Based on the linguistic material and literary sources alone researchers ascribed the Caucasian peoples a single origin. The tribes from this region are mentioned for the first time in the Assyrian and Urartian texts as well as in the Bible. The Greco-Roman sources provide valuable albeit scant (and often mythical) formation about them. Herodotus thought of the Kolkhians to be of the Egyptian origin. Medieval Byzantine and Georgian historiography considered the Georgians and the Caucasians in general to have migrated from the south during the times of Alexander the Great. In “Moqtsevai Qartlisa” (Conversion of Qarthli) and also in Leonti Mroveli’s “Qarthlis Tskhovreba” (The Qartli Chronicle) Targamos, a descendent of Noah, is mentioned as the forefather of all the Caucasian peoples.

In the XIX-XX centuries the Georgian historians, among them D. Baqradze, M. Janashvili, A. Svanidze, I. Javakhishvili, S. Janashia, G. Meliqishvili, became interested in the ancient sources. Based on the analysis of the sources, some like Javakhishvili for instance, considered that the Georgians indeed migrated in the area from the south. Janashia proposed a theory that linked Hetto-Iberians, thus viewing the Georgian and Caucasian tribes as a part of the civilization which occupied a vast area of the Near East in the II millennium. Janashia assumed that the demise of the Hittites their descendents must have settled in the South Caucasus.

It was until the archeological excavations (the 1940s) conducted by professor Kuftin that it became possible to base the theories about the origins of the Qarthvelians on the abundant supply of the material evidence. Based on the archeological evidence Kuftin proposed that most cultures found on the Caucasian soil developed locally of the indigenous population.

In the last decades of XX c. and in recent times more researches of the authors (K. Phitskhelauri, Th. Miqeladze, Th. Gamqhrelidze, V. Ivanov, D. Losaberidze, G. Qavtharadze, G. Chitaia, G. Qhoranashvili, G. Giorgadze, D. Muskhelishvili, O. Japharidze, etc) has been done on the subject and their interpretation allows us to sketch a more or less complete and continuous picture of the Georgians origin and prehistory.

Resent archeological discoveries in the South Caucasus have shed new light on the original population of the Caucasus and of Eurasia in general. Excavations in southern Georgia, on the site of the feudal city of Dmanisi, yield unique material for the study of early Proto-Paleolithic hominids. The material from Dmanisi dates from 1.8 million years ago. Based on the evidence of the site there is good reason to think that the Caucasus was on one of the main routes through which early man penetrated Europe. The subsequent fate of these hominids in the Caucasus is difficult to surmise. One million years separate Dmanisi discoveries from the sites of the beginning of the Acheulian period on the Javakhethi plateau. In the Acheulian period it seems that the entire Caucasus region becomes more thoroughly populated, and subsequently the Musterian (middle Paleolithic) period is when more intense inhabitation of the region takes place. Typological similarity of the artifacts in the region of Javakhethi of the Acheulian and Musterian periods allows us to assume one uniform culture. The Paleo-anthropological date of the lower Paleolithic is scarce. Only at two Acheulian period sites human bones have been found. These are a jaw piece from Azich cave in Azerbaijan and a tooth found in Kudaro in Shida Qarthli. Mustier man is better presented from mustierien several cave settlements. It is probable that local anthropoid eventually developed into the Caucasian type of Paleo-anthropoid. Noteworthy are Sakazhia and Achstiz cave finds in that they show the evidence of the emergence of the archaic homo in the Caucasus. Certain uniformity is observable in the archeological material in that the technology of manufacturing stone tools is similar throughout. 

The most advance economic developments take place in the western and NE parts of the Caucasus where Neolithic period had an early start. At this point the ethnic formation of much of the original tribes must have taken place.

The Qarthvelian tribes after the break up of the Proto-Caucasian unity settled in the SW of Georgia. Neolithic culture is well advanced in this area and a more economic differentiation is noticeable too.

By the first half of the 2^nd millennium, which is the period of the Middle Bronze, the process of the settling the territory that is Georgia today, is complete. The mountainous parts of Kolkhis are populated by Svans, and the lowlands by the Zan tribes. E Georgia, the region of Thrialethi culture, is occupied by the Qrthvelian tribes.   

[O. Japharidze, Georgia at its Pre-historic origins, Tbilisi 2006, pp. 383-389]

Leonti Mroveli’s legend

Let us initially say the fact that the Armenians, Georgians, Rans, Movaknels, Herethians, Leks, Megrels and Caucasians had one father named Thargamos, son of Tharshi, son of Gamer, son of Japheth, son of Noah. He was a brave, gigantic man. At the time of the destruction of the Tower [of Babel] and the division of tongues and the dispersion of mankind throughout the world, Thargamos came and settled between the Ararat and Masis mountains. He had many women; sons and daughters of his sons and daughters were born, and he lived for six hundred years. But the country did not suffice for the multitude of his folk.

Therefore, they spread out and enlarged their boundaries: from the Pontic sea (West) to the sea of Gurgen (East), from the Oreth sea (South) to the mountains of the Caucasus (North).  

They selected eight of the bravest and most renowned of his sons. First was Haos, second Qarthlos, third Bardos, fourth Movakan, fifth Lek, sixth Heros, seventh Caucas, and eighth Egros. These eight men were heroes, but Haos was the strongest and bravest. There was no one like him on earth, neither before the deluge nor after it, to the present.   

Due to the country of the Ararat and Masis could not provide more living-place Targamos divided his land among them: half he gave to Haos and half to the seven sons, according to their merit. To Qarthlos he gave the Herethi land of the north, [with borders] in the east by the Berdujisi River, in the west the Pontic Sea and from the Mtkvari area by the Caucasus Mountains, by Klarjethi and Tao as far as Likhi. . .

Now Qarthlos went to the mountain called Amrazi and built there his home and fortress; and his entire land from Khunani to the sea of Speri was called Qarthli after him. He constructed Orbethi, now called Shamshvilde and the brick-built fortress Khunani. After living many years, he died leaving five brave sons: Mtskhethos, Gardabos, Kakhos, Kukhos and Gachios. All of them were heroes; however Mtskhethos was up most heroic.

Notes for our foreign readers:
The legend above is narrated in the compilation of the medieval Georgian chronicles ‘Karthlis Tskhovreba’ which taken down from oral tradition by Leonti Mroveli in the 11^th  century. He is usually credited by some historians to have written several pieces of old Georgian chronicles included in Kartlis Cxovreba, while others consider him to have been just a compiler. Even though these genealogies of Georgian chronicles are legendary and cannot be considered reliable for a serious historic research, they are anyway valid to trace the origin of the Georgians.

A favourite legend of the Georgians: The legend relates how God came upon the Georgians only after he had parcelled out all the countries of the world to other nationalities. The Georgians were having a party in a typically festive mood and invited the Creator to join them in wine and song. The Lord so enjoyed himself that He decided to give these merry and carefree people the one spot on the earth that He had reserved for Himself – the valleys and hills that lie to the south of the great Caucasus Mountains.