2 The Study Region

With the goals of the Eastern Vani Survey project in mind, and building on our site catchment analysis and the previous survey and mapping efforts of the Vani Regional Survey, a survey area was marked to the east of Vani (Fig. 2.2). As the field project is only interested in investigating areas to the east of the site, the western edge of the survey was established by drawing an arbitrary line bisecting the ancient site along its north-south axis. To the north, the survey extends to just beyond the edge of the Rioni River plain. To the south, the survey boundary was placed 4 km south of the northern boundary and is defined by a line of hills marking the beginning of the foothills of the lesser Caucasus. The northern slopes of these hills have fairly steep slopes and support very little modern habitation or cultivation making them less than ideal for intensive survey. The eastern edge of the survey was placed to ensure at least a portion of the eastern bank of the Qvinitsqaro was within the survey area and that the east-west dimension of the whole survey area was in whole kilometers.

The resulting survey area encompasses 56 km2 and includes the Sulori and Qvinitsqaro River valleys (Fig. 2.3), both of which today serve as access points into the foothills from the greater Rioni River Valley. This survey area was selected because it balanced the goals of the survey project with the limitations of the region’s landscape, which renders many areas to the east unsuitable for surface survey. One of the main goals of the project was to understand the various geographic features that may have encouraged settlement in antiquity. As was detailed in the previous chapter, in addition to the Rioni, there are four major rivers that define the

landscape around Vani: the Qumuri, the Sulori, the Qvinitsqaro and the Phereta. These rivers, all part of the larger Rioni watershed, can be divided into three micro-watersheds, with the

The majority of previous survey work has been focused on the Qumuri watershed, and so the survey area chosen allowed us to conduct intensive survey in two of these watersheds: the Sulori and the Qvinitsqaro-Phereta watershed. Many of the previous reconstructions of ancient settlement in the region have noted the importance these two rivers played in defining how people lived in the landscape. This survey area would allow us to contextualize the results of the Vani Regional Survey, to test assumptions concerning the relationship between ancient

settlement and the regions geography and, most importantly, identify new loci of activity. Once a survey area had been chosen, we began developing our survey method by first addressing the two main challenges this landscape presented. The first challenge was the region’s active geomorphology. The combination of heavy rainfall, modern agricultural practice and the widespread deforestation the region has suffered both recently and in historic times makes the susceptible to heavy erosion.28 During the Vani Regional Survey, several areas were visited that showed clear signs of collapse, such as to the hill Nashuebi at Mtisdziri and on the northern slopes of Mshvidobisgora near Vani. Erosion bias in surface assemblages is in no way a new problem, but in the area around Vani, erosion can be sudden and violent and result in an almost complete inversion of the local stratigraphy. To account for this, we made careful study of local indicators of collapse, but there was little else we could do to try and correct for any serious erosion might have on our collections.

The second and main obstacle to survey in the region around Vani is the nature and density of modern settlement (Fig. 2.4). Modern settlement affected survey in two related but different ways. The traditional style of habitation in western Georgia is in fenced house compounds. These compounds consist of at least one house, though in some cases compounds

might have more than one house to accommodate multiple families. In Georgia, it is customary for the oldest son to live in the family home and for his wife to join him there. If there are

multiple sons, the others could be given a portion of land within the compound on which to build their home. These compounds are arranged along roads radiating from village centers throughout the region. Given the size and number of these compounds, the overall result is both a dense and dispersed settlement pattern. The effect of this settlement patterning are dense lines of settlement covering most of the survey area and extending from Vani to Sajavakho in the northwest,

Vardtsikhe to the north east and Phereta and beyond to the east (fig 2.4). Areas of the landscape not immediately included in house compounds are never the less fenced, as it is local practice to allow livestock to roam outside of house compounds during the day. High and sturdy fences are thus needed to protect crops from grazing. The combination of the house compounds and fenced fields creates a labyrinth of modern settlement and makes walking transects through the

landscape impossible.

In addition to houses and other attendant buildings, house compounds also include

agricultural land that is usually given over to viticulture, corn and vegetable gardens. Most of the fields surveyed by our survey come from house-compounds. To gain entry to the compounds and conduct survey, we had to develop a routine that efficiently explained our objectives, allayed any fears owners might have and allowed use to enter a field and leave in a timely fashion. We developed a set of methods I call solicitation survey which proved extremely effective in getting access to fields within house compounds and extracting the entire staff before a supra could be organized for us. A supra, or Georgian banquet, is an integral part of Georgian social practice and is closely tied to Georgian sensibilities about hospitality and the home. Supra’s consist of three basic elements, food, alcohol and toasts with all three supplied in excess. Both the guest

and host have their respective duties and obligations. The host is obliged to provide the food and drink and it is the guest’s duty to participate for as long as the host desires.29 As our brand of survey required us to gain entry into people’s house-compounds, it became a daily struggle to extricate ourselves before the wine, or worse cha-cha, could be poured. In fact, the avoidance of supras became an essential component of the survey and dictated the start time of survey, how we approached a house-compound, and the questions we would ask of the family living there.