The site of Natsargora (42°04’13” N, 43°42’54” E) lies in the Khashuri district, at the western limit of the Shida Kartli province (Fig. 1). It is located near the present village of the same name, in the hilly area to the north of the Kura River valley, at ca. 750 m a.s.l. Excavations at the site were carried out between 1984 and 1992 by the Khashuri Archaeological Expedition headed by the late Alexander Ramishvili. In 2009-2010, the "Georgian-Italian Shida Kartli Archaeological Project" carried out the study of the unpublished Early Bronze Age finds discovered by the Georgian expeditions; in 2011 and 2012 the joint Georgian-Italian team carried out two seasons of excavation at the settlement mound (Fig. 2).

    The site consists of a small multi-period mound and of a neighbouring cemetery. The mound is 20-25 m high, oval in shape, and measures ca. 90 x 50 m It was occupied during the Early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC), and the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age (second half of the 2nd and first half of the 1st millennium BC). The cemetery is located in the flat area to the south-east of the mound, and was in use, with interruptions, from the Early Bronze until the Classical Antiquity period. Out of ca. 500 excavated graves, 26 were EBA in date.

    The settlement was founded at the end of the 4th mill. BC, during the second phase of the Kura-Araxes culture. The village consisted of circular huts (Fig. 3) and wide areas provided with fire installations of different types. Although architectural remains were rather ephemeral, the Natsargora population was basically sedentary, even if part of probably practiced a kind of seasonal transhumance towards the mountain pastures. Paleobotanical and archaeozoological and analyses confirmed that the ancient population of Natsargora practiced cereal agriculture (especially of wheat and barley) integrated by animal husbandry (ovine, bovine/cattle and swine are all attested) and by the hunt of wild animals. Craftwork activities were carried out in a household, domestic context. They include first of all the production of the typical Kura-Araxes pottery (Fig. 4), characterised by burnished surfaces of red/black colour, but also metallurgy, as testified by the discovery of small crucibles and by the occurrence of metal objects in the burials of the contemporary cemetery.

    The Kura-Araxes burials of the Natsargora cemetery are simple pits covered by stones, that usually contain one adult individual lying in foetal position on one side with the hands placed in front of the face (Fig. 5). Gravegoods usually consist of few pottery vessels, personal ornaments – metal pins, bracelets and hair-rings (Fig. 6), necklaces made of metal, stone and paste beads – and other artifacts of stone, bone or metal. A few double, and one multiple grave are also attested. The finds from the graves mirror a basically egalitarian social organisation, in which differences of status, gender etc. are apparently not stressed.

    The Kura-Araxes village was inhabited for a maximum of 100-150 years, before being temporarily abandoned. The re-occupation of the site, around the mid-3rd millennium BC, was related to the Bedeni culture, whose people practiced a more mobile lifestyle, probably focusing on cattle breeding. No graves were found for this phase, which on the settlement was almost exclusively represented by pits. These contained large amounts of high quality pottery, often characterised by very elaborate shapes and decorated with incisions, which was probably used during banquets and ritual occasions (Fig. 7). Several fragments of terracotta cultic reliefs representing beings with a vaguely anthropomorphic appearance and large eyes inlaid with obsidian flakes (Fig. 8) were recovered in the levels of the same phase, which confirm that the site during this period was the seat of cultic activities.

    There followed, at the end of the Early Bronze Age, a longer period of abandonment of the site, which resulted into the sealing of the EBA layers by an up to 50 cm layer of sterile soil, before the establishing there, at the beginning of the LBA, of a new sedentary village. This had been excavated by the Georgian expedition in the 1980-90ies, and little of it remained when new the new Georgian-Italian excavations were started in 2011.