Caucasian Archaeology

Trialeti Culture of the Middle Bronze Age is represented with huge burial kurgans of “kings” and chiefs. The name of the culture originates from the study of archaeological sites from Trialeti plateau in Tsalka region. In connection with the construction of the Tsalka Reservoir and Khrami hydropower station, archaeological works have been carried out there by B.A. Kuftin. After excavation of kurgans of Trialeti Culture, completely appeared a brilliance of the burial ritual. Special attention deserve the unique, hitherto unknown and very precious materials, which were discovered in a burial chambers of a deceased. Golden and silver adornments, standards, toreutics, silver and bronze weapons, black polished and painted pottery, which were discovered in the kurgans of the first half of the 2nd millennium B.C. thoroughly occupied its place not only in Caucasian, but in the world culture treasury. B. Kuftin named the new archaeological culture as "The Brilliant Culture of Trialeti Great Kurgans", which today is known as the "Trialet Culture". It must be mentioned here a rather high level of development of the cult architecture in the Middle Bronze Age. This is evidenced by the technique of constructing of kurgans, their ideological and aesthetic aspect and architectural appearance. The construction of such compound complexes of this scale, required a lot of time, money and labor, and possibly lasted for several years. Apparently, the construction of a large kurgan used to began even during the lifetime of the buried. With the funeral rite were connected stone-paved roads, which were built for the procession. They were an organic part of kurgan. The ritual roads of Trialeti kurgans have no analogues in the distribution area of the kurgan cultures. The grandeur of stone roads is evidenced by their size. The length of some of them reaches 500 meters, and the width is 5-6 meters. They adjoin to kurgan exactly from the east and sometimes are a continuation of a dromos. Ritual-processional roads, discovered in Trialeti, date from the end of the 3rd millennium B.C. and the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C. and belong to the Middle Bronze Age. The ritual roads of Trialeti kurgans have no analogues in the distribution area of the kurgan cultures.

Trialeti Culture of the Middle Bronze Age is represented with huge burial kurgans of “kings” and chiefs. Special attention must be paid to the unique, hitherto unknown and very precious materials, which were discovered in burial chambers of deceased. Golden and silver adornments, standards, toreutics, silver and bronze weapons, black polished and painted pottery, which were discovered in the kurgans  of the 3rd – 2nd  millennium B.C. thoroughly occupied its place not only in Caucasian, but in the world culture treasury.
According to the resent data we can say that the Trialeti culture was spread in the central, eastern and southern parts of Caucasus.
Till the resent times, sites of Trialeti culture mainly were represented with burials. During the last decades settlements of Trialeti culture were discovered in the central part of South Caucasus (Kakheti, Kartli, Lore). Settlement of the last stage of Trialeti culture was discovered in Trialeti, near Jinisi village.
Graves of the Middle Bronze Age are kurgans with earth mound, stone mound and with stone-earth mound. The burial chamber of kurgan is arranged in the center of it. According to the burial chambers there are distinguished two types of burials – kurgans with pit or without pit burials. The construction of such compound complexes of this scale, required a lot of time, money and labor, and possibly lasted for several years. Apparently, the construction of a large kurgan used to start even during the lifetime of the buried. With the funeral rite were connected stone-paved roads, which were built for procession. They were organic part of kurgan. The ritual roads of Trialeti kurgans have no analogues in the distribution area of the kurgan cultures. The grandeur of stone roads is evidenced by their size. The length of some of them reaches 500 meters, and the width is 5-6 meters. They adjoin to kurgan exactly from the east and sometimes are a continuation of a dromos.
In the Trialeti kurgans, sometimes deceased was buried together with a four-wheeled cart. Some of the carts were disposable and were made just for a funeral ritual. Some scientists believe, that deceased, or his ashes, were brought to pit or large kurgans with funeral halls through dromos, into already closed funeral hall, on a chariot harnessed by bulls. The procession used to move along the ritual road.
Ritual-processional roads, discovered in Trialeti, date from the end of the 3rd millennium B.C. and the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C. and belong to the Middle Bronze Age. The ritual roads of Trielti kurgans have no analogues in the distribution area of the kurgan cultures. They have big similarity with the ritual-processional roads known in the Old World. Particular similarity is observed with the so-called "Ascending Roads" of the Egyptian pyramids.