Results of a palynological study of the contents of small glass bottles of the Late Antiquity from the Kanchaani Cemetery (Southeastern Georgia)

Abstract

Eight small glass bottles (vials) have been obtained from five graves of the Kanchaani cemetery, dating to the 1st-3rd centuries AD. The objects came to the laboratory almost intact, and their contents have also survived. Analysis of the plant pollen and the study of non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP) of these contents showed that there was a set of various medicinal plants in seven bottles, and one bottle contained an infusion made from in-sects, which also had medicinal properties. The pollen of 23 medicinal plants has been determined to genus and species levels in the contents of the bottles. The paper describes in detail the characteristics of all found medici-nal plants and their use in folk medicine. It turns out, that the ethnopharmacology of the Late Antiquity Period in the region under consideration was rather well developed.