princedom of Tsuketi and had a large domed church, which was a sear of a bishop of Eliseni, Tsuketi and Shakikhi". Research and dating In 2000–2003 the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs funded a joint project between Azerbaijan Architecture and Construction University and the Norwegian Humanitarian Enterprise for the archaeological research and restoration of the church of Kish. Dr. Vilayat Karimov of Baku's Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography served as the director of excavations, and the archaeological advisor for the project was J. Bjørnar Storfjell. Radiocarbon analysis of various objects found on the site showed that the cultic site found beneath the altar of the church dates to about 3000 B.C., while the construction of the existing church building dates to about the 12th century (990–1160 A.D. calibrated Carbon-14 date). The existing church building cannot be dated to the times of St. Elishe, but the archaeological evidence demonstrates that the church is located on an ancient cultic site. It is very unlikely that St. Elishe built in Kish a church in the modern understanding of this word. Even if the person did exist, it appears likely that he built only the altar or used an existing pagan cult structure. Bjørnar Storfjell stated that there's clear evidence that this church was built as diophysite church. Excavations revealed that the church represented two different periods of use, with two different corresponding floor levels of the chancel area. A chancel (the altar area, where the priest officiates) only slightly elevated in comparison to the nave reflects a diophysite view on the nature of Christ (Jesus is seen as equally divine and human at the same time), while a higher elevation of the chancel is typical of Monophysitism (Christ is seen as purely divine). The officiating priest is seen as the representative of Jesus, and the Christological approach reflects on the priest's degree of proximity to the worshippers. In Kish, the floor level of the chancel was raised during a second period of use from a mere 30-40 cm to about one meter (100 cm) above that of the nave. According to Storfjell, the architecture of the apse of the original church in Kish suggests a diophysite Christology, and since the Georgian Church was the only diophysite church existing in the Caucasus in the late medieval period, it seems reasonable to suggest that the Kish church was initially built as a Georgian church and