Gachedili ( ka, გაჭედილი; ) is a village located in the

Martvili Municipality Martvili ( ka, მარტვილის მუნიციპალიტეტი) is a district of Georgia (country), Georgia, in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti. Its main town is Martvili. Martvili Municipality is located in the north- ...

of the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. Gachedili is situated on the right bank of the Abasha river. At an altitude of 240 meters, it is 8 kilometers to

Martvili Martvili ( ka, მარტვილი) is a small town in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti province of Western Georgia. Its monastery was Samegrelo's clerical centre in the Middle Ages. Under Soviet rule, from 1936 to 1990, it was named Gegechkori after ...

from Gachedili and 48 kilometers to

Senaki Senaki ( ka, სენაკი, ''senak'i''; , ''sanak'i'') is a city in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region, western Georgia. It is located at around between the rivers Tekhura/i and Tsivi, at an elevation of 28–38 meters above sea level. Senaki i ...

. According to the data of 2014, 427 people live in the village. Gachedili is under Chkondidi Diocese.

Canyon

Gachedili's Canyon is located on the river Abasha. The canyon is 2400 m. long and - 20–40 m. deep. In the middle of canyon is a 12 m high waterfall. The canyon is known for fossilized bones of animals, which lived 75 million years ago, making the canyon the world's third discovery, in which the remains of prehistoric animals were found. This discovery was made in July 2010, by

Ilia State University Ilia State University ISU ( ka, ილიას სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი) is a public university in Tbilisi, Georgia that was founded in 2006 as a result of a merger of six different academic institution ...

International Institute of Earth Sciences with the help of graduate students. In August

organized Field Research Expedition in which

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

s Vyacheslav Chkhikvadze and Vasil Gabunia took part. After the expedition it was announced that dinosaur footprints were found in the gorge of the Abasha river . On October 4, 2010 Gachedili Canyon was declared protected area. In 2011 Ilia state university organized a number of re-exploration expeditions. In some caves oldest human remains - bones and crumbs were found. In addition, they found the bones of extinct species of animals, including a cave bear and a bison. One of the participants of the expeditions Vasil Gabunia says that discovered footprints look like dinosaur's, although he admits that it is difficult to say confidently, until they make research of the discovered material.

References

{{Reflist Populated places in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti