Ein spätbronzezeitlicher Bronzehort der Kolchis-Kultur aus Kalvata in Westgeorgien
A late Bronze Age hoards of the Colchis culture from Kalvata in western Georgia

Summary/Abstract: The study of bronze hoards of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages dates back to the 1930s. Currently, 214 bronze hoards are known from the territory of Georgia. The author defined this number of depositions as a result of his work in various museums of Georgia in 2018 and 2019. This work was carried out within the framework of the project of the German Research Foundation (project director Prof. Dr. Svend Hansen, German Archaeological Institute / Berlin), which aims at a detailed study of hoards of the Colchian culture in the Western and Central Caucasus. Within the framework of the project, in the summer of 2018, the author also explored the Kalvata hoard (Sachkhere Municipality, Imereti Region, Georgia) preserved in the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi (GNM, Inventory # 1-38: 1-14). The Kalvata hoard consists of three bronze Colchian axes, 6 bronze hoes, 36 bronze bars, and two small pieces of bronze, belonging to an unidentified item. This hoard was hitherto dated by 10th-8th centuries BC. A detailed study of the hoard, and the search for parallels with the items in it, in particular, the axes, hoes, and bars, revealed that the Kalvata hoard belonged to the middle of the second half of the second millennium, more precisely, the 13th – 12th centuries BC. Accordingly, the date of the Kalvata collection is at least 300 years older than it was believed before. The author is convinced that most (if not all) bronze hoards of the Colchian culture had a religious destination and were votives to various gods. The fact that the hoards were indeed a sacrifice to the gods is corroborated by many facts.

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