Glen
> I meant that the Kartvelians (of non-NWC relation) came from the
> south into the Caucasus.
No, the Kartvelian 'ethnos' formed from largely autochthonous elments
who dwelt in the middle reaches of the Mtkvari (Kura) east of the Likhi
(Surami) Range, though it is possible that some minor components of
the later Georgian nation originated south of the Lesser Caucasus. Kart-
velians later expanded westwards (hence Mingrelian and Laz). There
is no evidence that Kartvelians ever lived next to the sea in the earliest
stages of their development, which re-inforces the view that the coastlands
were occupied by non-Kartvelian elements (i.e.ancestors of today's Adygo-
Abkhaz group.)
GP