A significant research project is being carried out at the Forensic Anthropology Laboratory of the Department of Forensic Medicine of Tbilisi State Medical University, in cooperation with the Georgian Association of Forensic Anthropology (GAFA). The project - “Identification of Victims of Soviet Repressions in the Adjara Region in 1937–1938: A Georgian Project for Recovery, Documentation and Identification,” focuses on identifying victims of Soviet-era repression through modern scientific methods. Within the framework of the project, a team of seven American forensic anthropologists is currently in Georgia, actively participating in both research and practical fieldwork. The primary objective of the project is to identify victims of the 1937–1938 Soviet repressions in the Adjara region using contemporary scientific methods and to help ensure their dignified reburial. The identification of the victims enables their families to recover information about their ancestors and provide them with a dignified burial.

The forensic anthropology project implemented at TSMU was selected as a winner of the 2026 Fundamental Research State Grant Competition of the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia. The project is led by Professor Nicholas Herrmann, Professor at the Center for Forensic Anthropology at Texas State University, with Professor Rusudan Beriashvili, Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine of TSMU, serving as the project coordinator.

The project’s team of young researchers includes Mary Gonashvili, Lecturer at the TSMU Department of Forensic Medicine and President of the Georgian Association of Forensic Anthropology (GAFA); Tea Takniashvili, Co-Founder of GAFA; and Buba Chachkhiani, Co-Founder of GAFA.