UNDER CONSTRUCTION

   On the main road next  is  Neghots (formerly Gomahand), which has khachkars and, in the cemetery, 3^rd-2^nd millennium BC cliff carvings.

   Crossing       the     Debed       on    an unsignposted bridge to an industrial appendage of Akhtala, heading N, then bearing W, you reach the 13^th c. monastery at Akhtala, with three churches, the largest to the Mother of God, inside   a    10^th c.    fortress.   The monastery is thought to be the one attested    by     medieval     writers    as Pghndzahank    ("Copper   mine").    In

1763, King Herakli II of Georgia brought Greek miners to work the ore deposits nearby, and their inscriptions can be found on the monastery walls. The village has a 13^th c. spring monument. Left from the entrance to Akhtala one can notice scant remains of a medieval fortress, occupied by cave complex. By the village was a large Early Iron Age cemetery.