Abstract
Abstract. Upper Svaneti (Georgia) is a territory in almost permanent isolation amid the Caucasus mountain range. This strategic position, along with the military nature of its settlements made its defence so effective that Svaneti served as Georgia`s safehouse, protecting its chief historical and religious relics in times of crisis. This isolation also ensured the preservation of archaic cultural traditions and ancient rituals, such as animal sacrifices, ritual shaving and blood feuds, establishing what is known as popular religion. Some of these rituals, mainly those performed by women, take place in the domestic space. This paper, developed under the scope of the 3DPast project, aims to interpret the symbolic use of space in vernacular houses of Upper Svaneti. The methodological strategy combines architectonic survey with documental analysis and brings forward an interpretation of this vernacular house from a space anthropology perspective. The traditional svanetian house (machubi), is composed of a single volume, of rough quadrangular plan. The ground floor (machub) houses, during winter, the family and the cattle, while the upper floor (darbazi) was mostly used as the family residence during warmer periods. This analysis will focus specifically on the machub, where there are traces of the symbolic use of domestic space. The machub is composed of a single space with a central fireplace. This element is the axis of segmentation of female and male spaces inside the house. The present paper will address this gender-differentiated symbolic use of the domestic space through the scope of anthropology and of the Svanetian history.
Highlights
Upper Svaneti, is a historic province in Northwestern Georgia, Situated in the highest inhabited regions of the Caucasus
The province was, for the most part of its history, condemned to almost total isolation, enabling the conservation of chief historical and religious Georgian relics brought to Upper Svaneti in times of crisis, as it was the province that offered best guaranties for safeguarding them
The Caucasus was not always as isolated and in Antiquity. It was a territory disputed by almost all major political players for its rich mineral resources, and for its strategic position in major commercial routs to the Black Sea. It played a chief role in ancient Greece sacred geography, for it was the destination of the Argonauts, the place where Prometheus was chained, and housed some important mythical characters such as Medea and the Golden Fleece
Summary
Upper Svaneti, is a historic province in Northwestern Georgia, Situated in the highest inhabited regions of the Caucasus. This project developed under the framework of the Creative Programme, from the European Commission, by Escola Superior Gallaecia, Portugal, Universitat Politènica de València and Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy, aims to bring to attention the value of vernacular architecture both in its tangible and intangible local know-how, the importance of preserving the fabric authenticity and integrity, especially in World Heritage sites This reflection on the symbolic use of space in Upper Svanetian vernacular architecture combines different methods such as structured observation trough architectonic survey (for the characterization of the physical space), and document analysis (for the lived and symbolic space characterization). To interpret all those concepts, we start by outlining the cultural and religious background in which all the different uses of the vernacular house can be explained
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