This project is in essence the continuation of the research on traditional Central Caucasian religion funded in 1999-2002, with a shift in orientation motivated primarily by observations made in the field at that time. The primary goal of my research during this period was the documentation and analysis of the surviving remnants of highland Caucasian "paganism", a syncretic religious system comprising elements appropriated from Georgian Orthodox Christianity, but whose core principles go back much further in time.

Orientalism as a scholarly discipline took the first steps in Western Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. In Paris, leading Orientalists studying the history of Asian countries engaged in scholarly and educational activities. In 1818 the "Asian Society" was founded in Calcutta, followed by the "Asian Museum" in Petersburg, and in 1822 the "Asian Society" was established in Paris, whose Academic Council cooperated fruitfully with both.

Georgian writers and public figures of the 1860s showed immense interest in bringing to light and studying remains of Georgian material culture. In this respect, Giorgi Tsereteli – a writer, publicist, philologist, criticist, naturalist and simultaneously – a historian, archaeologist, deserves special attention. G.Tsereteli left a certain imprint on the development of Georgian archaeology as a scholarly discipline and therefore his activities stand in need for special study.