Preserved by its long isolation, the Upper Svaneti region of the Caucasus is an exceptional example of mountain scenery with medieval-type villages and tower-houses. The village of Chazhashi still has ...

This story appears in the October 2014 issue of National Geographic magazine. The men gather at dawn near the stone tower, cradling knives in callused hands. After a night of snowfall—the first ...

But Svaneti itself was never touched. Its extreme remoteness in the Caucasus Mountains—coupled with fortified, 9th century ...