Metal garment elements from the Beshtasheni Late Bronze Age – early Iron Age cemetery in eastern Georgia

Abstract

The paper presents metal elements of garments and jewellery dating to the Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age period (13th–6th century BC) coming from the excavation of the Beshtasheni cemetery in eastern Georgia carried out from the mid-1930s until 2014. A brief historical and cultural background, including a short description and chronology of the Beshtasheni cemetery, is given before presenting the assemblage of metal garment elements found in the graves: pins, belts and buckles, finger rings, bracelets, parts of buckles and beads, including a preliminary typology of some of these artifacts. The typology takes into account the decoration and shape, as well as ornamental elements and motifs. The paper goes on to describe the observed relation between metal garment elements and the gender and age of the deceased.