Sandstone carvings found in archaeological sites in Georgia

In the Georgian Museum in Tbilisi, Georgia, in the Treasury section, are a number of sandstone carvings found in archaelogical sites. The reliefs were found in monasteries. One of the 9th century reliefs of King Ashot was found in the Monastery of St John the Baptist in Opiza in the Imerkhevi River Valley (which is now part of Turkey).

The reliefs show Christ, David the Builder (King David IV), and representatives of the Bagrationi dynasty. The sandstone reliefs were found in the 19th century. The Monastery of St John the Baptist was destroyed during road construction in the 1960s.

One round stone object (below) is a 13th century communion bread stamp found in the Gunia-Kala region of the Tsalka district in South Georgia. It has Georgian Asomtavruli inscriptions.

Another object is a 11-13th century ceramic inkpot.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).