is why many artifacts found by archeologists are fire-polished. The Dzhantukh burial ground existed from the 12 to 2nd century B.C. Graves are big holes (12x8, 12x10 m and 1-1.5 deep) full of bones and personal items. They are situated on the top of the mountain covered with forest far from settlements. That’s likely why they remained in a good condition.
The other peculiarity of the Dzhantukh necropolis is that its culture unites pottery typical for the Western Caucasus and metal goods close to Coban types of the North Caucasus. It means the Caucasus chain wasn’t an impassible barrier at that period. Probably people passed it much more intensively than they do today.
The found artifacts of Dzhantukh include images of animals and birds, various armaments: bronze knives, iron swords, iron axes, a lot of spears and few arrows. Archeologists found many beads of different types – glass, stone, and bone. Bone beads haven’t been found in any other archeological monument of the Caucasus. A peculiar feature of the burial ground is a big amount of fibulas and bracelets.
The appearance of graves is especially interesting – after burning remains, a stone pavement was laid over the hole. Spears were pierced into it. Iron bells were hanged on them, which rang in the wind. I believe such constructions were impressive.
In general the material culture of graves on the Dzhantukh Mountain demonstrates closeness to monuments of the North Caucasus. It means close contacts between tribes on both sides of the mountain chain.The similarity of the artifacts makes us speak about the blood ties of tribes of the North Caucasus and the Western South Caucasus and trade ties between them.
Annual archeological diggings in Abkhazia began in 2002; in the past 5 years they have been undertaken thanks to grants from the Russian Humanitarian Scientific Fund. The Abkhazian side supports research as well. The government of Abkhazia allocates money for restoration of artifacts. The burial ground on the Dzhantukh Mountain is so huge, that Russian and Abkhazian scientists will work there together for many years.
