Settlements around the Goderdzi Pass in Middle Ages (Buildings, Farming Types, Lifestyle of the Populace)

Abstract

Goderdzi pass is one of the crossroads of Arsiani Mountain System in Georgia, a key loca - tion of the buffer zone between Samtskhe and Adjara territorial-ethnographic groups. The settlements and cultural artefacts of different periods traced around Goderdzi pass are clear evidence of the above-mentioned. Beshumi is especially distinguished in the area of Goderdzi pass. In the river basins of the Beshumi forest massif, on the hills of the rivers, there settlements and groups of settlements of different times and different types are presented. In Beshumi zone of Goderdzi pass, where chronologically different settlements and traces of old human life are observed, especially the settlements of the XI-XIII centuries should be distinguished. These types of settlements are located on the riverbanks and are a complex of buildings of different shapes and sizes. The settlements were cultivated on terraces and slopes at the rivers near Beshumi forest zone. Each settlement was mostly a group of one or more dwellings built of monolithic stones. Thus, these types of settlements may have included one or several houses. Under the common roof, several generations and many families must have lived. They were connected to each other by the common farm and socially regulated lifestyle, and a cult service. Therefore, socio-religious ties were also felt among the settlements on the slopes, which were often carried out by interconnected paved roads. Usually the roads passed through the square in the central part of the settlement. A close group of such settlements looked like a community settlement; however, it must not have been a typical village, but rather a unity of hill-dwelling settlements interconnected over a large area. On one side of this type of hill, several generations had to live in a separate residential complex, housing about fifteen people. Other buildings around the hill, which belonged to unmarried or already married couples separated from one house - families, were to have about the same number of people, which together numbered up to fifty people on one hill. Neighboring hills may have been populated by similarly localized, possibly related, groups. In general, one large local - ized genus was formed in the form of several hills in the common area, which was hierarchical - ly divided into several genealogical segments. Each such segment - a genealogical union lived around its particular hill. Such a group of relatives of the common and closest ancestor, localized around the hill, had a collective sense of danger and security, group responsibility for defense and attack, commitment to labor assistance, rights and responsibilities at the funeral, marriage, family formation, and childbirth and during a funeral ritual. The findings of archaeobotanical and paleontological analysis also clearly show that both old livestock and farming, where soft wheat and barley were sown, must have been developed in the old settlement. Barley and wheat are recorded together in samples taken from settlements, and given the vertical zoning, it is possible that mixed sowing took place there. The inhabitants of the settlement consumed lentils and peas from legumes. Local farming is also evidenced by discov - ery of a wide range of weeds. Based on ethno-archaeological research, it can be concluded that the end of the Beshumi forest massif, formed on the river hills and semi-end - residential complexes built of underground monolithic stone boulders were located in the permanent residence of the local population where the social, religious, and economic cycles of life in all sections of the year were of a full traditional nature.