The Amirani Cycle as Cultural Memory of Historical Development in the South Caucasus

Recent studies in cultural heritage, cultural memory, and digital humanities increasingly movebeyond the search for a single historical truth and instead emphasize multi-layered interpretativemodels that integrate historical data, archaeological evidence, collective memory, and narrativetraditions. Within this framework, myth can be approached not merely as a fictional account but as aform of cultural memory that preserves and transforms experiences accumulated over long periodsof social development.This article examines the Amirani Cycle, one of the most important narrative traditions of Georgianmythology, from the perspective of cultural memory. Rather than treating the cycle as a reflection ofa single historical event or period, the study explores the possibility that its various episodespreserve memories of different stages in the historical development of the South Caucasus. Theresearch is based on a comparative analysis of mythological narratives and major archaeologicalprocesses documented in the region from the Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age.Particular attention is given to two major transformations within the narrative. The first is interpretedas a functional transformation associated with the transition from the transfer of agriculturalknowledge and control over land to the acquisition of new resources and technological knowledgesymbolized by Qamari. The second is understood as a personal transformation in which the culturalhero gradually becomes a figure driven by the pursuit of supremacy, prestige, and power. Thesetransformations provide the basis for a broader developmental model encompassing environmentalmastery, the emergence of productive economies, resource exploitation, technological innovation,social differentiation, competition for primacy, and eventual systemic crisis.The article argues that the Amirani Cycle may be understood as a complex narrative expression ofcultural memory in which multiple historical experiences were integrated into a single mythologicalframework. In this perspective, the cycle does not preserve direct memories of specific events butrather transforms long-term historical processes that shaped the historical trajectory of the SouthCaucasus over several millennia into a coherent mythological narrative. Keywords: Amirani Cycle; Cultural Memory; Trialeti Culture; South Caucasus Archaeology; Mythand History; Social Transformation; Bronze Age; Narrative Interpretation