Eliso Kvavadze

Georgian National Academy of Sciences | GNAS · Institute of palaeobiology

Eight small glass bottles (vials) have been obtained from five graves of the Kanchaani cemetery, dating to the 1st-3rd centuries AD. The objects came to the laboratory almost intact, and their contents have also survived. Analysis of the plant pollen and the study of non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP) of these contents showed that there was a set of var...

This article focuses on the palynological (pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs) study of material found with artefacts from Late Bronze Age archaeometallurgical sites in the Lechkhumi area of the mountainous south-west Caucasus region of ancient Colchis. The analysis of organic residues recovered from voids in slag and crucible fragments have reveal...

Layers of the Namcheduri II settlement (Western Georgia) dated from the 5th-4th centuries BC have been studied by the palynological method. It revealed that cereals represented the main component of the population’s diet in the discussed period. The nutritive ratio included chestnut, hazel, walnut, and grapes. The majority of the plants apparently...

In the Caucasus, peat deposits exposed near Lake Sevan (Armenia) provide a Middle to Late Holocene record of lake level fluctuations. The Tsovinar-1 section at the southern shore of Lake Sevan in the Armenian Highlands reveals a well-dated and divers pollen and carpo-flora covering a time span from 6000 BC to 900 AD. The abundances of pollen of for...

The collection of modern, spatially extensive pollen data is important for the interpretation of fossil pollen assemblages and the reconstruction of past vegetation communities in space and time. Modern datasets are readily available for percentage data but lacking for pollen accumulation rates (PARs). Filling this gap has been the motivation of th...

The collection of modern spatially extensive pollen data are important for the interpretation of fossil pollen diagrams. Such datasets are readily available for percentage data but lacking for pollen accumulation rates (PAR). Filling this gap has been the motivation of the pollen monitoring network, whose contributors monitored pollen deposition in...

The Early Bronze sites studied by means of the palynological method are discussed in the presented monograph. Of them, about 20 sites are mainly located in Samtskhe-Meskhet-Javakheti, Lower and Inner Kartli. Only one site is situated in the northern part of the Alazani Gorge. The accomplishment of the monograph was funded by the Shota Rustaveli Nat...

Pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs from two zoomorphic Kura-Araxes vessels (ca. 3000 b.c.) from Aradetis Orgora suggest they were utilized for the ritual consumption of wine and likely represent the beginning of the enduring tradition of animal-shaped wine-drinking containers in Georgia. This hypothesis is supported by archaeological and geoarchaeo...

This communication will provide the latest information about the progress of the “Research Project for the Study of Georgian Grapes and Wine Culture”, managed by the National Wine Agency of Georgia since 2014. Local and foreign institutions continue to work together with the aim of stimulating multidisciplinary scientific research activity on Georg...

Paleodiet is an archaeological signature of social organisation. Nowadays, to reconstruct it, mainly isotope and chemical analysis of bone remains from archaeological sites is used; therefore, the identification of new potential indicators of paleodiet by applying biological methods is very important. This article discusses palynological evidence o...

Global cooling during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) posed significant challenges to peoples living in northern Eurasia. Using micromorphology, pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP), and faunal analyses, this study reconstructs the local paleoenvironmental contexts of repeated ephemeral occupations at Shizitan 29 in Shanxi Province, North China,...

In 2014, the National Wine Agency of the Republic of Georgia initiated a three-year “ResearchProject for the study of Georgian Grapes and Wine Culture. Through collaborative research by Georgianand foreign institutions and researchers, the project aims to: stimulate research of Georgian viticulture andviniculture, through the lens of the country wi...

Pleistocene lake sediments have been investigated palynologically from the profiles located in eastern Georgia and south-western Armenia (Vorotan river valley). Altogether the material from 8 profiles has been studied.With some exception, the material appeared to be rather poor in plant pollen and spores. However, it contains large quantities of no...

Early Pleistocene

The database of palynological studies of marine, lagoon, alluvial and bog sediments of the Black Sea coastline on the territory of Georgia includes 26 profiles of Holocene sediments. Analysis and synthesis of pollen diagrams allowed us to make a stratigraphic subdivision of Holocene sediments and reveal climatic fluctuations for the last 10 000 yea...

An eyed bone needle fragment found in Shizitan 29 site, Shanxi Province, dated to ca. 23–26 ka cal BP, is one of the early needles with a precise stratigraphic context and date among the open-air Palaeolithic sites in North China. Although the needle was found broken, based on microwear observation and experiments in making and using bone needles,...

The mid-third millennium BC, the approximate start of the Early Bronze Age III in the Southern Caucasus, witnessed the emergence of a new cultural horizon characterised by the use of barrow burials (or kurgans). One component of this so-called Early Kurgan Culture is particularly well represented in the Bedeni Plateau of Southern Georgia. Although...

Abstract Recent excavation at the site of Chobareti (1615 m a.s.l., South Caucasus Mountains) reveals an important Kura-Araxes settlement and eleven burials so far, for which a first multi-proxies approach was conducted to understand both exploitation of plants and human dietary practices in this mountainous area. Thanks to the excavation of severa...

The region of western Georgia (Imereti) has been a major geographic corridor for human migrations during the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic (MP/UP). Knowledge of the MP and UP in this region, however, stems mostly from a small number of recent excavations at the sites of Ortvale Klde, Dzudzuana, Bondi, and Kotias Klde. These provide an absolute chro...

The investigation of non pollen palynomorphs from pots has shown that they provide very important information on the type of food.

The palynological study of the samples taken from the Neolithic layers of the two Settlements showed that 8,000 years ago in the Lower Kartli there existed floodplain forests with alder, wing nut and box, and on the hills and low ridges there grew deciduous forests with oak, hornbeam, lime and elm. Forest fern spores found there also point to the e...

The Non Pollen Palynomorphs group includes the remains of various fresh-water algae, cyanobacteriae, phytolites, fungi spores, tracheal cells of wood, starch grains, tephra, animal hairs, remains of insects and invertebrates. The mentioned types of palynomorphs provide valuable information on palaeogeographic conditions of the region of the time wh...

An investigation of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs in the organic material in bronze objects found in Vani provides evidence that, in the first half of the first century BC, the climate of the area was cooler and much more humid than nowadays. The local population was engaged in cattle-breeding and agriculture, and both viticulture and horticul...

Once a restricted military zone, the Akhaltsikhe-Aspindza region within the Samtskhe-Javakheti province of Georgia is now the focus of archaeological investigations. This paper brings together the main data from three years of fieldwork at the ancient site of Chobareti, situated at 1610 metres above sea level, which has so far revealed a Kura-Araxe...

The unique finds of bones of ancient hominids in Dmanisi dated to 1.8 million years ago show that southern Georgia like the Caucasus as a whole is a corridor of early human migration from Africa.

The karst cave Dzudzuana is occupied near the village Darkveti of the Chiatura municipality at an altitude of 560 m.a.s.l. It involves upper paleolithic and eneolithic layers. In the cave, for the palynological analysis 5 profile were made where 86 samples were taken and investigated. All the singled out stratigraphic layers the absolute age of whi...

The report announces the important radiocarbon-dated sequence recently obtained at Dzudzuana Cave in the southern Caucasus foothills. The first occupants here were modern humans, in c . 34.5–32.2 ka cal BP, and comparison with dated sequences on the northern slope of the Caucasus suggests that their arrival was rapid and widespread. The rich, well-...

The report announces the important radiocarbon-dated sequence recently obtained at Dzudzuana Cave in the southern Caucasus foothills. The first occupants here were modern humans, in c. 34.5–32.2 ka cal BP, and comparison with dated sequences on the northern slope of the Caucasus suggests that their arrival was rapid and widespread. The rich, well-d...

Information from pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs was used to reconstruct ritual burial traditions in the first half of the third millennium b.c. The floor of the burial chamber of the Paravani barrow and a ceremonial wagon were covered with flax textiles (Linum), as evidenced by the abundance of flax microfibres. The wagon was made of pine (Pinu...

Pollen analyses were performed on sediment samples from ten different Saphar-Kharaba burials dating to the 15th–14th centuries b.c. Along with pollen and spores, a large amount of micro-remains of textile fibres was found near skeleton bones and especially under big bones. It was established that in all the studied samples 95% of the remains of the...

The first hominid expansions out of Africa date to the Lower Pleistocene. As environmental changes are widely thought to be correlated to important steps in hominids' history [DeMenocal, P.B., Bloemendal, J., 1995. Plio-Pleistocene subtropical African climate variability and the paleoenvironment of hominid evolution: a combined data-model approach....

Tertiary-relict plants are survivors from the pre-Quaternary periods. Today, most European Tertiary relicts are confined to small, isolated stands distributed in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions. In the past, however, the fossil record indicates that these species were probably distributed over large parts of the European continent and may h...

Bergfjord et al. express doubts regarding our identification of flax fibers on the basis of the morphology of their internal layers. The authors use microphotographs and descriptions of the outer layers of fibers as arguments for their claims. Morphology and structure of the outer and inner parts of fibers are radically different, however, renderin...

This paper compares pollen spectra derived from modified Tauber traps and moss samples from a selection of woodland types from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Greece, Poland, Switzerland and Wales. The study examines the representation of individual taxa in the two sampling media and aims to ascertain the duration of pollen deposition captur...

Annual PAR (pollen accumulation rates; grains cm−2 year−1) were studied with modified Tauber traps situated in ten regions, in Poland (Roztocze), the Czech Republic (two regions in Krkonoše, two in Šumava), Switzerland (4 regions in the Alps), and Georgia (Lagodekhi). The time-series are 10–16 years long, all ending in 2007. We calculated correlati...

Currently there are 1306 known karst caves in Georgia, of which 480 are horizontal caves and 826 are shafts and chasms. Their total length is 240km and their cumulative depth is about 61km. The world's two deepest known caves, Krubera (Voronja) (2,191m deep) and Illyuzia-Mezhonnogo-Snezhnaya (1,753m deep), are located in Georgia. Information about...

Palynological investigation of organic remains on the internal side of Neolithic ceramic vessels from the early agricultural settlement of Gadachrili Gora showed the presence of well preserved pollen grains of Vitis vinifera. There is also a lot of pollen of weeds characteristic for vineyards. Gadachrili Gora layers were dated to 5815 cal BC and 57...

Three pollen traps have been placed on the territory of the vineyard in Kvemo Magaro village where the Rkatsiteli variety was planted. Seven last years of monitoring have shown that the grape pollen influx in the traps is high and varies rather significantly from year to year. The pollen production and yield exhibit maximum values in humid 2003. A...

The comment by Bergfjord et al. expresses doubts concerning the possibility of identifying flax fibers on the basis of the morphology of their internal layers. The authors use microphotographs and descriptions of the outer layers of fibers as arguments for their claims. Morphology and structure of the outer and inner parts of fibers are radically d...

A unique finding of wild flax fibers from a series of Upper Paleolithic layers at Dzudzuana Cave, located in the foothills of the Caucasus, Georgia, indicates that prehistoric hunter-gatherers were making cords for hafting stone tools, weaving baskets, or sewing garments. Radiocarbon dates demonstrate that the cave was inhabited intermittently duri...

Near Karačamirli in Western Azerbajdžan in 2006 and 2007 a monumental gate house has been uncovered on Ideal Tepe. Four column bases have been found in situ, however, there is evidence of a total of ten columns. Architecture and small finds give ample proof that this was an Achaemenid Propylon. The building plan is a close copy of the so-called 'Tr...

A unique finding of wild flax fibers from a series of Upper Paleolithic layers at Dzudzuana Cave, located in the foothills of the Caucasus, Georgia, indicates that prehistoric hunter-gatherers were making cords for hafting stone tools, weaving baskets, or sewing garments. Radiocarbon dates demonstrate that the cave was inhabited intermittently duri...

A multidisciplinary analysis of pollen, seeds, mites and molluscs from organic remains in the Tsitsamuri burial (4th–6th century a.d.) provides strong evidence of the season of internment. The presence of Trifolium campestre flowers, abundant Achillea-type pollen, ripe seeds from various early summer flowering plants, remains of Acari mites and imm...

Aim To use pollen data, numerical analysis and modelling to reconstruct late Quaternary vegetation and climate in a complex, mountainous environment. Location Georgia (Caucasus region). Methods Pollen data were assembled from various sources and used to map: (1) changing frequencies of individual taxa; (2) vegetation changes; and (3) reconstructed...