Hey Monganaut,

Yes, I'm in that part of the world, and I can attest to how proud Georgians are of being the home of ancient Colchis on the Black Sea coast. I've visited that region - roughly around the modern port town of Batumi and the tourist resorts of Kobuleti.

An interesting connection between the Bronze Age monoliths of Armenia known as dragon-stones (vishaps), which depict the hide of a horned animal carved upon them, to the Golden Fleece myth has recently been advanced by several Armenian academics. Here is a summary of a paper by Armen Petrosyan called The legend of the Golden Fleece and stone vishaps:

"It is known that during Hattian-Hittite rituals ?eeces were hung upon trees. This ritual corresponds to Greek myth of the Golden Fleece. ?he Argonauts sailed to Colchis to get the Golden Fleece which was hung there on an oak-tree and was guarded by the dragon. The elements of this legend – the ?eece upon the tree and the dragon – are comparable with the iconography of the stone vishaps as well as with rituals and myths which are reconstructed from these elements.

"The names of the king of Colchis Aietes and his daughter Medea, as well as the legends about them, ?nd their parallels in the names and myths of Yayati and his daughter Madhavi (India), and Eochaid and his daughter Medb (Ireland). It means that this myth is of Indo-European origin.

"The original goal of the Argonauts was called Aia, which later was equated with Colchis. Aia, most probably, can be identi?ed with the land Hayasa of the Hittite sources, located in the same area. The Indo-European char-acter of the legends and the names of Aia suggest the signi?cant role of Indo-European ethnic element within the ancient population of Hayasa. The land Diauhi of the Urartian sources historically followed Hayasa in the same territory, and itself was followed by the Armenian province of Tayk. The latter is one of major centers of concentration of vishap stones. Most probably, the legend of the Argonauts re?ected not only the Hattian-Hittite ritual, but also a di?erent tradition peculiar to the Armenian Highland (where it was customary to hang upon the sacri?cial stele not a sheepskin, but a bull hide)."

There was news in the last fortnight of a discovery of a religious complex on an island which is regarded as being the origin of Greece. The building/s were covered with white marble not available on that island which had to be transported from another by boat. It is estimated that it took around 10000 trips. That the people from those parts c4000bc were not very accomplished seafarers is beyond doubt. Sorry can't do link at mo, I think it was a Cambridge Uni dig tho.