After reaching, at the end of the 2014 season, virgin soil in the easternmost quadrant (105.099d) of the EW-oriented step-trench sounding (Field B) opened in 2013 on the SE side of the mound, work continued this year only in two of the sounding's steps (quadrants 104.099d and respectively 105.099c), with the aim of completing the exposure of the Late Bronze and respectively Kura-Araxes period occupational sequence.
    In quadrant 104.099d, we continued excavating the space (2179) to the W of stone wall 2202-2128 down to its earliest stage, and dug a small, 170 cm deep sounding from the base of it (Fig. 9). We thus reached, at alt. 669.53, the bottom of this massive stone wall, and ascertained that its erection dates back to an early phase of the Late Bronze period (possibly to the 14th century BC). We also confirmed that the inner wall's face was entirely made of river pebbles and not, like its outer face exposed in 2013, of squared stone blocks, and was equipped with at least one buttress made of the same river pebbles.
    Space 2179 was an open area occupied by a number of different installations, which showed a considerable continuity over what may be considered a long occupational phase with several sub-phases. The upper part of its sequence (tentatively dated to the 11th-12th century BC) had been excavated in 2014, while the lower one (excavated this year) can be tentatively dated to the 13th-14th centuries BC. The S part of the space hosted a complex of firing installations cut into a yellowish clay platform whose limit run parallel to stone wall 2202-2128 at a distance of ca 1 m from it, while its N part was occupied by a white-plastered stepped clay platform, on top of which a shallow basin with a layer of pebbles at the base and a burnt surface was situated. Both the complex of firing installations and the stepped platform were repeatedly renewed in the course of time, probably at approximately the same moments, thus marking a number of different sub-phases in the area's occupational sequence.
    The main feature of the complex of firing installations was a large fireplace of squarish shape with rounded corners (2154-2188-2196) located approximately in the centre of the quadrant, which was surrounded by a low clay wall and filled with several successive layers of small pebbles alternating with pottery sherds. After dismantling fireplace 2188, partially excavated in 2014, we unearthed its predecessor, fireplace 2196, which showed at least two different phases of use. It was originally surrounded by two other firing installations (2504, 2517) (Fig. 10), which during the later sub-phase had both been filled by thick ash layers (Fig. 11).

    The 100 x 80 cm large sounding dug in the NE corner of space 2179 under the walking surface corresponding to the earliest phase of fireplace 2196 revealed a ca 50 cm high sequence of early Late Bronze fillings alternating with walking surfaces, the earliest of which antedate the erection of stone wall 2202-2128. This was underlain by ca 60 cm of layers containing materials attributable to the Transitional LB-MB period (15th century BC?), which yielded, among others, a small round-shaped stone structure internally paved with small pebbles and a floor equipped with a firing installation. At alt. 668.56, there appeared a 30 cm thick yellowish compact layer, underlain by a sequence of two floors cut by post-holes alignments, which covered a possible stone wall, at the level of which (667.91) excavation stopped. This last part of the sequence contained exclusively MB period pottery, including some sherds of painted and incised Trialeti ware (Fig. 12).
    The importance of this discovery deserves to be especially underlined: first of all, for the first time Trialeti pottery has been discovered in a settlement context in the Shida Kartli region; secondly, we are clearly confronted not only with a sporadic MB occupation, but with a sequence of stratified floors equipped at least with some light architectural structures. This suggests that the traditional view, according to which the MB population practised a mobile way of life and stable settlements were virtually abandoned during this period, should be at least partially revised, in that it is by now proved that a limited amount of settled occupation may have persisted throughout the period at least at the largest sites of the region as, e.g., at Aradetis Orgora.
    It is also interesting to observe that this part of the site's occupational sequence was completely absent on the external, eastern side of stone wall 2202-2128, which had been excavated by us in 2013 in adjacent quadrant 105.099c. There, the massive stone wall appeared to have been founded directly on an ancient eroded slope of the mound, which overlay the latest layers of the Kura-Araxes period.

    The continuing investigation of the Kura-Araxes levels in quadrant 105.099c yielded some of the most important discoveries of this year's campaign. We completed the excavation of the ca 4 meter thick occupational sequence of the period (Fig. 13) by excavating more than 1 meter of it and thus reaching the top of the earliest levels excavated last year in adjacent quadrant 105.099d. Four main Kura-Araxes levels yielding remains of architecture and/or floors with installations and in situ materials have been identified this year in square 105.099c. Interestingly enough, both the layout of the excavated area, and the used construction techniques differed considerably from one level to the next one.
    The latest level (top alt. 666.71), already partially excavated last year, yielded a wattle-and-daub wall (2296-2401) running in NS direction through the whole quadrant approximately in its centre, and continuing beyond its limits. Wall 2296-2401 was coated by four successive layers of plaster. A sequence of well preserved floors yielding, among other, a large in situ jar, was leaning to this wall. A platform (2421) built on a preparation of small pebbles and cut by 4 post-holes, located in the N part of the quadrant to the E of wall 2296, belongs to the same phase. The SW part of the quadrant was characterised by the presence of a thick accumulation of burnt debris, mainly deriving from the collapse of the wall and of different firing installations. It is not clear if the wall divided two different rooms, or a room and an open area.
    The second level (Figs. 14, 15) yielded a portion of a large room (2413), probably of rectangular shape with rounded corners, oriented W-E and delimited by a 20-30 cm thick wall of compact yellowish clay (2435). The upper part of the filling of this structure consisted of a thick layer of burnt debris. A very thick plastered floor (2434) showing at least 3 different remakings was unearthed under this collapsed material that probably derived from the building's roof. The inner space of the room was divided by a row of four NS oriented post-holes into two different areas: in the W one, near the NW limit of the excavated area, a fireplace was found on floor 2434.
    In the portion of the room located to the E of the row of post-holes, an exceptional find was made: three rython-like ritual vessels with zoomorphic/anthropomorphic features (Fig. 16) lay on the floor near a large jar, which was apparently leaning to the room's NW corner. These outstanding vessels, for which no exact parallels are known, and the large size of the room in which they were found strongly suggest that the latter did not belong to a normal domestic unit, but rather to a special building, most probably with a religious function. The S half of the quadrant, outside of the wall of room 2413, was occupied by an open space, in which, a.o. a very poorly preserved installation or platform (2418) with traces of red painting and a post-hole cutting its top have been found.
    A thick grey layer full of small fragments of charcoal, animal bones and potsherds extending over the whole quadrant divided the second from the third occupational level. At the time of the latter, a stones alignment (2449) oriented in NE-SW direction divided the excavated area into two parts. A whitish compact floor (2446) equipped with a fireplace was found to the W of this possible wall, while the area to the NE of it was occupied by a surface of small pebbles, and a brownish surface full of small pieces of charcoal, potsherds and animal bones was identified to the SE of it.
    The fourth level excavated this year yielded the surface of a probably open area with several fireplaces, burnt areas and a number of small pits. To the same phase belonged also a slightly curved alignment of stones oriented EW, and scanty remains of a white-plastered floor.
    Ca 5 cm under the floor of the fourth level, at alt. 665.54, a compact surface of yellowish clay cut by post-holes was investigated over a limited portion of the quadrant. The continuation of this surface had already been excavated in 2014 at the W limit of quadrant 105.099d to the E, where it represented the highest Kura-Araxes level preserved under the old eroded mound's slope. The investigation of the stratigraphical sequence of this part of the mound can thus be considered successfully concluded.