სვანეთი და კავკასიის მთიანეთი

Abstract

Among many cultural-historical factors that give rise to diff erent directions of Caucasian cultural relations, there are primary-indigenous events. Such phenomena include the immediate territorial neighbourhood as well as certain genetic kinships manifested in the closeness of anthropological, ethnocultural and linguistic traits. Science speaks of the Paleo-Caucasian unity of the peoples of the region, i.e. the existence of the Caucasian substratum, which is the basis of the Caucasian linguistic family. The study of the primitive cults of the Caucasus Mountains also affi rms a defi nite unity in the fi eld of material and spiritual culture. In the light of the recent, written data, archaeological, ethnographic, anthropological and other material data, the statement that the Svans occupied a larger area in ancient times and the early Middle Ages than in later periods is confi rmed. This applies to the eastern and western borders of Svaneti, as well as the northern and southern borders. Of particular interest in this regard is the little-studied relationship between the dwellers of the Svans’ Caucasus Mountains. As a result of the fi eld scientifi c research of the richly preserved diverse cultural heritage in the Caucasus Mountains, the honourable place and role of Svaneti is already known not only among the Colchian but also among the Caucasian cultures as a whole. Archaeological, numismatic monuments of Svaneti, Racha and Lechkhumi provide especially interesting information; religious-mythological, linguistic, ethnographic and other materials. Their comparative analysis indicates the typological and chronological connections of this cultural heritage not only with the cultures of Colchis and the Caucasus as a whole but also with the cultures of the ancient East and ancient Greece, which are naturally based on long trade-economic and cultural relations of Svaneti. According to archaeological data, the agricultural development of the highland strip of the main ridge of the Caucasus begins in the Neolithic period. In ancient times, Svaneti was in contact with the outside world through ravines, sidewalks, and overpasses, numbering more than 50. In the following periods, in the Proto-Koban and Koban eras, it seems that these contacts became stronger. In the late Bronze and early Iron ages Svaneti was a stronghold of mining and metallurgical production of Caucasian culture. Its capacity exceeded the local demand for the metal. It supplied non-ferrous and rare metals to the Caucasus and possibly to more distant regions. The materials available to us today allow us to prove that Svaneti has its own natural and economic base for trade and economic relations in the Caucasus region: powerful mining, metallurgical and artifi cial production, copper, iron, non-ferrous ores and rare metals, precious fur, Timber, resin, wax, honey and other trade nomenclatures, the Caucasus, Asia Minor and the Greek world were interested. Meetings in mythological and religious aspects also confi rm Svaneti’s relations with the highlanders of the Caucasus Mountains. A comparative analysis of the directions of the old traffi c routes attested in the Kolkheti mountain strip based on the carrying capacity data and the location of archaeological sites, shows that despite the seasonal nature of the carrying capacity of the mountain strip road system, the Caucasus mountain range also functioned as a kind of joining spine in the relations of the tribes settled around it. While Svaneti, in terms of geographical location and cultural fl ows, is a “connecting bridge” for the countries located on both sides of the Caucasus. Scientists are well aware of how solid and enduring the domestic order traditions of the Caucasian mountaineers are: the types of their dwellings, forms of tools, types of clothing, jewellery, ornaments, etc., toponyms of Georgian origin on the territory of the Caucasus Mountains, Georgian (Svan) type towers. The existence of Georgian (Christian) material monuments should not be only the result of neighbourly relations between the Svans and Caucasian highlanders. These facts show the existence of a Svan ethnic element in the North Caucasus from ancient times to the present day.