Is Aghjakala-Gagi Fortress – Tsurtavi?

Abstract

In his work‚ „Martyrdom of Saint Shushanik“ IakobTsurtaveli gives the name of a place - Tsurtavi. According to the same work, Tsurtavi is the residence of Varsken Pitiakhsh.

Interesting information about Tsurtavi is provided by Ukhtanes, the 10th century Armenian historian. According to his account, Tsurtavi is an ancient name, but it was referred to as Gachiani in his times (10th c.) and it had declined from the capital city to a small town.

So far, it has been impossible to identify the exact location of the town of Tsurtavi. The history of its investigation is rather long. The scientists who have ever dealt with this issue consider that Tsurtavi must be located in Kvemo Kartli.

Devi Berdzenishvili identifies Tsurtavi Fortress with Aghjakala, which is set on a 20-25-meter high rocky hill on the right bank of the Debeda River. It did not lose its strategic significance until the 18th century.

It is highly likely that here stood a fortress built prior to the late middle ages. David Muskhelishvili believes that it was here that the renowned Gagi Fortress was erected, whose construction at the turn of the 11th century, according to Armenian sources, is ascribed to King Gagik I Shahanshah of Ani (989-1020), who named the fortress after himself.

Devi Berdzenishvili suggests that Gagik was someone who had only restored the fortress and that there stood the old fortress of Tsurtavi, the name of which had already been forgotten by that time. So far the attempt of identifying Aghjakala with Gagi Fortress and Tsurtavi has not come under any criticism.

In 2014 we visited Aghjakala and our attention was drawn to an old settlementsite east of the fortress, which had not been mentioned by anyone before. We superficially collected some sherds among which glazed ceramic fragments dated to the 9th--13th cc. prevail. Especially notable is the presence of flat tiles with turned-up sides, which points to the fact that once there stood major structures on this settlement-site.

The received material dates to the period when Gagi Fortress was repeatedly mentioned in written sources as the residence of the famous Gagi feudal family that gave the name to the whole region. The circuit wall cannot be observed on the settlement-site and it could be the very „diminished and moderate town“ that Ukhtanes saw in the 10th century, yet before constructing Gagi Fortress.

There is no evidence of early medieval ceramics among the artifacts collected on the settlement-site. However, the presence of a settlement of this period is still presumable here: we revealed early medieval architectural details and fragments of stelae decorated with early medieval ornament which builders could not have brought here from far away.

The question of identification of Aghjakala-Gagi Fortress with Tsurtavi Fortress, and the nearby settlement with the town of Tsurtavi, can be solved only as a consequence of archaeological excavations.