Australia-Georgia Symposium: Archaeology and Beyond

The University of Melbourne’s deep and long-standing ties with Georgia were showcased in March 2024 at the inaugural Australia-Georgia Symposium, hosted by the Arts Faculty’s School of Historical and Philosophical Studies and the Research Initiative on Post-Soviet Space, in partnership with the Embassy of Georgia to the Commonwealth of Australia, the Honorary Consul of Georgia in Melbourne and the Georgian National Museum.

On 23 March 2024, a full house gathered in the Forum Theatre in Arts West for a rich half-day program celebrating the work of Georgians and Australians, in both countries, on Georgian topics in the fields of science, business, music, arts and culture.

The program featured short talks on a range of topics from Georgian wine to archaeology, as well as live performances of Georgian choral music and the opportunity to sample Georgian wine and food.

The audience included academics, students, members of the diplomatic and policy-making community, and members of both the local Georgian community and the broader general public.

The proceedings were opened officially by Associate Professor Andrew Jamieson (Classics and Archaeology), Professor Mark Edele (Hansen Chair in History and Deputy Dean, Faculty of Arts), His Excellency Mr Beka Dvali (Ambassador of Georgia), Mr Peter McMullin AM (Honorary Consul of Georgia in Melbourne), and Dr Paul Crawford (Australian Department of Foreign Affairs). His Excellency Mr Miles Armitage (Australian Ambassador to Türkiye, Georgia and Azerbaijan), also addressed the audience virtually in a video address.

Pictured L-R: Peter McMullin, Otar Bluashvili, Nino Tsitsishvili, Nino Lezhava, Ruth McMullin, Beka Dvali.

In the first session, Andrew Jamieson, Martin Tomko and Brian Armstrong introduced the recent archaeological excavations at Rabati in southwest Georgia. Every summer, University of Melbourne archaeology staff and students travel to Rabati as part of GAIA, the Georgia-Australian Investigations in Archaeology project, a research collaboration between the Georgian National Museum and the University of Melbourne that was established by the late Emeritus Professor Antonio Sagona and Dr Claudia Sagona.

Andrew Jamieson highlighted the central and pioneering role played by Tony and Claudia Sagona in forging and building the University of Melbourne’s connections to Georgia. Tony Sagona had a lifelong interest in the archaeology of the Caucasus, which was the subject of his first and last books. Tony and Claudia Sagona first began visiting Georgia in the early 1980s, when it was still part of the Soviet Union.

Pictured: Tony Sagona in Shota Rustaveli Avenue, with Tamaz Kikuradze, one of the senior archaeologists in the Tbilisi Museum in 1981.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Tony Sagona went on to create the GAIA initiative, in partnership with the Georgian National Museum. In 2008 work started at Samtavro (2008-2010), followed by Tch-kan-tisk-edi (2011) and Chobareti (2012-2016). Although Tony did not live to see the Rabati excavation unfold past the first season (in 2016), we carry forward his vision and approach at the site.

The GAIA project plays a crucial role in Australia’s relationship with Georgia and is recognised at the highest levels. The DFAT web page for Georgia mentions that GAIA is one of the strongest cultural links between Georgia and Australia. The University of Melbourne’s collaborative investigations at Rabati are also highly regarded in Georgia. Work at the site has attracted national media coverage, reflecting just how important archaeology is in the minds and national endeavours of Georgia. The GAIA initiative has led to strong ties, not just between government and academia, but also in the regional and rural sectors.

Ancient Rabati is part of the modern village of Zveli, situated between the larger towns of Akhaltsikhe and Aspindza in the Samtskne-Djavakheti region of southwest Georgia.

Our knowledge of the archaeology in this region is mostly based on the investigation of burials (‘kurgans’). This reliance exclusively on funerary contexts has meant that our understanding of the material culture for this region is skewed. And because of the dearth of systematically excavated multi-period settlements, our knowledge of absolute chronology, settlement patterns, pottery production, and social and economic structures in this region is lacking for all periods.

As a multi-period settlement site, Rabati offers a unique opportunity to fill this conspicuous gap in existing knowledge.

Pictured: Andrew Jamieson.

The symposium’s audience was given a taste of the look and feel of the site and surrounding valley in video footage created using a drone. Giorgi Bedianashvili from the Georgian National Museum then presented a video address on the history of work at Rabati.

PhD candidate Abby Robinson shared some of her findings on the landscape of fortified settlements and fortress complexes in Rabati’s surrounds.

Pictured: Abby Robinson.

In the next session, ‘Georgian Wine: Viticulture and Archaeology’, Dr Claudia Sagona (Principal Fellow, Classics and Archaeology) delivered a talk on the ancient history of wine in Georgia.

Pictured: Claudia Sagona.

Lado Uzunashvili, oenologist and founder of Mukado Wines Georgia, Vintage 8000 Estates, Adelaide, spoke about Georgia as the world’s oldest wine grape growing region, and the birthplace of Vitis Vinifera, grape wine and wine culture, with over eight thousand years of unbroken traditions of winemaking. Lado Uzunashvili explained how the study of Georgia’s ancient grape varieties and wine-making practices, which have withstood millennia of macro- and micro-climate changes, may help develop ways to save famous winegrowing regions elsewhere in the world in the face of climate change.

Lado Uzunashvili also introduced aspects of Georgia’s ancient wine culture, such as the kvevri jar, a unique conical clay vessel linked to the beginning of winemaking. Kvevri differs from amphorae; while the latter were used for shipping wine, kvevri were dug into the ground and used for the fermentation and storage of wine.

Pictured: Stonework detail depicting the flow of cosmic and solar energy into grapes, Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, Mtskheta, Georgia.

Pictured: kvevri

Pictured: Lado Uzunashvili discusses the history of Georgian wine culture.

Next, Dr Levan Tielidze (Research Fellow, School of Earth Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University) addressed the present state of glaciers in the Caucasus region and discussed work underway aimed at reconstructing past glacier-climates.

More information on Georgian glaciology can be found at: https://glaciologygeorgia.wordpress.com/ and @LevanTielidze.

Pictured: Levan Tielidze (Monash University).

In the final session, Dr Nino Tsitsishvili, ethnomusicologist and director of World Music Choir (University of Melbourne) and Georgian Choir (Melbourne Polytechnic) gave a presentation on Georgian polyphonic singing. She placed this tradition in a global context, and also discussed how Georgian traditional polyphony had been appropriated by the Soviet state through the promotion of song and dance ensembles that were also used to project Soviet soft power globally.

Nino Tsitsishvili’s talk traced the discovery of Georgian polyphony in the West from the 1990s and recounted her own story as an immigrant arriving in Melbourne in 1995 and the growing popularity of Georgian polyphony among white European community choirs in Western societies like Australia. She speculated that part of its appeal might lie in its archaic prehistoric sound, as well as associated Georgian social and ritual practices such as supra (feasting) and toasting.

Nino noted that the proliferation of Georgian polyphony in many different countries had contributed to the creation of a specific Georgian micro-community who now exchange songs, knowledge and research, collaborate on tours and finally, are helping Georgian singers and scholars to forge new connections as part of the international community.

Ramaz Bluashvili, filmmaker, researcher, and founder of the ‘NOVA’ Foundation for promoting Science and Education, captivated the audience with the story of the Georgian polyphonic choral contribution to the Interstellar Message on the Voyager interstellar probe. The Georgian folk song Chakrulo was one of the songs selected for inclusion on the Golden Record on NASA’s Voyager spacecraft in 1977, winning out (against the wishes of the Soviet government) over the Russian song Moscow Evenings.

Ramaz’s father Otar Bluashvili was a member of the folk ensemble featured on the Golden Record. In one of the day’s highlights, he made a surprise appearance at the symposium, performing a moving rendition of Chakrulo together with his son.

The talks were followed by a live performance of Georgian polyphonic folk songs by Melbourne Georgian Choir and Ensemble Tsinskaro, led by director Krzysztof Derwinski.

A performance of 'Chakrulo', the Georgian song that was included on NASA's Golden Record, sent into space on Voyager in 1977, featuring one of the original performers, Otar Bluashvili, together with his son, Ramaz Bluashvili, and accompanied by members of the Melbourne Georgian Choir and Ensemble Tsinskaro. Video by Tony Zara.

Pictured: Otar Bluashvili takes a bow after his performance.

The event concluded with a reception in the Arts West Atrium, with works by Georgian artist Nino Bosikashvili (@nino.bosikashviliart) on display.

The audience was able to sample Georgian wine and chacha (sometimes known as Georgian grappa), as well as delicious khachapuri (cheese-filled bread) and pkhali (a dish made from walnut, garlic, and either spinach or beetroot, and decorated with pomegranate seeds).

Pictured: Anna Sioukaeva with pkhali and khachapuri.

This inaugural Australia-Georgia Symposium offered fascinating insights into Georgia’s past, present and future. It highlighted the diversity and vibrancy of Georgian-Australian connections across a range of different fields. We look forward to building on these foundations and creating avenues for further collaboration, including through a second symposium, to be co-hosted with the Georgian Embassy in 2026.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Ambassador Dvali conceived the excellent idea to hold this event; he developed the programme and marshalled the speakers. We thank him for his enthusiasm, generosity and assistance in bringing the symposium to fruition.

We also thank Claudia Sagona for the design and conceptualisation of the symposium logo. The logo depicts a conjoined cup from the ancient site of Bedeni in Georgia. It captures the sense of the enduring collaboration between Australia and Georgia, kindled through archaeological, scientific and cultural pursuits. The swirling green symbolises the fact that, while oceans and distance lie between our countries, these have not formed a barrier to the strong ties of friendship we have forged.

Thanks also to Associate Professor Julie Fedor, Leanne Hunt, Troy Hunter, Cassandra Kiely and Peggy Lucas for their assistance with the event organisation; to Anna Sioukaeva (khachapuri and pkhali); and Tony Zara (photos and video).