Schneider’s Tower: An extraordinary archaeological collaboration between the Soviet Narkompros and the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft, Nokalakevi, Georgia 1930-31

Excavation at Nokalakevi in west Georgia has been undertaken as an Anglo-Georgian collaboration since 2001, building on the success of the S. Janashia Museum expedition which started in 1973. In the winter of 1930–31 the very first formal excavation of the site was also a collaborative venture, bringing together specialists from the German Reich, known as the Weimar Republic, and the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. As the Anglo-Georgian Expedition to Nokalakevi marks the 50 ^th anniversary of the commencement of large-scale excavations, the recent discovery of archive material relating to the excavation led by Dr Alfons Maria Schneider provides a timely opportunity to reflect on the first collaboration at Nokalakevi.