Abkhazia population

The history of Abkhazia , a region in the South Caucasus , spans more than 5, years from its settlement by the lower-paleolithic hunter-gatherers to its present status as a partially recognized state. Lower Paleolithic hunting-gathering encampments formed the first known settlements on the territory of modern-day Abkhazia. The earliest examples have been unearthed at the sites of Iashkhtva, Gumista, Kelasuri, and Ochamchire.

Upper Paleolithic culture settled chiefly on the coastline. Mesolithic and Neolithic periods brought larger permanent settlements and marked the beginning of farming, animal husbandry, and the production of ceramics. The earliest artifacts of megalithic culture appeared in the early 3rd millennium BC and continued into the Bronze Age as the so-called dolmens of Abkhazia, typically consisting of four upright mass stones and a capstone, some of them weighing as much as 50 tonnes.

A dolmen from the Eshera archaeological site is the best-studied prehistoric monument of this type.

Abkhazia religion

The Late Bronze Age saw the development of more advanced bronze implements and continued into the Iron Age as a part of the Colchian culture c. The written history of Abkhazia largely begins with the coming of the Milesian Greeks to the coastal Colchis in the 6th-5th centuries BC. They founded their maritime colonies along the eastern shore of the Black Sea , with Dioscurias being one of the most important centers of trade.

This city, said to be so named for the Dioscuri , the twins Castor and Pollux of classical mythology , is presumed to have subsequently developed into the modern-day Sukhumi. Other notable colonies were Gyenos, Triglitis, and later Pityus , arguably near the modern-day coastal towns of Ochamchire , Gagra , and Pitsunda, respectively.

Abkhazia war

The peoples of the region were notable for their number and variety, as classical sources testify. Herodotus , Strabo , and Pliny appreciate the multitude of languages spoken in Dioscurias and other towns. The mountainous terrain tended to separate and isolate local peoples from one another and encouraged the development of dozens of separate languages and dialects complicating the ethnic makeup of the region.

Even the most well-informed contemporary authors are very confused when naming and locating these peoples and provide only very limited information about the geography and population of the hinterland.