Gold figurine grom Georgia, excavated at Tsnori Kurgan 12, Kakheti. Dated 2300-2000 BCE
“The unique gold standard of a stylized figurine of lion from Kurgan 12 in Tsnori in Kakheti (East Georgia) imitates both filigree and granulation.
It is obvious that the artisan, who made this exquisite figurine, was familiar with objects ornamented in these techniques. However, the figurine with its pseudo filigree and granulation is cast in one piece, using an intricate lost-wax technique. Kurgan 12in Tsnori belongs to the so-called Bedeni Culture, which follows the Martqopi Culture and is apparently contemporaneous with the Royal Cemetery at Ur of the ED [Early Dynastic] IIIA period, which produced the earliest examples of granulation known in the ancient world.” [Mikheil Abramishvili]
Mikheil Abramishvili, In search of the origins of metallurgy – An overview of South Caucasian evidence https://www.academia.edu
Jewelry Manufacture in the Kura-Araxes and Bedeni Cultures of the Southern Caucasus: Analogies and Distinctions for the Reconstruction of a Cultural Changeover; Eleonora Carminati
https://www.academia.edu
