Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T07:59:32.046Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The British-Georgian excavation at Pichvnari 1998: the ‘Greek’ and ‘Colchian’ Cemeteries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

M. Vickers
Affiliation:
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A. Kakhidze
Affiliation:
Batumi Archaeologial Museum

Extract

Pichvnari lies on the Black Sea coast of Georgia, at the confluence of the Choloki and Ochkhamuri rivers, some 10km to the north of the town of Kobuleti in the Ajarian Autonomous Republic (fig 1). The site has been known since the 1950s, and excavations were carried out in both the settlement and its various cemeteries in succeeding years, under the auspices of the Batumi Archaeological Museum and the Batumi Research Institute. The site was surveyed and a notional grid-plan imposed, within which subsequent work was recorded. By the time of the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1989–90, the Pichvnari Expedition was a fixture in the Georgian archaeological calendar, but with the abrupt decline in the Georgian economy this happy state of affairs came to an end.

In 1998, however, work started again in collaboration with the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. In the spring of that year, the dig-house (part of an old kolkhoz, collective farm) was restored with the aid of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust. The roof was mended, and water and electricity laid on. The first season took place in July and August, when work (briefly reported in Vickers 1998) was conducted in the areas of both the North, or ‘Colchian’, and West, or ‘Greek’, Cemeteries.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute at Ankara 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alekseeva, E A 1975: ‘Classical beads of the northern Black Sea area’ Svod Arkheologicheskikh Istochnikov issue G: 112 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Ambroz, A K 1971: ‘Problems of the early medieval chronology of eastern EuropeSovietskaya Arkheologiya 2: 96123 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Anokhin, V A 1986: The Coinage of Bosphorus. Kiev (in Russian)Google Scholar
Arsenyeva, T M 1970: ‘A burial ground near V. NovootradnoyeMaterialyi Issledovaniya po Arkheologii SSSR 155: 82149 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Arsenyeva, T M 1981: ‘The red-glazed pottery from Tanais of the end of the 4th-beginning of the 5th century ADBrief Reports of the Institute of Archaeology 168: 43–7 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Baramidze, M 1977: The Merkheuli Necropolis. Tbilisi (in Georgian)Google Scholar
Beazley Gifts 1967: Ashmolean Museum, Select Exhibition of Sir John and Lady Beazley's Gifts, 1912–1966. LondonGoogle Scholar
Belyaev, S A 1962: ‘The red-glazed pottery of Chersonesus of the 4th-6th centuries AD’ in The Classical History and Culture of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea Region. Moscow (in Russian)Google Scholar
Brashinski, I B 1980: Greek Ceramic Import in the Lower Don in the 5th-3rd century BC. Leningrad (in Russian)Google Scholar
Braund, D 1994: Georgia in Antiquity. OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broadgate, J A 1999: A Study of Iron Coffin Fittings of the Fifth and Fourth Centuries BC from Pichvnari, Georgia, Caucasus (Diploma in Applied Archaeology dissertation). OxfordGoogle Scholar
Caronte, 1995: Proceedings of the conference ‘Caronte—un obolo per l'aldilàParola del Passato 50: 161535Google Scholar
Chqonia, A 1977: ‘Early Classical earrings from the ancient city site of VaniVani 3: 81100 (in Georgian)Google Scholar
Chqonia, A 1981: ‘Gold ornaments from the ancient site of VaniVani 6: 1160 (in Georgian)Google Scholar
Condurachi, E 1962: Histria 2. BucharestGoogle Scholar
Doundoua, G 1982: ‘Les kolkhidkiDialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 8: 5360CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dubuis, O F, Frey-Kupper, S, Perret, G 1999: Trouvailles monétaires de tombes: actes du deuxième colloque international du Groupe suisse pour l'étude des trouvailles monétaires, Neuchâtel, 3–4 mars 1995. LausanneGoogle Scholar
Gagoshidze, I 1997: ‘Archaeological excavations at Takhtidziri (Kareli district)’ in Caucasian Archaeology: most recent discoveries and prospects. Tbilisi (in Georgian)Google Scholar
Gaidukevich, V F 1959: ‘The necropoleis of some Bosporan cities. The necropolis of TyritakeMaterialyi Issledovaniya po Arkheologii SSSR 69: 154238 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Giel, C 1889: Kleine Beiträge zur antiken Südrusslands. MoscowGoogle Scholar
Gill, D W J 1986: Attic Black-glossed Pottery in the Fifth Century BC: Workshops and Export (DPhil thesis). OxfordGoogle Scholar
Golenko, K V, Kapanadze, D G 1964: ‘Four hoards of KolkhidkasNumismatica i Epigrafica 6: 3161 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Grose, D F 1989: The Toledo Museum of Art: Early Ancient Glass. New YorkGoogle Scholar
Gunba, M M 1978: New Relics of the Tsebelda Culture. Tbilisi (in Russian)Google Scholar
Iashvili, I, Kakhidze, A, Vickers, M Forthcoming: ‘Silver coins of Black Sea coastal cities from the fifth century BC necropolis at Pichvnari’ Numismatic ChronicleGoogle Scholar
Inaishvili, N 1993: ‘The Tsikhisdziri archaeological remains of the lst-6th centuries ADRemains of South-western Georgia 21 (in Georgian)Google Scholar
Kakhidze, A Y 1971: Classical Period Cities of Georgia's Black Sea Littoral. Tbilisi (in Georgian)Google Scholar
Kakhidze, A Y 1974a: ‘The main results of the archaeological excavations of the 4th-century BC necropolis of PichvnariRemains of South-western Georgia 4: 4993 (in Georgian)Google Scholar
Kakhidze, A Y 1974b: ‘Imported coins from a grave in PichvnariVestnik Drevnei Istorii 3: 8892 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Kakhidze, A Y 1975: The Classical Remains of the Eastern Black Sea Littoral. Batumi (in Georgian)Google Scholar
Kakhidze, A Y 1979a: The Eastern Black Sea Littoral in the Classical Period (PhD thesis). Tbilisi (in Georgian)Google Scholar
Kakhidze, A Y 1979b: ‘Pichvnari — the Greek cemetery of the fourth century BCSovietskaya Arkheologiya 1: 171–80 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Kakhidze, A Y 1981: The Eastern Black Sea Littoral in the Classical Period. Batumi (in Russian)Google Scholar
Kakhidze, A Y Forthcoming: The Classical World in South-Western GeorgiaGoogle Scholar
Kakhidze, A I, Plontke-Lüning, A 1992: ‘Ausgrabungen in Kobuleti-PitschwnariGeorgica 15: 514Google Scholar
Kaposhina, S 1959: ‘The necropolis in the area of the Voikov settlement, near KerchMaterialyi Issle dovaniya po Arkheologii SSSR 69: 108–53 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Khakhutaishvili, D 1987: Iron Production in Ancient Colchis. Tbilisi (in Russian)Google Scholar
Khoshtaria, N V 1955: ‘Archaeological study of Ureki’ in Materials towards the Archaeology of Georgia and the Caucasus 1. Tbilisi: 2575 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Kozub, Y I 1986: ‘Glass balsamaria from the necropolis of Olbia’ in Classical Culture of the Northern Black Sea Littoral in the Early Centuries of Our Era. Kiev: 4152 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Kruglikova, I T 1970: ‘Statuettes from Kimmerik’ in Terracottas of the Northern Black Sea Littoral (Corpus of archaeological sources, issue G I–II). Moscow (in Russian)Google Scholar
Krupnov, E I 1960: The Ancient History of the Northern Caucasus. Moscow (in Russian)Google Scholar
Kunina, N Z, Sorokina, N P 1972: ‘Glass balsamaria of BosporusTrudy Gosudarstvennogo Ermitazha 12: 146–77 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Limberis, N Y, Marchenko, I I 1997: ‘Ancient graves from mounds in the area of Phanagoria’ Pontic Greeks: Ellenika Scholeia (Studia Pontocaucasia). Krasnodar: 4657 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Lordkipanidze, O 1962: ‘The red-glazed pottery of BichvintaBulletin of the Social Sciences Department of the Georgian Academy of Sciences 1 (7): 231–55 (in Georgian)Google Scholar
Lordkipanidze, O 1972: The Ancient City Site of Vani. Tbilisi (in Georgian)Google Scholar
McClellan, M 1984: Core-formed Glass from Dated Contexts (dissertation). PhiladelphiaGoogle Scholar
Metcalf, W E 1995: Silver Coinage of Cappadocia, Vespasian-Commodus. New YorkGoogle Scholar
Mikeladze, T 1985: Early Iron Age Graves in Colchis. Tbilisi (in Georgian)Google Scholar
Mikeladze, T, Khakhutaishvili, D 1985: The Colchian Settlement Namcheduri. Tbilisi (in Russian)Google Scholar
Morgan, C 1999: ‘A catalogue of Attic pottery in the collection of the Taman MuseumTaman Antiquity 2: 1107Google Scholar
Nadiradze, J 1990: Sairkhe – an Ancient City of Georgia. Tbilisi (in Georgian)Google Scholar
Onaiko, N A 1960: ‘Classical imports on the territory of the middle course of the DnieperSovietskaya Arkheologiya 2: 2541 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Onaiko, N A 1970: ‘Classical imports in the Dnieper and the Bug areas in the 4th-2nd century BC’ Svod Arkheologicheskikh Istochnikov D 127 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Peredolskaya, A 1963: ‘The master of the Kerch pottery fragments found in Mount MithridatesArcheologia 14: 41–8 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Petrenko, V G 1967: ‘The right bank of the middle course of the Dnieper in the 5th-3rd century BC’, Svod Arkheologicheskikh Istochnikov D 14 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Plontke-Lüning, A 1999: ‘Kobuleti-PičvnariDer Neue Pauly 6: 619Google Scholar
Robinson, D M 1950: Excavations at Olynthus. 13. Vases found in 1934 and 1938. BaltimoreGoogle Scholar
Sazonova, N G 1988: ‘A red-figure kylix from Olbia’ in Classical Antiquities of the Northern Black Sea Littoral. Kiev: 183–8 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Shefton, B B 1996: ‘The Castulo cup: an Attic shape in black glaze of special significance in Sicily’ in I vasi attici ed altre ceramiche coeve in Sicilia. Catania: 8598Google Scholar
Shelov, D B 1956: Coinage of the Bosporus VI–II Centuries BC. Moscow (in Russian)Google Scholar
Shelov, D B 1978: Coinage of the Bosporus VI–II Centuries BC. OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sikharulidze, T 1987: ‘Attic painted vases from the Pichvnari necropolis (5th-4th century BC)Remains of South-western Georgia 16: 7889 (in Georgian)Google Scholar
Sorokina, N P 1962: ‘The glass from the 1945–1959 excavations of PanticapaeumMaterialyi Issle dovaniya po Arkheologii SSSR 103: 210–36 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Sparkes, B, Talcott, L 1970: Black and Plain Pottery of the 6th, 5th and 4th Centuries BC. Athenian Agora 12. PrincetonGoogle Scholar
Trapsh, M M 1971: ‘The culture of the Tsebelda necropolisWorks 3 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Tsetskhladze, G R 1994: ‘The interpretation of PichvnariDialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 20: 127–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsetskhladze, G R 1999: Pichvnari and its Environs. Besançon.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Venedikov, I et al. , 1963: Les fouilles dans la nécropole d'Apollonia en 1947–1949. SofiaGoogle Scholar
Vickers, M 1998: ‘PichvnariAnatolian Archaeology 4: 15Google Scholar
Vickers, M, Bazama, A 1971: ‘A fifth century BC tomb in CyrenaicaLibya Antiqua 8: 6984Google Scholar
Vickers, M, Gill, D 1994: Artful Crafts: Ancient Greek Silverware and Pottery. OxfordGoogle Scholar
Voronov, Y N, Yushin, V A 1979: ‘The early horizon (2nd-4th century AD) in the cemeteries of Tsebelda culture (Abkhazia)Sovietskaya Arkheologiya 1: 181–98 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Ure, A D 1944: ‘Red-figure cups with incised and stamped decoration 2Journal of Hellenic Studies 64: 6777CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhebelev, S A 1953: The Northern Black Sea Littoral. Moscow, Leningrad (in Russian)Google Scholar
Zograf, A N 1951: Ancient Coinage. Materialyi Issledovaniya po Arkheologii SSSR 16 (in Russian)Google Scholar
Zograf, A N 1977 Ancient Coinage. OxfordGoogle Scholar
Zubar, V M 1982: The Necropolis of Tauric Chersonesus of the lst-4th Centuries BC. Kiev (in Russian)Google Scholar
Zubar, V M, Ryzhkov, S T, Shevchenko, A V 1988: ‘A new burial complex of the western necropolis of Chersonesus’ in Classical Antiquities of the Northern Black Sea Littoral. Kiev: 84107 (in Russian)Google Scholar