[2][3] The excavations were carried out under the guidance of the Italian archaeologist and Franciscan priest Bellarmino Bagatti[4] from 1955 to 1960.
[5][6] Georgian pilgrimage towards the Holy Land started from the 5th century, reaching even the most distant sanctuaries.
[11] The Georgian graffiti were found incised, together with the Greek, Syriac, Latin and Armenian letters, on plaster in the remains of an ancient shrine discovered under the mosaic pavements of a ruined Byzantine church and dated by Joan E. Taylor to the period between 340 and 427.
A mid 4th - 5th centuries date seems appropriate for the Greek and Syriac inscriptions, but is extremely early for the Armenian and Georgian graffiti.
They might have been supported in their endeavor by their high-ranking aristocratic countrymen such as Bacurius the Iberian, a Byzantine commander in Palestine.