The third field season of the Shida Kartli project of the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy) in cooperation with the Georgian National Museum (Georgia) took place from August the 20th to October the 5th, 2011.
    The Italian team was composed of the following members: prof. Elena Rova (Ca’ Foscari University Venice, co-director, chief of the Italian team), dr. Monica Tonussi (post-doctoral fellow, Ca’ Foscari University), Katia Gavagnin (Ph.D. candidate, University of Torino), Eleonora Carminati, Giulia De Nobili, Mirko Furlanetto and Laura Tonetto (MA students in Near Eastern Archaeology at Ca’ Foscari University), prof. Giovanni Boschian (University of Pisa), geoarchaeologist, dr. Stefano Furlani (University of Padova), geomorphologist, dr. Elisabetta Boaretto (Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel), C14 specialist.
    The Georgian team was headed by dr. Zurab Makharadze (Georgian National Museum, head of the Centre of Archaeology, co-director), represented on the field by Bidzina Murvanidze (Georgian National Museum, scientific responsible for the Khashuri region). It included the following students and doctorands in Archaeology at Tbilisi State University: Boris Gelashvili, Giorgi Khaburzania, Mariam Nikolozishvili, Ana Tevzadze, and Revaz Vadachkoria, joined for shorter periods by Davit Darejanashvili, Tamar Meladze, and Zviad Sherazadishvili.
Prof. Marina Puturidze (Tbilisi State University, co-director) did not take part in this year’s field campaign, but continued, during the same period, to work on the project’s publications.
    The Italian team arrived in Tbilisi on August the 20th. On August the 23rd the expedition moved to Natsargora in the Khashuri district, where it remained until October the 2nd. The campaign was devoted to the following activities:

1) Excavations at the site of Natsargora.
2) Archaeological survey of the Khashuri district.
3)Collection of samples for radiometric dating, archaeometric analyses and soil michromorphology analyses.
4) Geomorphological survey.
5) Other activities.