According to the testimony of archaeologists, these secrets are at the bottom of the lake, where hydrologists accidentally discovered the most ancient stone structure, which has not been fixed anywhere and by anyone
The depth of the lake is only four meters, but the water is muddy and the visibility is zero below four centimeters. Moreover, the climate here is extremely harsh - frosts from autumn to late spring, and in the winter months the lake is covered with a thick layer of ice.
Only divers have access to the bottom of the lake, where they discovered a strange structure during hydrological work and reported it to archaeologists. Indeed, the very first geophysical exploration at the bottom of the lake recorded a still unknown object, occupying a rather vast area - 900 square meters.
However, further studies have convinced specialists that they should be comprehensive. For this purpose, hydrologists, geologists, geomorphologists, climatologists and other specialists were involved. Divers were also involved.
The joint efforts of scientists were united in the scientific project "Lake Paravani" and the interdisciplinary expedition created for its implementation at the Tbilisi State University named after I. Javakhishvili. Professor of TSU Vakhtang Licheli supervises the scientific project and its practical implementation.
The resulting drawing of the investigated object confirmed the assumptions of scientists that they are dealing with a burial mound of the Bronze Age. As the study progressed, the mysterious design revealed another secret - the kitchen utensils found here, various vessels, devices for fishing nets, fragments of dishes glazed with red paint date back to the 4th century BC. e., that is, the antique period.
On this, it seems, one could stop searching. But there was a sensation ahead of them, and more than one. For a more thorough examination of the territory around the monument on the eastern side, a "corridor" was opened, which can lead to its center. Here, it turns out, is another secret of the mound. The archaeological finds around it date back to about the 12th-16th centuries.
These are fragments of different vessels, household ceramics, beautiful painted bowls, cups of various types with paintings, geometric shapes, floral ornaments, in which green, white, brown colors prevail, and the glaze testifies to high skill.
Moreover, now we can already assume that there was a settlement around the monument, where people of a rather high culture lived in the Middle Ages. And most importantly, the stone burial and the surrounding territory brought to us evidence of three eras - bronze, antique and medieval. Scientists are waiting for new secrets that have kept the muddy waters of the lake for centuries.
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The main task of further searches is to get to the burial center, where scientists hope to find a burial of the Bronze Age. It contains the answer to the question - for whom and by whom this stone burial was built. However, the path to unraveling the secrets is associated with great difficulties.
The structure was built of basalt, rough stone blocks, which cannot be photographed or copied in muddy water. Archaeologists have found a way out of this extraordinary case: a wooden platform has been built around the structure above the water, on which divers place these stones for further study. And if we clarify that there are several thousand of them, then it is easy to imagine what laborious work the TSU students did, taking measurements of each stone block, replenishing the research of scientists with scientific information.
There are many questions that need to be answered. For example, why did a stone structure, which no doubt was built on land, end up under water? So far, we can only assume that this happened as a result of some geological cataclysms - the lake increased, flooding the monument. According to scientists, this happened somewhere in the 13th century, which led to the immersion of an ancient mound in the water. But then, how did a medieval settlement turn out to be at the bottom of the lake of a later period?
However, it is difficult to judge this now. Scientists are also questioning the age of Lake Paravani, which was formed as a result of volcanic cataclysms in the Lesser Caucasus, in general, and in Javakheti, in particular.
This also happened about 300 thousand years ago. This does not coincide with the dating of the discovered ancient burial, which, of course, was built much later. This, scientists believe, is a strong argument that Lake Paravani on this scale arose not 300, but 200 thousand years ago. Then, the question arises again - under what circumstances did it increase, because geological cataclysms were left far behind? Archaeologists are confident that the coming summer will reveal another secret to them. She is in the center of the mound, where, according to their assumption, there is a mysterious burial.
Archaeologists' expectations are not unfounded. Not far from Lake Paravani are located the most ancient Georgian villages, on the territory of which there are many monuments of the medieval period dating back to the X-XII centuries. Of particular note is the caravanserai, which belongs to the 13th-14th centuries. and is evidence that there was a road that connected the then Georgia with the Middle East.
A burial mound was excavated near Lake Paravani a few years ago. At the top of the mountains by the lake is a Bronze Age sanctuary from around the second millennium BC. e. - this is an amazing so-called. a cyclopedic building of 2-3 floors, which was built without mortar from huge stones, even streets, rooms, etc. have been preserved.
Historical materials indicate that Georgian tribes lived here, and a little later, from about the eighth century BC, the Javakhi tribes are mentioned in the Urartian cuneiform sources, i.e. Georgian. This region deserves special attention from researchers of Georgia's past. Our distant ancestors left here far from dumb convincing evidence that this was their land already in antiquity, and they led a full-blooded life here at that time.
The head of the Lake Paravani scientific project, Professor Vakhtang Licheli, on behalf of all participants in the archaeological excavations, expressed gratitude for the support and assistance to the Respublika Bank, the General Director of Lakes of Georgia LLC Dodo Abralava, the Rector's Office of the Tbilisi State University. Javakhishvili, a group of submariners led by Amiran Jamrishvili, and many other specialists, without whom this discovery would not have been possible.