Ancient Bagineti (ArmazTsikhe) (Region of Mtskheta-Mtianeti)
Bagineti(ArmazTsikhe) (Georg. ბაგინეთი (არმაზციხე)) On the right bank of the Kura (Mtkvari) river, on a mountain promontory, was located on the way to the capital of the roads, the Armaztsikhe acropolis, now called Bagineti. The walls of the acropolis, following the relief, outlined an irregular figure in plan and occupied an area of about 30 hectares. The walls (2.6-4 m thick), which had quadrangular towers and buttresses, were erected directly on the rock in a hollowed-out furrow. The lower part of the walls is built of well-hewn stone; the masonry was dry, the quadras (size 0.5 x 1 m) were connected with iron clips in the form of dovetail.
A mud wall ran over the stone foundation (the total height of the walls reached 6 m). For the masonry, earthen mortar and earthenware were applied, as a result of which the wall looked like a monolithic mass; for greater reliability, it was also reinforced with transverse oak beams. The frames of the entrances and windows were made of stone. The towers appear to have been covered with red tiles (flat and grooved). In terms of location and construction technique, the Armaztsikhe acropolis has many features in common with the defensive structures of Western Asia, in particular Urartu and Achaemenid Iran.
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