Field C, in the E part of the Dedoplis Gora mound, is dedicated to the continuing investigation of the Late Hellenistic-Early Imperial palace. One of the aims of this year’s campaign was to explore a small section of the building’s inner court situated to the west of the portico in front of Room no. 20 excavated during the previous seasons (quadrant 102.100d).
    Excavation started from the present mound’s surface, whose elevation varied from 677.55 to 676.45 m. a.s.l. After removing the thick surface layer, at alt. 676.50 we discovered a layer of stones, to be interpreted as the base of a mud-brick wall of the Early Medieval period (Level I). We suppose that this wall represents the W wall of the Level I building, excavated in 2014, which was located above Room no. 20 and the portico of the Hellenistic palace (Fig. 17). The building, which had been built directly on the palace’s ruins, was equipped with large vine jars.
    Not much was preserved of Level I in the E part of the quadrant, where we encountered the remains of a collapsed mud-brick wall belonging to the Hellenistic palace (Level II), whose bricks lay in vertical position (Fig. 18), running in NS direction where the mound's E slope begins, at a distance of 8 m from the western wall of Room no. 20, and extending until the centre of the quadrant. To the W of the wall, we excavated three small Level I pits, in one of which we discovered some wood remains, that we interpret as belonging to wooden columns.
    In the W half of the quadrant we exposed a layer of clay plaster, which belonged to some sort of installation located at a depth of 80 cm from the top of the stone wall (Figs. 17, 19). The clay surface showed evidence of fire activity, in the form of some black spots. The upper part of a clay jar (kvevri) had been inserted into the clay surface; its rim had also been surrounded with clay. It appears that the function of this feature was that of a drainage pit; similar ones had already been discovered in the Early Medieval level in previous excavation seasons.
    Interesting ceramic material was unearthed in the Early Medieval level; in comparison with the 2014 campaign we have less fragments of tiles (these can be dated to the IV-V century AD), but a larger number of ceramic sherds. The majority of them belong to cooking outs and fragments of louteria. The majority of the vessels are black and grey, while the louteria are red-burnished. There were also many jug fragments – most of them are decorated –, fragments of two-handled amphora(s), of bowls whose body was decorated with grooved horizontal lines, and of large pottery jars.
    Especially interesting finds were a cooking pot which contained threes impressed sealings (bullae), and a vessel for salt, which was found next to it. At the level of the clay installation we also found some fragments of a very large ceramic basin, which were similar to those recovered on top of the altars discovered several years ago, two clay spindle-whorls, and two bone pins. All this material is characteristic of the upper levels of Dedoplis Gora. Some fragments of glass vessels were also found: they can be dated to the V century AD.
    Only in the eastern part of the quadrant we managed to explore the level of the Hellenistic palace (Level II). Here, a large accumulation of stones was found under the collapsed mud-brick wall, divided from it by a layer of charcoals (Fig. 20). The floor of the court could be reached only on a 1 x 1 m wide area; this allowed to understand that its surface was originally sloping in W direction.
    Excavation of the original surface of the courtyard area was not completed due to the higher priority given to the second goal of the season, namely work aiming at developing a plan for the future preservation of the Hellenistic building. In order for the team of specialists to carry out their preliminary analysis of the wall degradation process and to produce a photogrammetric survey of the surviving walls by Photo-Scanner technology, which yielded a three-dimensional model of the parts examined (see below), it was necessary to uncover the remains of Room 20 and the portion of the portico excavated in 2013-2014 and submit them to careful cleaning.
    At the end of the excavation season, the ruins were covered again, an action which is especially necessary for their future preservation, considering their rather unstable present status, and the complex phenomena of structural degradation they turned out to have been subjected to.