Based on the experience of the 2023-2025 survey carried out in the southern part of the Gardabani district of Georgia by the GIGAP project of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice in collaboration with Ilia State University of Tbilisi and Gardabani Local Museum, the paper offers a reflection on the challenges and limits posed by dating survey sites through pottery collected on the surface in areas where visibility is limited, modern disturbances pervasive, collected material scanty and mostly extremely fragmentary, and pottery sequences quite rough due to the dearth of excavated sites. Pending future excavations in the area, the association of visual fabric inspection with a preliminary list of selected, very diagnostic items derived from previous literature provided a first reference framework for dating the Gardabani survey material. One has to be aware, however, that the length of the chronological intervals that can be identified in this way is so great, and visibility and sampling problems on the field so high, that any result should be considered as a mere working hypothesis. The paper aims to spark a discussion among experts of archaeological science about the feasibility of quantitative approaches in such a context. Will they supplement our results or the methodological challenges and limits that hindered our study will also affect them?

First Author: Francesco Bianchi

Co-Authors: Stefania Fiori, Michela Ferracin, Elena Rova

Keywords:
Southern Caucasus
Survey
Methodology
Quantitative methods
Gardabani