Archaeological site of Tsikhiagora (Region of Shida Kartli)
Tsikhiagora settlement (Georgian: ციხიაგორას ნამოსახლარი) – The fortified settlement, one of the first settlements of its kind in Transcaucasia. The first population appeared in the Early Bronze Age (IV millennium BC) and existed until the first half of the III millennium BC. After the Early Bronze Age, life on the hill ceased for a long time and was reused around the end of the II millennium AD. Fragments of houses built of cobblestone and clay date back to this time. This layer contains several building horizons. From this point on, right up until the turn of the old and new eras, life on Tsikhiagora did not stop, but the essence of the hill changed. Around the 6th century BC, the population moved down and settled in the east and north of the plateau. From then on, the hill was the site of the settlement’s pagan shrine.
The foundations of a large, apparently ceremonial building have been preserved in the building horizon of this period. The building was destroyed during the construction of a larger complex of the following period. This complex, dating back to the 4th-3rd centuries AD, is the best preserved. The cultural layer of this period is almost 5 meters. Almost the entire hill was surrounded by a 1.5 meter thick stone brick wall, and this wall was plastered from the inside. In the center of the perimeter is a square temple surrounded by its own wall. Between the temple and its wall is a courtyard, in the courtyard there is a stone altar. All kinds of rooms are attached to the temple. Charred barley grains were found in one, and a statue of a stone bull in the Persian style in another. The longest building contained a wine press and 20 clay kvevri jugs. Another settlement, known as Samadlo, was located 8 kilometers from Tsikhia-Gora.
Village of Kvemo Chocheti (Georgian: სოფელი ქვემო ჩოჩეთი), Kaspi Municipality (Georgian: კასპის მუნიციპალიტეტი)
