Gold Items from a Vault of the 3rd Century BC at the Markula Hillfort

In July 2023 a vault dating to the 3rd century BC at the Markula fortified settlement (Ochamchira district, Republic of Abkhazia) was destroyed by looters. We do not know with absolute certainty what the looters had taken and what they had left. The looters destroyed the entire structure of the vault disrupting the sequence of its occupation layers. Yet the reinvestigation of the site occupied by the destroyed vault yielded a number of unique finds. The aim of this paper is to introduce objects made of gold that were found at the site into scientific discourse. A total of 70 objects were retrieved including fragments of foil and ply threads. This paper also seeks to address the provenance (production place) issue regarding these objects.