The ancient town of Nokalakevi was first described by the French traveler and scholar Marie-Frédéric Dubois de Montpéreux in 1830. Thereafter the site was studied by A. Muravyov, K. Koch, M. Brosset, P. Ioseliani, D. Bakradze, T. Zhordania and others, while the first detailed scholarly description of the surviving ruins belongs to G. Chubinashvili. Archaeological excavations at Nokalakevi were first carried out in 1930–31. The expedition was headed by the young German archaeologist Alfons Maria Schneider, assisted by the Georgian scholars L. Muskhelishvili and G. Gozalishvili. In four months the team of archaeologists cleared part of the enclosure wall with several towers and the area east of the Forty Martyrs church. During the excavations a hoard of 23 gold coins of the Byzantine emperor Maurice (582–602 AD) was found in one of the towers.