Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
TSETSKHLADZE
INTRODUCTION
In almost all studies of the Greek colonisation of Colchis (eastern Black Sea region) it
is stressed that Colchis was rich in iron,
copper, gold and silver, and that the Greek
presence in that area of Pontus was due to their
desire to export those natural resources from
Colchis to Greece (Figure 1). At this point
Strabo is quoted: . . . Again, Medea the sorceress is an historical person and the wealth
of the regions about Colchis, which is derived
from the mines of gold, silver, iron and
copper, suggests a reasonable motive for the
expedition [the Argonauts voyage to Aia], a
motive which induced Phrixus also to undertake
307
ASNY MAYAK
NAMCHEDURI
Figure 1
Map of Colchis (6th-1st cc BC), with major sites.
308
GOCHA R. TSETSKHLADZE
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0
h - -
10 cms
1
Figure 2
Agricultural implements from the burial-grounds of Colchis (end of 7th c BC)
1-2 Iron ploughs
3, 7, 9. Bronze knives
4-6, 8, 10. Iron knives
(After Mikeladze 1990, tabl. 34)
II
Ill
IV
'i
0 0
Figure 3
Iron swords lend of 7th c BC)
(After Mikeladze 1990, tabl. 25)
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GOCHA R . TSETSKHLADZE
Ill
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5-
3
Figure 4
Bronze swords (7th c BC)
(After Mikeladze 1990, tabl. 24)
I
8
10
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Figure 7
Bronze and iron items from the burial-grounds of Colchis (end of 7th c BC)
(After Mikeladze 1990, tabl. 23)
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GOCHA R. TSETSKHLADZE
South-western Colchis
Pichvnari: Colchian burial-ground of the 5th
century BC. Weapons were found in 2 of the
158 burials (published to date) (Kakhidze 1981,
18-32). Tsikhisdzin':Cemetery of the 5th-3rd
centuries BC. Twelve weapons were found in
the 303 burials in~estigated.~
Central Colchis
Dapnari: Burial-ground of the late 4th-2nd
centuries BC. Weapons were not found in any
of the 38 jug-burials excavated (Kiguradze
1976, 14-57). Zemo Partskhma: Burialground of the late 4th-2nd centuries BC.
Weapons were not found in any of the 35 jugburials (Vashakidze 1985, 23- 109).
Northern Colchis
Guadikhy: Burials of the 4th-3rd centuries
BC. 32 weapons were found in the 59 burials
investigated (Trapsh 1969, 242-8). Krasni
Mayak: Burials of the 5th-3rd centuries BC.
11 weapons were found in the 36 burials
investigated (Trapsh 1969, 268-84).
In the rich burials in Vani and Sairkhe
weapons are encountered in the graves of
warriors. The weapons are either of the
Scythian type (produced in Colchis) or Greek
or Achaemenian ones (Lordkipanidze G. 1976,
167-90; Tsetskhladze 1993/4, 22-3, with
literature).
As can be seen from the above figures the
tribes of South-western and Central Colchis
lived in peace and they had no need to produce
weapons. l o The population of Northern
Colchis, on the other hand, is differentiated
by the large number of weapons found there.
The tribes who lived within the chora of
Dioscuria needed to protect themselves against
the Heniochi and Zygi - tribes that lived
outside it and who were notorious for their
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100 crns
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100 crns
100 crns
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100 crns
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Figure 10
Iron smelting kilns from western Georgia
1-5. First half of the first millenium BC
6. Classical
7. Early Mediaeval
8. 18th-19th centuries
(After Khakhutaishvili 1987, 200, fig. 67)
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zQ4,
aar
Figure 1 1
Pattern of location of iron-smelting hearths in Colchis (before 6th c BC)
(After Khakhutaishvili 1987, 42. fig. 1)
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GoId
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Figure 17
Iron production of Colchis (6th-5th cc BC)
A - iron smelting kiln
B - iron items: 1-4, tools; 5-8, weapons; 9, bridle
(After Koshelenko 1985, 116)
0
5 crns
I
A
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Figure 16
Bronze ( 1 , 5) and bone (2-4) pommels of Scythian
swords from Colchis
(After Pirtskhalava 1978, tabl. 13)
GOCHA R. TSETSKHLADZE
Silver
Early silver jewellery has been found in two
burials in the burial-ground at Ergeti (7th
century BC) and silver ingots have been
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GOCHA R. TSETSKHLADZE
Acknowledgements
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327
Department of Classics
Royal Holloway
University of London
Egham, Surrey TW20 OEX, UK
NOTES
1. Lordkipanidze 0. 1983b, 124-29; Treister 1988,36:
Notes Nos. 121-4 contain the main literature, in which
scholars accept that the Greeks search for metals was
the main reason for the colonisation of Colchis. Treister
points out that by the 6th century BC iron was sufficiently
widespread in Greece, for there to be no need for it to
be exported from Colchis. See also: Treister 1992,
29-43 (with literature).
2. However, stylistically the figurine from Samos does
not correspond at all closely with Greek ones. It is
possible that the figurines from Samos and Ureki were
both produced somewhere in the Near East. Such
figurines are also unusual amongst Colchian bronze
output although some distant similarities could be found.
It seems more likely that both were produced in the Near
East: there are many Near Eastern objects of this period
in Samos (Jantzen 1972, passim; Moorey 1974, 190-95;
Muscarella 1978, 61-72); in Colchis (Vani) clay
figurines of two-headed fantastic animals (7th century)
were found (Lordkipanidze 0. 1991, 156-59) whose
style and inspiration derived, most probably, from Persia
(Luristan) (Boardman 1994, 341, note 102).
3. The author includes in this map the south-east Black
Sea where the Chalybes, Macrones, Mosynoeci and
Tibareni used to live - an area never within the Colchian
kingdom.
4. On the question of the dune settlements and the
controversy that centres upon them in the literature, see:
Tavamaishvili 1991, 27-41.
5. Literature in western European languages on the
Scythians can be found in: CAH 1991,560-90; Cunliffe
1994, 373-410.
6. Moreover, from the end of the 7th century BC
throughout Colchis jugs with so-called vertical tubular
handles became widespread (Mikeladze 1974.63). This
pottery was produced locally from local clay and
represents a completely new type for Colchian culture.
At the same time, such jugs were recorded in the orbit
of Iranian culture where jugs of exactly the same type
start to appear at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC
(Ghirshman 1964, 128, fig. 170; Dyson 1965, fig. 7.
Seeher 1992, 10, fig. 3 and 18, fig. 9; Tuba Okse 1992,
55, fig. 4 and 59, fig. 5 ) . Penetration of this type of
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1995
GOCHA R. TSETSKHLADZE
ABBREVIATIONS
CAH
- Cambridge Ancient
History
CQ - Classical Quarterly
DHA
DYSON, R.H.
SA - Sovetskaya Archeologia
VDI - Vestnik Drevnei Istorii
Of
HIGGINS. R . A .
REFERENCES
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BOARDMAN. J .
Antiquity (London).
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Sciences VII (5), 283-289 (in Russian).
BOCHORISHVILI.
BOUZEK. J .
BRAUND. D.
CAWKWELL. G.L.
289-303.
1977: Towards a Study of the
Goldsmith's Art in Colchis. Shon Bulletins of the Insrifute
of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR
151, 75-77 (in Russian).
1989:
KHAKHUTAISHVILI. D.A.
CHQONIA. A . M .
wAKHuTAisHvIL1, D.A.
KIGURADZE, N .
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KOSHELENKO, G.A.
NADIRADZE, D.S.
LORDKIPANIDZE, G . A .
LORDKIPANIDZE. M.N.
LORDKIPANIDZE, O.D.
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SHAMBA, G . K .
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SPEAR, N.
SULIMIRSKI. T .
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MOBIUS, H.
TEKHOV. B.V.
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TRAPSH, M.M.
1969: works,
VOI.
2 (Sukhumi) (in
Russian).
TREISTER. M.J. 1988: The RBle of Metals in the Age of
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TREISTER. M.J. 1992:
TSETSKHLADZE. C.R.
TSETSKHLADZE, C.R.
TSETSKHLADZE, G.R.
1992: Colchian
Amphorae: Typology, Chronology and Aspects of
Production. ABSA 87, 357-386.
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