Conclusions and Future Work

    It is clear that intensive agriculture over the course of the 20th century has significantly impacted the survival of archaeological sites in the region. It is also apparent that there are very narrow, but optimal conditions for the detection of sites without much topographic relief (e.g. artefact scatters). Further research into 20th century land use in the region is being conducted to help elucidate the survey results. A continuation of the intensive survey throughout the Lagodekhi municipality would also hopefully reveal more about the long-term settlement and land use patterns of the region.
    In particular, it is hoped that further survey work will better define the distribution of Chalcolithic occupation, which presently appears to focus on the lowland area close to the villages of Ulianovka/Tsitelgori, and the pattern of Early Bronze Age occupation, which is hitherto attested only by the huge kurgans in the valley of the Alazani River. Further work in the wooded area close to the river, which has been archaeologically underexplored, although fraught with difficulties, may also lead to the discovery of further sites and clarify the long-term use of this apparently rather impenetrable area.
    Another aim for the future seasons is the refinement of the regional ceramic chronology, which is until now rather rough due to the limited number of excavated parallels, the small quantities recovered from excavation, the high degree of fragmentation, and the bad state of preservation of the fragments recovered in the course of the survey (Fig. 14).