Suchergebnisse

The issue of localization of one or another toponym known from narrative sources is often ambiguous and causes discussions in the scientific community. This article is devoted to the analysis introduced into scientific circulation by Yu.N. Voronov and the well-established identification of a famous monument on the left bank of the Kodor – the Pskal fortification with the Tzakhar fortress, described by Agafius of Mirineisky. The Pskal fortification is a temple surrounded by a fortress wall with a total area of 1100 m². The authors of the article carried out a detailed analysis of the geographical location of the fortification, made a full-scale inspection, created photogrammetric models of the landscape and the temple itself. The geographical location of the monument showed that the Pskalsky fortification was connected with the region of the left bank of the Kodor River, and not with the Tsebelda Valley and the Misimians, which Agathius of Mirineisky describes, and which were located on the right bank of this river. The absence of a description of the crossing over the river and the inconsistency of the fortification area described in the source regarding the Ttsakhar fortress allows us to say that the identification of the Pskal fortress with Ttsakhar is premature and extremely controversial. An analysis of the design features of the temple made it possible to find a number of analogies among other monuments of the region, including those studied archaeologically, thanks to which we can state: monuments of this type: small temples with a semicircular apse inscribed in a common rectangular outline, with two semicircular niches on both sides of the apse semicircle could not have been built later than the 12th century, but they are not monuments of the Tsebelda era either. They can be attributed to the era of the emergence of a single Abkhazian kingdom. Thus, the fortification on Mount Pskal is not the ancient Misimian fortress Ttsakhar from the era of late antiquity, but a monument of the medieval history of the Abkhazian kingdom, which still requires its detailed study.

Two items with feline images were found in 2019 in the course of works at the Markul settlement: the first was a bas-relief depicting the paws of a leopard on a slab discovered during excavations at the Dalniy Tower of the Markul settlement, and the second was a drawing of a lion's figure on a stone which was found in the area of the Jal-Akuaskia temple. The authors offer for scientific discussion these recent discoveries and highlight the two major tendencies in use of the classical image of the lion in the Christian Art of Abkhazia. The first tendency is the replacement of lion with leopard, which is found on a slab from the excavations of the Markul settlement and on the LashkendarTemple in the Tkvarchal region; the second tendency is a continued tradition of depicting the "Fierce Beast" on the bronze axes of the Kobano-Colchis culture. To validate these tendencies, the analysis involves the available images of felines on stone in archaeological finds in Abkhazia and Sochi, Abkhazian toponymy and linguistic data, a review of features of the fauna and climate of the Abkhaz region.

During excavations at the Markul settlement in the southern tower of Alakhash-abaa
in 2018, next to the hearth, under the top layer of the floor, the remains of bones of
domestic and wild animals were found, on which there were no traces of either "kitchen"
crushing or exposure to fire. In 2019, excavations were carried out in the northern
tower, and bones from an almost complete set of two individuals of cattle (Bos Taurus)
were also found in it, under a layer of the upper floor, next to the hearth. These two
finds are united by the fact that in both cases they were found under a layer of the
upper floor, next to the remains of the hearth and inside the tower complexes, that is,
they are synchronous. The difference between the finds is in the species and anatomical
set of bone remains. In the first case, these are the remains of animal heads, in the
second, the remains of two calves. The bones of the calves are crushed, they have traces
of kitchen butchering, but they were preserved in rather large fragments, as if they
were specially wanted to be preserved. This may indicate the ritual nature of the meat
meal, after which the bones must be collected and preserved. Similar customs are
recorded by Caucasian ethnography. This article is devoted to an attempt to find an
interpretation of these finds, including with the involvement of ethnographic material
for those rituals that existed in the Caucasus in antiquity, and some exist to this
day.