Oldest Street Discovered in Yerevan

A group of archaeologists hailing from Armenia, France, and Iran discovered Yerevan’s most ancient street. On July 7, the group announced in a press conference that it had found the 30-meter-long, tile-paved street in the Erebuni fortress, near the temple of Haldi, during its archaeological expedition. The group estimates that the ancient street is 2,700 years old, reported Armenia’s Arka news outlet.

The heads of each country’s expedition team spoke at a news conference about the historic discovery. “This is a unique and unprecedented discovery that may change completely our idea of the Urartu civilization,” said Mikael Badalyan of the Armenian team.

During the press conference, Badalyan said that the street is located in the Erebuni fortress, one of many fortresses build along the northern Urartian border.

“These excavations have solved serious issues: archaeologists were able to come up with their research, their scientific discoveries, and we’ve been able to cooperate with French archaeologists. However, the most important issue at this point is preparing for the 2800^th anniversary of Erebuni-Yerevan. Certain renovations should be carried out until 2018,” Badalyan went on to say.

This discovery was thanks to an eight-year-long archaeological program that had been taking place with help from France. The director of the Erebuni museum, Gagik Gyurjyan, touched upon his hope to continue the program in the future. “The program will end in a few days, but we have asked the French ambassador to Armenia to help keep it going. This joint program provides an opportunity not only for making important archaeological discoveries, but also paves the way for international cooperation, the importance of which cannot be overestimated,” he was quoted as saying.

"The Armenian Weekly," July 8, 2016