Combat towers of the Chechen ancestors Painting

The Vainakh (Chechjen and Ingush) tower architecture, also called Nakh architecture, is a characteristic feature of ancient and medieval architecture of Chechnya and Ingushetia. The oldest fortifications in the North Caucasus date from the 3rd millennium BC. The oldest remains of buildings with the characteristics of Nakh towers date from the 1st century AD, and can already be distinguished into residential and military types. Construction greatly increased in the 12th and 13th centuries. Nakh tower architecture and construction techniques reached their peak in the 15th–17th centuries. Vainakh architecture was introduced to north-eastern Georgia (Dartlo, Tusheti) by Vainakh builders. A majority of the military ("combat") towers in the Ingush and Chechen mountains functioned both as watchtowers and as signaling beacons. Some served as fortified guard posts, or as safe shelters for one or two families, which lived in nearby residential towers, against raids. Construction of military towers began in the 10th and 11th centuries, and peaked between the 14th and 17th centuries. Chechen and Ingush military towers are fairly similar, differing only in size and the construction time. Depending on their age, they differ also in the sophistication of construction techniques and stone dressing, and in the grace of form. Combat towers were generally taller but narrower than residential ones: 20–25 meters high or more,[2] with four of five floors and a square base 5–6 meters wide. They were built of dressed stone with lime or lime-sand mortar.