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A Reinterpretation of Justine Abuladze’s Some Biographical Facts (according archival materials)
Get PDFეძღვნება პროფ. გოჩა ჯაფარიძის ხსოვნას (1942 – 2020)/ Dedicated to Memory of Prof. Gocha Japaridze (1942 – 2020)In scholarly publications and periodicals, regarding Justine Abuladze’s life and
activities different data (1902, 1903, 1915) has been named considering the scholar’s
visit to Persia. The majority of Georgian scholars who had discussed the issue named
Tabriz as Abuladze’s visiting place. In his official or private writings Justine Abuladze
had never mentioned about his travel to Persia (Iran). Even his personal archive does
not provide any document supporting the fact. During his work at Tbilisi State
University he had made at least two attempts (1918, 1919) to visit Persia but did not
succeed. Based on the analyses of archive materials, this paper suggests that, in contrary
to the information provided by various Georgian researchers (I. Megrelidze, D.
Kobidze, K. Paghava, J. Giunashvili, N.Makadze) J. Abuladze had never been to Persia
(Iran). In his report to the Council of the Faculty of Philosophy of Tbilisi State
University dated by September, 16, 1919 J. Abuladze mentions: “in 1902 I traveled to
Turkestan (=Turkmenistan) and stayed for two months in Samarkand and Serakhs,
where I exercised in spoken Persian” (See document 471/1/28, p.103-112 of the
National Archives of Georgia, Tbilisi State University Fund). Serakhs, former Russian
military post at the Iranian border, where J. Abuladze polished his spoken Persian could
cause the misinterpretations concerning the fact of his travel to Persia.
The fact acquires importance from the point of view of the investigation into the
human resource policy of Tbilisi State University at that time and its approach to J.
Abuladze’s personality: it is obvious that the financial and moral support of the
University was aimed at encouragement of young, talented personnel. In 1918 Justine
Abuladze was already 44 years old and thus he could not be considered as “a young
personnel” with future. This could be the major reason for the ‘lack of favor’ towards J.
Abuladze’ and not only the latter’s claim that “some get the buns and pies and some the
bumps and black eyes.” The paper presents archival materials providing support for the
suggestion.
Another document (N373, Dimitri Gordeev’s letter dated 24.03.1928) kept in the
archive of Yuri Marr at K. Kekelidze Georgian National Center of Manuscripts provides
an indirect evidence that J. Abuladze had not been considered to hold major position in
Persian studies at Tbilisi State University. The young and talented scholar, Y. Marr was
likely more favorable for this position
იმიგრანტი ჯგუფისადმი დამოკიდებულება და მასზე მოქმედი ფაქტორები
Get PDFკულტურული ასიმილაცია სულ უფრო აქტუალური საკითხია კროსკულტურული კვლევების სფეროში. მკვლევარები და ავტორები ამ ტერმინის პროცესზე ორიენტირებულ გაგებას გვთავაზობენ და თანხმდებიან იმაზე, რომ გლობალიზაციის პროცესს ამ კუთხით სულ უფრო მეტი გამოწვევები მოაქვს. სხვა ჯგუფის აღქმა და სოციალური წინათრწმენები კარგად ნაკვლევი კოგნიტური პროცესებია, რომლებიც ანალიზის მნიშვნელოვან პერსპექტივას იძლევიან. სოციალური დომინანტობის ორიენტაცია (SDO) და მემარჯვენე ავტორიტარობა (RWA) სოციალური წინათრწმენების ფორმირებაში მნიშვნელოვან ცვლადებად განიხილება. ჩვენ გამოვიყენეთ Duckitt და Sibley (2009), მიდგომა, რათა გვეკვლია RWA / SDO როლი წინათრწმენების ფორმირებაში. ჩვენი კვლევა შეისწავლის სხვადასხვა ფაქტორებს, რაც ამ კავშირის დინამიკას განაპირობებს. შედეგები ნათლად გვიჩვენებს, რომ ეს დინამიკა თაობათა შორის განსხვავდება, რაც შესაძლოა კულტურალურ ღირებულებებს, რელიგიურ მიკუთვნებულობას, ჯგუფის ეკონომიკურ სტატუსს და ინტერესებს უკავშირდებოდეს. ეს საშუალებას გვაძლევს დავასკვნათ, რომ ცალკეული ჯგუფის წინაშე არსებული გამოწვევები შესაძლოა სხვა ჯგუფის ამა თუ იმ მახასიათებელს მეტად გამოკვეთილს ხდიდეს სოციალური წინათრწმენების ფორმირებისას
ერეკლე II-ის ურთიერთობა მუსლიმურ სახანოებთან 1783-1786 წლებში RELATIONS OF EREKLE II WITH THE MUSLIM KHANATES IN 1783-1786
Get PDFThe influence of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, as it is known,
extended to the neighboring Muslim Khanates. As for the khanates
south of the Araks River, the details of the Georgian kingdom’s ties
with them have not been fully studied. It has been emphasized only
that the rulers of Tabriz, Urmia, Khoi, Karadagh often sent special gifts to the king Erekle II of Kartli-Kakheti as a sign of respect. Among
the so-called khanates of northern Iran in the 1780s was the Khoi
Khanate, whose ruler, Ahmed Khan, invaded the Khanate of Urmia in
the first half of 1783, together with the Khan of Tabriz, and strengthened
his influence there. For its part, from an economic point of view,
the most prominent city in the region was Tabriz, which for a long
time was ruled by Marand and Marāgha.
Archival data are interesting for studying the relations of the
Georgian king with the mentioned khanates. Historical documents
confirm that Karabagh’s khan Ibrahim and Erekle arrested Karadagh’s
khan. In 1783, Ahmed Khan, the ruler of Khoi, intended to capture Tabriz,
for which he appealed to Erekle for help. In exchange for the aid,
Ahmed Khan off ered the Georgian king a lump sum of 17,000 tumans,
and promised to pay 8,000 tumans a year in tribute after the conquest
of Tabriz. For his part, the rather weak khan of Ardabil was in
close contact with Ibrahim Khan, Erekle’s ally and ruler of Karabakh.
At the same time, from the spring of 1783, the Russian government
intended, with the help of Erekle II, to take over the Khanates
of northern Iran. Of course, Russian policy was in conflict with the
interests of Erekle II. Accordingly, the Georgian king acted cautiously
and delayed the arrival of letters sent by the offi cials of the Russian
Empire to the “Khans of Ardibezhan”. In the autumn of 1783, the
commander-in-chief of the Caucasus Line, Pavel Potyomkin, openly
rebuked the Georgian king, who was silent on the “case of the Ardibezhan
Khans.”
The archival material also confirms that despite the initial restraint,
from January 1784 Erekle II began to act in favor of Russia.
On his advice the khans of Karabakh and Khoy sent their representatives
to Russia and asked to be received under the patronage of
the emperor.
It was this political activism that particularly alarmed the Ottoman
government. Consequently, the Ottomans, on the one hand,
began to lure the named Khans, and on the other hand, to increase the pressure on the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti. As a result, in 1785-
1786, Erekle II not only lost influence over the Muslim khanates, but
the state of the kingdom became extremely complicated.
Pasha of Kars, close to Erekle, advised the Georgian king to
abandon the benefi cial policies of the Russian Empire in the region.
In particular, Erekle should have made a commitment not to send
additional Russian troops to Georgia, to use the two battalions here
only for defensive purposes, and not to attack the Russian army “for
the time of Ardibejan.” According to Kars Pasha, in this case it was
possible to conclude a peace agreement with the Turkish side.
Due to the difficult situation, in September 1786 Erekle II agreed
to the Ottoman conditions and signed an agreement with Pasha of
Akhaltsikhe. As a result of this agreement, Erekle II actually refused
to pursue a Russian policy towards the “Ardibezhan Khans”
On the Formal Marker of Statisticality in Kartvelian
Get PDFეძღვნება თსუ-ს ემერიტუს პროფესორ ლელი ბარამიძის დაბადებიდან 90-ე წლისთავს/ Dedicated to the 90th Birthday of Emeritus Professor of TSU Leli BaramidzeIn Georgian linguistic reality, different classifications of Kartvelian verbs are known.
According to Arn. Chikobava's classification, verbs are divided into two main classes:
dynamic and static verbs. Dynamically considered is the class of verbs that convey the
action - xat-av-s “he/she paints”. At the same time, there is a static verb that indicates the
statics of an action / situation – xat-ia “it is painted”. According to A. Shanidze, the
classification of verbs is related to the category of transitivity, and static verbs are grouped
with intransitive verbs and form a single subclass - intransitives. Moreover, here static
verbs are considered to be a subset of the passive voice and they are called static verbs of
medial passive voice. But, if we share this theory, then the question arises as to which kind
of voice we should attribute these verbs to: t’ir-i-s “weeps”, k’iv-i-s “whires”, cekv-av-s
“dances”, etc. In a situation like this we have to partially agree with Arn. Chikobava, who
called them voiceless verbs. Clearly, t’ir-i-s “weeps” type verbs oppose each other in terms
of dynamics / statics. However we can not agree with Arn. Chikobava's view that static
verbs reflect the stage of language development when the verb denoted a state, and that
state, like its quality, was unchanged over time. On the contrary, binary opposition: statics
- dynamics was prevailing in the entire system of common Kartvelian origin from the very
beginning. The case is that static verbs did not have the ability to have the time-mood of
the aorist series (in Kartvelian reality, a formal expression of this, at the level of grammatical
semantics, is also impossible). That is why in linguistic Kartvelology the terminology
of the middle voice appears, which borrows this or that verbform from other types
of (actually dynamic) verbs. Based on our observations, we can say that it was the
limitation of form formation (formative production) of static verbs that created the solid
ground due to which these types of verbs did not develop the morphological category of
the voice. This assumption also works successfully in all Kartvelian subsystems, i. e. the
verbs of the medial passive voice separated by Akaki Shanidze as an independent group by
their origin are nothing more than static verbs, the peculiarity of which is that the verbs
with different morphological status are opposed not by the voice but by the dynamics. The
verbal form t’ir-i-s is not even a verb of the middle-active voice, but a static verb of the
active voice, and does not even fill the forms of the second series i-t’ir-a, and so on, but
has no aorist at all, nor can it have or ever had it. In fact, the verb t’ir-i-s is a static verb of
the active voice and correlates with the forms of dynamic i-t’ir-eb-s / i-t’ir-a by dichotomy:
static (t’ir-i-s) / dynamic (i-t’ir-eb-s / i-t’ir-a), the time difference is too late if it was
functioning somewhere, or if it functioned at all. So it can be boldly said that the forms of
t’ir-i-s - a-t’ir-eb-s type oppose each other not by voice but by the morphological category
static-dynamics. In terms of voice, their partner / correlative is the verb a-t’ir-d-eb-a (a-tird-
a), which is a form of the passive voice with a clearly expressed content of the inchoative
in the present time. Thus, the forms are verbs of the active voice t’ir-i-s - a-t’ir-eb-s / i-t’ireb-
s, which correlate with the form of the passive voice a-t’ir-d-a, while all the dynamic
allomorphs taken together are dynamic forms of the t’ir- verb in contrast to the static verb
t’ir-i-s. So, in Kartvelian reversibility (B. Jorbenadze), transitivity, causativity (from original) and so on are separate independent morphological categories, the separation of which, in
the classification of verbs, is conditioned by the necessary requirement of the factual
situation (existence of the empirical material)
საქართველოს ალექსანდრე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის გეოგრაფიული საზოგადოების შრომები
Get PDFაბსტრაქტი. საქართველოს ს. ჯანაშიას სახელობის ეროვნული მუზეუმის ზოოლოგიური კოლექციები,
რომელიც ასახავს საქართველოს და ზოგადად კავკასიის ფაუნის მრავალფეროვნებას,
უნიკალურია თავისი სიძველით. წლების განმავლობაში ზოოლოგიური ფონდები მდიდრდებოდა
კავკასიის ფაუნისტური ექსპედიციებიდან, ორგანიზაციებიდან, კერძო პირებისა დასხვადასხვა
ქვეყნიდან შემოსული მასალებით. ეს ხდებოდა როგორც გაცვლის წესით და შემოწირულობით,
ასევე შესყიდვის გზით, რისი წყალობითაც დღეისათვის ზოოლოგიურ ფონდებში დაცულია
კავკასიაში გავრცელებული ცხოველების თითქმის ყველა სახეობის მასალა. საინტერესოა
ძუძუმწოვარ ცხოველთა ფონდში არსებული ექსპონატები, რომელთა შორისაა საერთაშორისო
კონვენციებითა და საქართველოს წითელი ნუსხით აღიარებული ენდემური, რელიქტური
და სხვა იშვიათი სახეობები. ძუძუმწოვართა (Mammalia) შორის თავისი მრავალფეროვნებით
გამოირჩევა მღრღნელების (Rodentia) რიგის ციყვისებრთა (Sciuridae) ოჯახისა და
ციყვების (Sciurus) გვარის წარმომადგენლები. საქართველოს ეროვნული მუზეუმის ზოოლოგიურ
კოლექციების ძუძუმწოვარ ცხოველთა ფონდის ციყვების კოლექცია წარმოდგენილია 829
ექსპონატით, რომლებიც ძირითადად მიეკუთვნებიან ჩვეულებრივი ციყვის (Sciurus vulgaris) და
კავკასიური ციყვის (Sciurus anomalus) სახეობებსა და ალთაური ციყვის (Sciurus vulgaris altaicus)
ქვესახეობას
The impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on the gross domestic product (GDP) and foreign trade of Georgia (COVID 19 პანდემიის გავლენა საქართველოს მთლიან სამამულო პროდუქტზე და საგარეო ვაჭრობაზე)
Get PDF1. აბესაძე, რ. (2020). გლობალიზაცია და პანდემიის ეკონომიკური შედეგები. ჟურნალი, ეკონომისტი, N2.
2. საქართველოს სტატისტიკის ეროვნული სამსახური (2021) ეროვნული ანგარიშები.
3. საქართველოს სტატისტიკის ეროვნული სამსახური (2021). პირდაპირი უცხოური ინვესტიციები.
4. საქართველოს სტატისტიკის ეროვნული სამსახური (2021). ტურიზმის სტატისტიკა.
5. საქართველოს სტატისტიკის ეროვნული სამსახური 2021). საგარეო ვაჭრობა.
6. Papava V., Silagadze A. (2019). “How the Term the “Gross Domestic Product” should be Translated into Georgian.”
Globalization and Business, No. 7:203-204. (In Georgian).
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Opinion, No. 136.
8. Papava, V. (2021). The Problem of the Growth of Georgia's Public Debt during the Economic Crisis under
the COVID-19 Pandemic.
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Perspectives. Universali, Tbilisi. (In Georgian).
10. Putkaradze, R. (2012). ACTUAL ISSUES OF THE FOREIGN TRADE OF GEORGIA. PaataGugushvili Institute of
Economics of IvaneJAvakhishvili Tbilisi State University. Proceedings of Materials of International Scientific-Practical
Conference Dedicated to the 60th Birth Anniversary of Professor George Tsereteli NATIONAL ECONOMIES AND
GLOBALIZATION. p. 51-58. (In Georgian).
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ZeszytyNaukowe UNIWERSYTETU PRZYRODNICZO-HUMANISTYCZNEGO w SIEDLCACH Seria: AdministracjaiZarządzanie. Scientific Journal, Nr 107, 2015. ZeszytyNaukowe UNIWERSYTETU PRZYRODNICZO-HUMANISTYCZNEGO w SIEDLCACH Seria: AdministracjaiZarządzanie, Poland.
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Journal, Ecoforum Journal. Volume 8, Issue 1(18).
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European Journal of Marketing and Economics, v. 1, n. 1, p. 63-66.
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International Journal of Business and Management Studies (IJBMS).
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17. https://www.ge.undp.org/content/georgia/ka/home/coronavirus.html
18. https://www.bloomberg.com/
19. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
20. https://www.who.int/
21. National Statistics Office of Georgia, www.geostat.ge.The paper discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy of Georgia - in particular, on
the country's GDP and foreign trade; the processes that took place during this period, and their impact on gross
national product (GNP). The focus is made on the early stage of COVID-19 impact as the pandemic is still in
progress and its results might be different in medium and long term. More than 5.7 million people have died worldwide due to COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic that is much more than the total population of
Finland, Norway, Denmark or Georgia.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a serious threat both to healthcare worldwide and the global economy. The
mankind has faced the greatest challenge. New challenges require the development of a new problem-solving
mechanism and a new agenda. The COVID-19 pandemic has turned out to be an unexpected challenge to all the
economies round the world, including Georgia. The scale of this challenge has been quite large in the recent
period.
It is worth noting that in 2019 Georgia's GDP amounted to USD 17.5 billion in current prices, while in 2020
– USD 15.8 billion. Clearly such a change is the result of a change in the GEL exchange rate. In 2020, the country's
GDP in US dollars decreased by USD 1.7 billion (9.7%).
In 2019, the country's GDP at constant prices amounted to GEL 40.3 billion. It should be noted that in 2020,
the real GDP of the country amounted to GEL 37.6 billion compared to the nominal GDP. Therefore, the economic
recession has become clear - during the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 alone the real GDP decreased by GEL 2.7
billion (6.7%) compared to the previous year. If in 2019 the GDP per capita was USD 4696, in 2020 it reduced to
USD 4 256. This means that GDP per capita in 2020 decreased by USD 440 (9.4%) compared to the previous year.
Economic (and not only) restrictions imposed during the Covid 19 pandemic, suspension of tourism activities,
reduction of investments, exports and imports have led to changes in the national currency exchange rate.
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the globalization of the world economy. GDP, GDP per
capita and other economic indicators have decreased all around the world. Poverty has increased worldwide, while
the globalization of the economy on the contrary reduces poverty.
This pandemic should become a good lesson for the international community so that in case of similar
pandemics in the future (hopefully such a large-scale pandemic will be the last one) the international community
will be better prepared to meet it.
Thus the COVID-19 pandemic has created serious challenges that we least expected. Nearly two years have
passed and the covid-19 viruses are still spreading around the world. I greatly hope that everything will end soon
and that the economy of Georgia as well as the global economy will continue to develop without the COVID-19
pandemic. Any pandemic will start and end, but the international community will need to be more prepared with
recent knowledge and experience
English Metaphoric Medical Terms and Their Georgian Equivalents
No full textMetaphor is one of the most interesting tropes among lexical stylistic devices. The term „metaphor,“ as the etymology of the word reveals, means the transference of some quality from one object to another. It is based on the principle of analogy. A metaphor becomes a stylistic device when two completely different concepts are united in the mind according to a certain feature that one of them does not possess in reality.
One of the characteristic features of a term that distinguishes it from an ordinary word is its neutral character. Alternatively, terms should be free of stylistic loading, expressiveness, and emotions, according to their nature. Notwithstanding this, metaphors are quite frequently created in the terminological system. Term formation by means of meaning transference is often a rather significant process (e.g., deadlock).
This process was mainly observed in the medical sphere. The vast majority of medical terms are metaphors. It is particularly vivid in English medical terminology. One of the problems with such meta-phoric terms is figuring out their Georgian equivalents.
Metaphors are often used in terminological vocabulary for term formation.
This study aims to identify and categorize metaphorical terms in medical terminology.
The English names of various diseases and syndromes with metaphoric value are compared to their Georgian equivalents. Consequently, the classification of the material under investigation revealed several groups
Claude Anet's information about the revolution of 1905 in the Crimea and the Caucasus
No full textВ 1906 г. в Париже была издана книга французского писателя Клода Анэ - «Розы Исфахана. Персия на автомобиле через Россию и Кавказ». Она была результатом трудного и полного приключений путешествия французского журналиста вместе с друзьями. Произведение Клода Анэ, написанное в форме дневников, наряду со многими другими интересными рассказами, отображает события революции 1905 года в Крыму и на Кавказе. Отдельные эпизоды революции, рассказанные путешественником-очевидцем, представляют собой интересный и важный документальный материал./ In 1906, a book by the French writer Claude Anet was published in Paris - “Roses of Isfahan. Persia by car through Russia and the Caucasus”. It was the result of an adventurous and difficult journey of a French journalist along with fellow friends. The work, written in the form of the diaries of Claude Anet, along with many other interesting stories, depicts the events of the 1905 revolution in the Crimea and the Caucasus. Separate episodes of the revolution, told by an eyewitness traveller, are interesting and important documentary material
Onomastic Material in the Proverbs of Kartvelian Languages: Marking and Generalization
Get PDFAnalysis of the vocabulary of proverbs and identification of the existing thematic fields is extremely important, because the lexical fund of paremic units is very close to everyday speech (Lezhava, 1959). Due to the social nature of proverbs, the form and content of a concrete word may point to the place of origin and/or spreading of the proverb. Analysis of the empirical material has proved that even within the related Kartvelian languages there may be thematically diverse paremic units, marked by the influence of local peculiarities (Jgharkava, 2020). In this regard, special focus should be made on the onomastic material represented in proverbs.
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Anthroponyms
Megrelian material:
(1) axalaiaš osurepi ṗaṭaraiaš osureps mišaragadandesia. (Sherozia & Memishishi, 1994, p. 16). “The Akhalaias’ wives mix with the Pataraias’ wives“.
The given proverb says that wives of the Akhalaia family tried to establish close relationships with the wives of the Pataraia family. The proverb implies the supremacy of the Pataraia family over the Akhalaias. Thus, the content of the proverb was, from the very start, defined (marked) by the historically proved social supremacy of certain families. Sue to its very nature, a proverb is always inclined to generalization. The above-mentioned paremic unit is nowadays quite general in its content, whereas the social status of certain families is of secondary importance (this can be proved by Megrelian proverbs of the same meaning, containing different anthroponyms. See Sherozia & Memishishi, 1994, p. 16). Generalization of such marked proverbs can be proved by other examples as well:
(2a) soni čikaxe, so mišaxe. “Fancy where Chikava’s daughter has happened to be“ (Sherozia & Memishishi, 1994, p. 124);
(2b) soni ǯikaxe, so mišaxe. “Fancy where Jikia’s daughter has happened to be“ (Folk Speech. II, 1991, p. 526);
(2c) soni mikaxe, so dišaxe.“Fancy where Mikava’s daughter has happened to be“ (field materials).
The concrete referents found in the above-mentioned proverbs become generalized with time. The examples (2a), (2b) and (2c) presented above are also interesting from another viewpoint. In particular, the additional basis of their marking is the rhythmic nature of proverbs i.e. the rhyming of the constituent words (cf. čikaxe – mišaxe, ǯikaxe – mišaxe, mikaxe – dišaxe).
The empirical material has yielded another important topic for analysis, namely, the proverbs based on toponyms, the local marking of which is related to geographical names. In this case, generalization can be proved by the diversity of toponyms (cf. toponyms of Eastern and Western Georgia, as well as the toponyms currently on the Turkish territory mentioned in the Laz proverbs) as well as the wisdom-advice provided in the proverbs.
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Toponyms
Megrelian material:
(3) xorgas koči golaxes do xetas gurk murtua. “The man who was beaten in Khorga, got angry in Kheta“ (Sherozia & Memishishi, 1994, p. 185).
Cf. a Georgian proverb: erti ḳaci gorši galaxes da guli cxinvalši mouvidao (A man was beaten in Gori and got angry in Tskhinvali” (Jorjaneli, 2003, p. 81).
Laz material:
(4) ṗolis ǯumori dvaberenan do nčxalas xarǯi iḳvanṭerenan. “Someone spilled vinegar in Istanbul and demanded recuperation of damage in Chkhala“ (Sherozia & Memishishi, 1994, p. 249).
Svan material:
(5) jerûale qenis eser espešûda I gadranärs ḳäcxte xäc̣rala. “A man fell down in the Kheni gorge and cursed the Gadrani family all the way until he reached Katskhi village“ (Davitiani, 1973, p. 123).
Thus, in the Kartvelian proverbs, the local peculiarities are often marked based on the onomastic material, although proverbs are inclined to generalization and provide universal wisdom which is useful in every place and understood by everyone.კვლევა განხორციელდა შოთა რუსთაველის საქართველოს ეროვნული სამეცნიერო ფონდის მხარდაჭერი
III-II Millenniums Metal Vessels in South Caucasus and Beyond it, in Near East: Exchange of Cultural Traditions
Get PDFეძღვნება პროფ. გოჩა ჯაფარიძის ხსოვნას (1942 – 2020)/ Dedicated to Memory of Prof. Gocha Japaridze (1942 – 2020)Metal Vessel which appears a valuable and specific field in toreutics, has an essential
importance for understanding of the intercultural communications between the Near
Eastern World and its most northern periphery – South Caucasus. Intensity of distribution
of the metal vessels in various regions at the different phase of the ancient prehistoric era
was not equal and sometimes had an enough diverse manifestation. Nevertheless, there is
no doubt that appearance of this valuable patterns was begun not earlier than the start of
the Bronze Age. The various fashions of metal vessel’s representation, earlier and better
than in other cases, were recorded in Near East and beyond it in Caucasian region.
Though, it should be mentioned that, in general, their distribution currently localized on an
especially wide space between the Carpathian and the West Altai. In the last one their
producing starting relatively later. Naturally, that among the diverse typological groups of
the metal vessels was expectable, and in fact certainly were existed, few common shapes.
It is clear that metal vessel’s wider distribution might be considered as a result of
distribution of mode, idea and knowledge from the different civilized regions of the Near
East toward the close and more far distance directions. Consequently, it doesn’t arise any
surprise of scholars that among the regions where evidently is visible the Near Eastern
style vessels was its most northern periphery - South Caucasus. Beside this, it should be
emphasized that diffusion of the certain types of metal vessels at the different stages was
spread as well in Carpathia and Danube areas.
Currently, in presented article we’ll discuss about the differentiated typological
groups, their stylistic variety, peculiarity of the technical methods that was used by the
craftsmen and the scales of spreading of the metal vessel assemblages. As concerns the
considered here artifacts their chronological date ranging only the Early- and Middle
Bronze Ages and not total four thousand years of the whole Bronze-Early Iron era, i.e.,
from the IV to mid I millenniums BC.
The reason why we limited only with the above mentioned two phases of the
Bronze Age is the especially solid quantity of the toreutics in the Late Bronze Age
which evidently requires the serious and longtime research. Therefore, we embraced
only with Early and Middle Bronze Age metal vessel assemblages.
Concerning the metal vessel’s production of the mentioned chronological periods
we would like to note following important points: a) nevertheless that toreurics appears a prestigious material which sure were not an easier accessible product for all-social
groups of society and especially for the common people, in burials there are represented
numerous fascinating items of it. Their number is also rapidly increasing last years; b)
enough solid number of discoveries of the metal vessels which were undoubtedly
valuable material, clearly indicate in favor of tendency of intensive gathering of wealthy
by the high social level of society. It reflects the increase number of producing the
toreutics which means that elite of the certain cultures were taking special care to
strength their power by getting the more richness. c) the result of it appears more
intensive producing of prestigious artifacts, in general, among which one of the
distinguishable were the metal vessels. d) ultimate, all this proves about the high economic
development and quite deep social structurization of society and final formation
of ruling elite who were interested with wealthy and fashionable, prestige patterns
closely related to the mode that was offered by the Near Eastern civilized world. e) All
these processes which was took place in Middle Bronze Age were directly connected
with the activation of intercultural connections.
It would be important to note about those fact which related with the problem of
the first appearance of metal vessels in Caucasian geo-cultural space. Current
archaeological evidences clearly indicate that initial appearance of toreutics in Early
Bronze Age related only with North Caucasus and, more specifically, with developed
stage of Maykop culture of the beginning of III millennium BC (Korenevskii 2011: pl.
38-71,21-10 ). Contemporary to it South Caucasian Kura-Araxian culture didn’t demonstrate
any case of existence of the metal vessels. Explanation of this fact still remains
the topic of discussion of many scholars. Currently revealed evidences allow to
conclude that all type of toreutics, in general, and, particularly metal vessels, starting to
appeared in northern part of this space when for the South Caucasus they remained
unknown artifact in Middle Bronze Age.
Interested for us patterns of the Maykop culture (or according by some scholars,
Maykop-Novosvobodnaya culture) created around 8 groups of different types of metal
vessels produced by gold, silver and bronze. They represented by high necked gold and
silver vases, relatively low necked vases of the same metals, silver opened mouth
vessels of the pot style, silver and bronze low jars, biconical shape horizontally stretched
bowls made by gold and silver, low hemispherical bowls, silver, opened mouth,
richly ornamented bowls, bronze cauldron with handle and gold vase with special cover
and nicely shaped neck (Markovin, Munchaev, 2003: 56,57, pls.12,13,14 ).
Problem of formation and quite a sudden appearance of metal vessel production as
well as all the numerous rich assemblage of toreutics of the Early bronze Age North
Caucasian culture arise many questions of scholars concerning their origination.
Currently, many of them are arguing in favor of the influence, even the penetration of
some group of population, of the Hattian culture in North Caucasus. With the end of the
Maykop culture the above-described artifacts were disappearing from the Caucasian
cultural space. Their end was so sudden as their appearance in III millennium BC in
North Caucasus. After the famous Maykop culture producing and wide use of metal
vessels doesn’t recorded in this region until the Late Bronze Age.
Like the Early Bronze Age Kura-Araxes cultural unit, the metal vessels remained
also unknown in Bedeni culture, appearance of which in South Caucasus means the
essential changes from many points of social and cultural life of the local society.
Totally differing situation was revealed only at the II phase of the Middle Bronze Age
when the highly flourished Trialeti Culture of Brilliant Kurgans appeared in the South Caucasian space (Kuftin 1941:79-99; Puturidze 2017:214,215). Beginning of this
culture presage the start of metal vessel’s producing and, in general, flourishment of the
high artistic craft. Appearance of many tens’ fashionable, high artistic and nicely
modeled metal vessels indicate in favor of rapid development of craftsmanship, establishing
the interconnection with the Near Eastern civilizations and socio-economical
strength of this culture. Nevertheless, of the archaeologist’s scholarly activities it is still
debatable what kind of events arise such an unexpected start of producing the metal
vessels when there was not recorded any local background for it.
Rich assemblage of metal vessels found in giant kurgans Kvemo Kartli and
Armenia and represented by the various type stylistically different items, demonstrate
the top level of development of this field of craft. Their typological systematization and
detail scheme still require to be done by the specialists.
After a long period of discovery of the first burial site in Tsalka region, Trialeti
culture accumulate an impressive number of fascinating artifacts of the artistic craft.
Barrows of this widely distributed cultural unit suggests the following diverse types of
artifacts (Kuftin 1941: 83-100, Tabs.LXXXVII-XCIII; Gogadze 1972: 69-79; Japaridze
2006: 342, 346-347) of interested material, such as: ritual silver goblets richly decorated
with numerous Near Eastern images, silver vessel with gold applications on the
rim and bottom and richly ornamented by the flora-faunistic images, cylindrical vessels
with one decorated handle and plain surface, biconical silver vessels with a plain surface
and low, elaborately modeled base, hemispherical undecorated bowls, with the
decorated handle and plain surface, gold cup, ornamented by lion’s bas-relief images,
small size gold bowl with a plain surface but top elaborately modeled shape, fascinating
gold beaker, decorated with filigree, granulation and inlays by semi-fine stones, middle
size gold vessel with geometrically ornamented surface, bronze ‘basket-shape” vessel
with handle, bronze cauldrons, considered for the preparing the burial meal and etc. All
these, specially considered in presented article, patterns supposing that were created at
the time-interval of 21-18 centuries BC and appears an elaborate pattern of high artistic
craft which sometimes find a close analogue among the Near Eastern sites but in other
case evidently are of local cultural tradition. It is evident that they are differing from
many points and create stylistically various groups, sometimes especially richly decorated
and in other cases with a plain surface, but all of them are distinguishable items by
their elaborated shape.
Famous experts of this sphere noted that the Trialetian valuable assemblages are
unique and gold working of this culture was one of the top developed artistic craft in
ancient Old World (Rubinson 2013: 12-25; Maxwell-Hyslop 1971:74-81).
Summing all, it seems to me quite evident that precious metal vessels from the
developed (II) stage of the Middle Bronze Age mark a turning point concerning such
kinds of innovations. Their appearance in the South Caucasus was sudden, unexpected,
and not proceeded by any local tradition of metal vessel’s producing. Supposing, that
influences that comes from the certain Near Eastern cultures and activation of
intercultural relations (trade-exchange, cultural) should be considered as stimulate factor
in complicate process of their formation