Kaspi Burial Ground

The Kaspi Burial Ground is a necropolis dating to the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages (14th–8th centuries BC), located in the city of Kaspi, near the railway station, on the right bank of the Lekhura River. In 1962–63, the Kaspi detachment of the Mtskheta Archaeological Expedition from the Institute of History, Archaeology, and Ethnography (directed by A. Kalandadze, detachment leader M. Baramidze) excavated stone cist graves topped with stone and earthen cairns, as well as pit graves, which were mostly roofed with wooden beams and mounded over with earth or stone. Both individual and double (paired) burials are encountered. Some graves contained interred faunal remains of small and large livestock.

In the burials of the early phase of the Late Bronze Age (14th to the beginning of the 13th century BC), mostly wheel-made pottery and adornments were uncovered. In the Late Bronze Age (13th–12th centuries BC) burials, a diverse and refined variety of pottery is found; among the weaponry discovered are "Kakhetian" daggers, spearheads with relief bands, and other items. Burials from the subsequent transitional period from the Bronze to the Iron Age (11th–10th centuries BC) feature solid-cast bronze swords, decorated spearheads, round-headed pins, and ceramic wares. In the Early Iron Age (9th–7th centuries BC) burials, iron spearheads, daggers, knives, arrowheads, and pins were discovered.

The recovered material is preserved in the Kaspi Ethnographic Museum.

Literature: ბარამიძე მ., კასპის სამაროვანი, წგ.: საქართველოს ისტორიისა და კულტურის ძეგლთა აღწერილობა, [ტ.] 5, თბ., 1990.

R. Rusishvili