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Tsutskhvati Cave - A protected area in Tkibuli Municipality

Tsutskhvati Cave - A protected area in Tkibuli Municipality

Tsutsukhati cave, which the locals call "Maghara", has no equivalent in the world of its antiquity and number of floors. The thirteen-story cave complex is a protected area in the Tkibuli municipality, near Tsutskhvati village. It is located at 260-340 meters above sea level.
Region
Imereti
City
Tkibuli

The first floor of the cave is a narrow hole into which the Shabatghele River flows. The second floor has a remnant of an old cult building. Above the fourth floor, in waterless caves, mid-Paleolithic-era stone tools and fossilized animal bones have been found.

Worth noting that Tsutskhvati cave "recorded" data about the climatic changes that occurred in the last 140,000 years. A 50000-year-old neanderthal child tooth was found in the Bronze Age cave on the fifth floor. The bones of a cave bear and other sacrificed animals were found on the ninth floor of the cave. The three cave openings on the 7-9 floors, were used as fortifications in the age of feudalism. Mortared stone walls, carved steps, and fragments of qvevris are well-preserved.

The importance of Tsutskhvati cave is also indicated by the traces of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens that apparently cohabited in the area around 80000 years ago.

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