The Late Antique Church at Napurvala Hill (Pichvnari, Western Georgia) and Its Associated Cemetery. A Reappraisal Based on Surviving Evidence at the Batumi Archaeological Museum

Abstract

This article presents the artefacts found during the excavation of a building at Napurvala Hill, Pichvnari, in the 1960s and 1970s and now at the Batumi Archaeological Museum (BAM). Besides discussing the bulk finds, some of which were already published in 1980 by Chkhaidze, this contribution provides, for the first time, a study of a small white marble cross found during the excavation and now on display at the BAM. It will conclude that, although the interpretation of the building as a church remains sound, the chronology of the artefacts is problematic as their dating ranges from the Hellenistic to the Medieval periods.