Tsnori

Tsnori is a town in the Kakheti region of eastern Georgia, set in the Alazani Valley close to the town of Sighnaghi. It has held town status since 1965, and the national statistics office-style count cited for 2024 puts its population at 4,776 people. The settlement is best known to archaeologists: excavations around Tsnori have uncovered clusters of kurgans, burial mounds of the Early Bronze Age in South Caucasia, and the finds include some of the most elaborate such mounds of that culture. The two largest kurgans reflect the rich burial customs of the Trialeti culture, and the larger of the two covers nearly three hectares. The most celebrated object recovered comes from the second largest mound, a small gold statue of a lion measuring 5.2 centimetres in length.