[1] According to Rayfield, in 790 BC, King Menua of Urartu invaded Shesheti in Kingdom of Diauehi, which is the Kartvelian province of Shavsheti.

The princedom of Shavsheti included today's districts of Şavşat, Borçka, and Murgul in Turkey and Lower Machakheli in Adjara (Georgia).

The site has an impressive circuit wall with strategically placed towers and rooms, including two small chapels.

The area has a cold inland climate, somewhat tempered by being above the Black Sea coast, but at these altitudes winter lasts a long time; it snows from November to April.

In this landscape there is little agricultural land, no industry and the only real potential income is from tourism (people on trekking holidays), herding animals on the mountainside and beekeeping.