მუსის ციხე

Abstract

Musi Fortress is located in the municipality of Dmanisi, near the village of Kariani. The local population call this fortress Su-Kala (the fortress of a spring?). The Fortress is built on the top of a high rocky mountain (Tab. I-III), which is situated north of the Dmanisi-Gomareti road.

Musi Fortress and its surroundings first were described by D. Berdzenishvili. In 2017 we conducted explore works there.

The Fortress stands on the top of the mountain (1554 m. from sea level). The walls of the fortress are built with irregular stones and lime was used as a mortar. The walls, which were 1 – 1.5. meters wide, are destroyed till the bases. The main settlement was located out of the fortress, on the south-eastern slope of the mountain. The settlement is built on terraces. Special attention must be paid to the remnants of “cyclopean” walls, which are remained in some parts of the top of the mountain. The stone and lime walls of the fortress, in some cases, are built directly over the “cyclopean” wall. On the top and the slopes of the mountain, we gathered fragments of the Late Bronze – Early Iron Age ceramics (Tab. IX, 3-10; X, 1-14; XII, 2-4, 7). It must be mentioned, that on the top of the mountain, there were discovered several fragments of the Early Bronze Age Kura-Araxes culture (Tab. IX, 1, 11). A lot of materials of the early Medieval period (Tab. XI, 1-7; XI, 1,5,6,8,19) were discovered in the Musi Fortress. There were also discovered several fragments of red-painted and painted pottery of the Antique Period (Tab. IX, 2; XIV, 14, 15).