PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE EXCAVATIONS ON LIPI KURGAN

Abstract

The Lipi Kurgan, excavated in 2021 within Georgia’s Tetritskaro Municipality, represents a significant contribution to the study of Early and Middle Bronze Age mortuary practices associated with the Trialeti cultural horizon. Situated between the villages of Lipi, Ipnara, and Samghereti, the site comprises a burial mound characterized by concentric cromlechs, stratified stone armouring, and a central chamber. Despite prior looting, the chamber yielded human remains and a diverse assemblage of grave goods, including bronze artifacts, faience and gold beads, a golden goblet, and an alabaster bowl. Notably, cartwheel imprints and a bovine skeleton suggest ritual conceptions involving an ox-drawn cart as a symbolic vehicle for the deceased’s passage to the afterlife. Palynological and stratigraphic analyses revealed the deliberate inclusion of medicinal herbs, salted meats, and traditional Georgian foodstuffs, offering insight into funerary provisioning and dietary customs. Climatic indicators point to a colder environmental phase during the Middle Bronze Age, with evidence suggesting that interments were seasonally timed to winter months. These findings underscore the Trialeti culture’s technological sophistication, symbolic complexity, and ecological responsiveness. The Lipi Kurgan thus emerges not merely as a funerary site, but as a ritualized landscape wherein mortuary architecture, cosmological symbolism, and environmental adaptation converge. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of prehistoric lifeways in the South Caucasus and affirms the enduring cultural legacy embedded within its kurgan traditions.

Keywords: Georgia, Kvemo Kartli, Kurgan, Middle Bronze Age, Trialeti Culture.