Conclusion

Houses have not been located within proximity to these sites, and other signs of domesticity such as household pottery are few. Instead, these dedicated metalworking sites have sherds of vitrified ceramics, some with slag residue, tuyère fragments, burnt platforms, and pits that acted as furnaces.

The sites in the Supsa and Gubazeuli region were all copper smelting sites, whereas slags located in the Adjara region point unequivocally to iron production.These bloomery iron slags in Adjara are rich in metallic iron and devoid of copper-bearing elements. Even so, the occasional presence of wüstite and metallic iron from slags in the Supsa and Gibazeuli region, and the very high temperatures their furnaces could reach, indicate that the coppersmiths from western Georgia had the technical skills required for iron production. Even so, no one site has as yet produced unequivocal evidence for both copper and iron smelting.This poses problems for the copper-to-iron hypothesis.Two models lend themselves to the data: one is that the production of bronze and iron comprised two separate systems, involving different technical and social processes.The other posits that they formed an integrated system and that the spatial differences between copper and iron smelting sites reflects the geographical variability of ores in western Georgia. Metalworkers might have been exploiting a range of ore-bearing deposits and experimenting with different metals simultaneously.This model appeals to metallurgy in western Georgia, whether copper or iron, embracing one social network.

CONCLUSION

By any comparative measure,whether it is the moat and canal systems that connected certain settlements, or villages built of wooden planks and logs, or even the high number of smelting sites, Colchis was a place apart.Arguably, western Georgia, more than any other region in the Caucasus, reflected a sense of cultural continuity, stretching over 2,500 years. By the end of the eighth century BC, technological advances such as the widespread use of iron foreshadowed things to come, including Greek colonisation some two centuries later. By this stage, bronze metallurgy had diminished substantially. Colchian bronze axes all but disappeared, with most implements now forged on the blacksmith’s anvil. The heyday of bronze had passed, and though the metal still had appeal, it was restricted to the production of jewellery and special items such as cauldrons. From its fledgling days in the Late Bronze Age, iron production grew rapidly. The occasional weapons forged in iron soon gave way to mass-produced items. By the beginning of the seventh century the bronze-working artisan had been reinvented as a functional blacksmith, producer of utilitarian items.

Another striking characteristic of Colchis is the overt sense of ritual. Two practices stand out. First is hoarding, which more than any other cultural behaviour links the region to Europe. Although the deposition of objects has been explained in various ways, the notion of ‘sacrificed’ wealth resonates

strongly in the western Caucasus.We can only speculate on the purpose of this consumption.We shall never know whether the burial of objects was to purchase fame, or to invoke the gods and supernatural powers, yet it is clear that these votive hoards and offerings reflect a practice that has no equivalent in the ancient Near East.The other element that distinguishes Colchian ritual is drinking, as testified by carefully made drinking vessels. In any society, alcohol is a strong symbolic substance that is used to identify, construct and manipulate cultural systems and interpersonal relationships. In much the same way as commensality pulls together a group, in Colchis drinking alcohol would have been loaded with social meaning, presumably conveying messages in terms of norms and expectations of the participants.The type of beverage, in this case presumably wine, would rarely be a personal choice and would have reinforced the sense of group participation.Through these drinking vessels, then, we can assume that Colchian communities had long-standing customs in which alcohol formalised the nature of the occasion.