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Rediscovering Colchis On The Footprints Of Argonauts Through Rioni River - Valley Of Colchis 

Cultural Center-Archeological Museum In Georgia Black Sea Coast- City of Poti - Kolimbari Island-Lake Paliastom

Honorable Mention for the best thesis project 2020 in Politecnico di Milano - Michele Silvers Awards
 

Throughout the history of Eurasia, the Black Sea has always been one of the main cores for development and culturalization to the people of different cultures and religions. It has been used for Sea expeditions, which led us to know many of the stories and myths about surrounding civilizations around “Póntos Áxeinos”. The project was influenced by the historical background of the Black Sea and after starting the profound research more interesting topics have emerged. The Black Sea is a marginal sea and has the world’s largest body of water with a meromictic basin the deep waters do not mix with the upper layers of liquid, which is supplied by the oxygen from the atmosphere, as a result, 90 percent of deeper sea volume is anoxic waters. These two pieces of information logically led a project to the idea that their underwater black Sea basin could be the tremendous cultural heritage which archeological evidence are already clear in some surrounding countries seashores. The Black Sea has been one of the main trade systems throughout history and gave us beautiful stories as Mythos of Argonauts, which led the Greek crew to the coast of Colchis Golden Fleece that is considered to be Georgia by many historians and archeologists. After the investigation was discovered more evidence of Greek cultural influence across the Georgian coast. Georgian coast had a deep connection with Greeks, who came and founded several settlements and castles all across the coast. The diversity of terrain in western Georgia - the fragmented terrain of ridges and valleys (river valley, high mountain, or hill), created more favorable conditions for the formation of a fortification system and it would not be difficult to choose a suitable place to build castles (Zakaria ... 1991: 161); The system of fortresses was working together as a manmade barrier to come into the land of Colchis which was rich by all-natural resources. First-century B.C author Strabo writes that Colchis was rich in iron, gold, silver, shipbuilding. Flax, hemp, wax, and resin were also cultivated there, with many excellent fruits in the country (Lortkipanidze 2010: 103-111); The main river of Georgia isRioni, the river which is considered to be the same river that might have been used by the Argonauts to reach golden fleece into the city of Aea investigated more and foundimmense amount of archeological evidence from Hel - lines and Colchis, the culture of using Rioni river from Poti to Kutaisi which might be considered as the city of “Phasis” and “Aea”. The core of the project is the Rioni river from across the Black Sea coast Potito Kutaisi city as historical and archeological evidence of inhabitation of Colchisand Hellenes culture in Georgia Caucasian mountains. The Urban strategy gives a possibility to explore 

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