to the high grasslands. Human occupation is attested already in the Early Bronze Age (4th millennium BC) and later. The Roman and medieval periods artifacts are also strongly represented in the area. Amiranis Gora On the northeastern outskirts of Akhaltsikhe is an important archaeological site of Amiranis Gora. It was excavated by Chubinishvili. The earliest carbon date for Amiranis Gora is 3790-3373 cal BC. It was obtained from the charcoal of the metallurgical workshop which belonged to the earliest building horizon of Amiranis Gora This indicates a division of the metallurgical production in the extractive and processing branches. Amiranis Gora is an important reference point for the study of the Early Bronze Age Kura-Araxes culture, also known as the Early Transcaucasian Culture. The many references include the architecture, burial practices, material culture and metallurgy. Amiranis Gora is one of the best sites with fixed stratigraphy of the Kura-Araxes culture. The carbon date for the Kura-Araxes material at Amiranis Gora is 3630-3048 cal B.C., which is very early. People associated with Akhaltsikhe Gregorio Pietro Agagianian (1895–1971), Patriarch of Cilicia and the Armenian Catholic Church, Cardinal, and first Eastern Catholic papabile since Cardinal Bessarion during the Renaissance David Baazov, rabbi at Akhaltsikhe (1918) Shio Batmanishvili, Hieromonk of the Servites of the Immaculate Conception, first Exarch of the Georgian Greek Catholic Church, and survivor of Solovki prison camp. Martyred by the NKVD during Joseph Stalin's Great Purge and buried in the mass grave at Sandarmokh in the Republic of Karelia. Hovhannes Kajaznuni (1868–1938), first prime minister of the First Republic of Armenia Ahmed-Pasha Khimshiashvili (?-1836), Pasha of Ahiska Sergo Kobuladze (1909–1978), painter and illustrator Hakob Kojoyan (1883–1959), Soviet Armenian artist Shalva Maglakelidze, plenipotentiary for the Russian Provisional Government and then for the government of Georgia in Akhaltsikhe (1917–1918) Stepan Malkhasyants, Armenian academician Palavandishvili family Giorgi Mazniashvili, governor general of Akhaltsikhe (1919–1920) Natela Svanidze, Georgian composer Michel Tamarati (1858–1911), Georgian Catholic priest and historian Vakhtang Tchutchunashvili (?-1668), usurper of Imereti throne, fled to Ahiska after being deposed Vakhtang V, King of Kartli, fled to Ahiska after a coup failure Lusine Zakaryan (1937–1991), Soviet Armenian soprano singer International relations Twin towns and sister cities Akhaltsikhe is twinned with: Ardahan, Turkey See also Battle of Akhaltsikhe Samtskhe-Javakheti References Cities and towns in Samtskhe–Javakheti Tiflis Governorate Kura-Araxes culture