Archaeological Excavations at Irmis Rka: An Investigation of a Multi-Layered Settlement in Southwest Georgia: Results from the 2020 Season: Early Bronze Age to Medieval Occupations

Archaeological Excavations at Irmis Rka publishes the 2020 investigation of a multi-layered settlement in south-west Georgia. The site preserves occupation from the Early Bronze Age through medieval periods, allowing the excavators to examine changing settlement and material culture within the same Caucasian landscape across a very long chronology.

The earliest layers contain domestic structures and pits associated with the Kura-Araxes culture, followed by evidence of the Bedeni culture. Later remains include fortifications of the Late Bronze–Early Iron Age and traces of medieval activity. Rather than smoothing these phases into one continuous community, the excavators present the different deposits and finds through which the settlement’s complicated history can be reconstructed.