The rock-cut city of Vardzia is an example of the extraordinary rupestrian cultural heritage of Georgia. The site, Byzantine in age, was carved in the steep tuff slopes of the Erusheti mountains, and due to its peculiar geological characteristics, it is particularly vulnerable to weathering and degradation, as well as frequent instability phenomena. These problems determine serious constraints on the future conservation of the site, as well as the safety of the visitors. This paper focuses on the implementation of a site-specific methodology, based on the integration of advanced remote sensing techniques, such as InfraRed Thermography (IRT) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based Digital Photogrammetry (DP), with traditional field surveys and laboratory analyses, with the aim of mapping the potential criticality of the rupestrian complex on a slope scale. The adopted methodology proved to be a useful tool for the detection of areas of weathering and degradation on the tuff cliffs, such as moisture and seepage sectors related to the ephemeral drainage network of the slope. These insights provided valuable support for the design and implementation of sustainable mitigation works, to be profitably used in the management plan of the site of Vardzia, and can be used for the protection and conservation of rupestrian cultural heritage sites characterized by similar geological contexts.

Rock-carved cultural heritage sites are often developed in slopes formed by weak rocks, which due to their peculiar lithological, geotechnical, and morpho-structural features are characterized by excellent carvability, which at the same time makes them prone to weathering, deterioration, and slope instability issues. In this context the use of advanced close-range nondestructive techniques, such as Infrared Thermography (IRT) and Unmanned Aerial vehicle-based Digital Photogrammetry (UAV-DP) can be profitably used for the rapid detection of conservation issues (e.g., open fractures, unstable ledges-niches, water seepage and moisture) that can lead to slope instability phenomena. These techniques, when combined with traditional methods (e.g., field surveys, laboratory analysis), can provide fundamental data (such as 3D maps of the kinematic mechanisms) to implement a site-specific and interdisciplinary approach for the sustainable protection and conservation of such fragile cultural heritage sites. In this paper some examples of conservation problems in several rupestrian sites characterized by different geological contexts, from the mountainous regions of Georgia to the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, are presented, with the aim of evaluating the potential of the proposed integrated approach. The final aim is to provide conservators, practitioners, and local authorities with a useful, versatile, and low-cost methodology, to be profitably used in the protection and conservation strategies of rock-carved sites.

Understanding glacier and climate variations since pre-Industrial times is crucial for evaluating the present-day glacier response to climate change. Here, we focus on twelve small glaciers (≤2.0 km²) on both the northern and southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus to assess post-Little Ice Age glacier–climate fluctuations in this region. We reconstructed the Little Ice Age glacier extent using a manual detection method based on moraines. More recent glacier fluctuations were reconstructed using historical topographical maps and satellite imagery. Digital elevation models were used to estimate the topographic characteristics of glaciers. We also used the accumulation area ratio (AAR) method and a regional temperature lapse rate to reconstruct glacier snowlines and corresponding temperatures since the 1820s. The results show that all selected glaciers have experienced area loss, terminus retreat, and equilibrium line altitude (ELA) uplift over the last 200 years. The total area of the glaciers has decreased from 19.1 ± 0.9 km² in the 1820s to 9.7 ± 0.2 km² in 2020, representing a −49.2% loss, with an average annual reduction of −0.25%. The most dramatic reduction occurred between the 1960s and 2020, when the glacier area shrank by −35.5% or −0.59% yr⁻¹. The average terminus retreat for all selected glaciers was −1278 m (−6.4 m/yr⁻¹) during the last 200 years, while the average retreat over the past 60 years was −576 m (−9.6 m/yr⁻¹). AAR-based (0.6 ± 0.05) ELA reconstructions from all twelve glaciers suggest that the average ELA in the 1820s was about 180 m lower (3245 ± 50 m a.s.l.) than today (3425 ± 50 m a.s.l.), corresponding to surface air temperatures <1.1 ± 0.3 °C than today (2001–2020). The largest warming occurred between the 1960s and today, when snowlines rose by 105 m and air temperatures increased by <0.6 ± 0.3 °C. This study represents a first attempt at using glacier evidence to estimate climate changes in the Caucasus region since the Little Ice Age, and it can be used as a baseline for future studies.

This study assesses the static stability of the artificial Sabereebi Cave Monastery southeast of Georgia's capital, Tbilisi. The cliff into which these Georgian-Orthodox caverns, chapels, and churches were carved consists of a five-layered sequence of weak sedimentary rock—all of which bear a considerable failure potential and, consequently, pose the challenge of preservation to geologists, engineers, and archaeologists. In the first part of this study, we present a strategy to process point cloud data from drone photogrammetry as well as from laser scanners acquired in- and outside the caves into high-resolution CAD objects that can be used for numerical modeling ranging from macro- to micro-scale. In the second part, we explore four distinct series of static elasto-plastic finite element stability models featuring different levels of detail, each of which focuses on specific geomechanical scenarios such as classic landsliding due to overburden, deformation of architectural features as a result of stress concentration, material response to weathering, and pillar failure due to vertical load. With this bipartite approach, the study serves as a comprehensive 3D stability assessment of the Sabereebi Cave Monastery on the one hand; on the other hand, the established procedure should serve as a pilot scheme, which could be adapted to different sites in the future combining non-invasive and relatively cost-efficient assessment methods, data processing and hazard estimation.

In the midlatitudes of the planet, we are facing the imminent disappearance of one of our best high-resolution (pre)historic climate and anthropogenic pollution archives, namely the loss of glacial ice, through accelerated global warming. To capture these records and interpret these vanishing archives, it is imperative that we extract ice-cores from midlatitude regions where glaciers still survive and analyse them within frameworks of inter-disciplinary research. In this paper, we focus on Georgia, part of the Greater Caucasus. Results of ice-core analyses from the region have never, to date, been integrated with its other abundant palaeo-environmental, archaeological and historical sources. We review the results of international projects on palaeo-environmental/geoarchaeological sediment archives, the archaeology of metal economies and preliminary ice-core data in Georgia. Collectively, we show that the different strands need to be integrated to fully explore relationships between climate/landscape change and human societal transformations. We then introduce an inclusive interdisciplinary framework for ongoing research on these themes, with an ultimate future goal of using data from the past to inform societal resilience strategies in the present.

The Greater Caucasus is one of the most extensively glacierized mountain systems in mid-latitude Eurasia and has experienced substantial glacier retreat in recent decades. Continuous monitoring using high-resolution satellite observations is therefore essential for accurately quantifying ongoing and future changes. In this study, we present a new glacier inventory for 2025 derived from high-resolution (3 m) PlanetScope satellite imagery combined with topographic information from the 30 m Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Global Digital Surface Model (2006–2011). A total of 101 cloud-free PlanetScope scenes, acquired primarily during August–September 2025, were manually delineated to ensure precise glacier boundary detection. Regional climatic data, including summer temperature and winter precipitation from the ERA5 reanalysis, were compiled to support interpretation of glacier changes since the 1960s. The new inventory identifies 2341 glaciers covering 964.0 ± 22.8 km² across the Greater Caucasus. Glacier distribution is highly uneven: most of the glacier-covered area is found in the Central Caucasus (730.2 ± 15.5 km²), whereas considerably smaller glacierized areas occur in the Western and Eastern sectors. Most glaciers are located on northern slopes (687.7 ± 16.0 km²), reflecting strong topographic and climatic asymmetry. Mean glacier elevations range from ~3300 to 3600 m a.s.l., increasing eastward in response to decreasing precipitation. Size-class analysis shows that small glaciers (5.0 km²) contribute disproportionately to total glacier area. Comparison with previous inventories indicates continued and accelerated glacier retreat, particularly since 2014, with a mean area loss rate of −1.8% yr⁻¹. These comparisons further show that a total of 965 glaciers (~122.9 km²) have become extinct across the Greater Caucasus since the 1960s. This trend is primarily driven by increasing summer temperatures and declining winter precipitation. This high-resolution inventory provides the most detailed glacier dataset currently available for the Greater Caucasus and establishes an updated benchmark for future glacier monitoring, climate change studies, and hydrological assessments.