Unearthing Armenia’s Giant, Ancient Earthenware

Karine Vann

The enormous 240-gallon clay vessel, or karas, was nestled snugly in the corner of Asli Saghatelyan’s maran (storage cellar) in Chiva, a modest village in the Vayots Dzor region of Armenia. Asli and her son Mushegh watched with curious faces as I beheld their egg-shaped earthenware with awe.

The Saghatelyans no longer use this forlorn family heirloom, the girth of which exceeds the width of the door’s frame. It belonged to the family’s now-deceased patriarch, who used it to make homemade wine through a traditional process of fermentation and storage that people in this region have used for millennia. At one point, the family possessed at least five of them. Today only two are still intact.

Urartian antiquities found in a truck in Hungary

Some objects in a trove of Persian, Sumerian, Assyrian and other antiquities found last year in a truck could be from as early as 900 B.C., and the whole collection may be worth up to $690,000, Hungarian police said on February 8, Associated Press reported.

Bronze artifacts, including a helmet, small bells and horse tack, were likely from the grave of a high-ranking military officer from Urartu, also called the Kingdom of Van, corresponding mostly to parts of modern Armenia and Turkey, the Bacs-Kiskun County police department said in a statement.(*)

Artifacts of the Urartu era unearthed in Gavar (Armenia)

A mausoleum and artifacts dating back to the Urartu (Kingdom of Van) era have been found in the province of Gegharkunik (Armenia). According to Public Radio of Armenia, the artifacts of the Urartian era unearthed in the Republic of Armenia are cleaned and restored in the laboratories of the Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum Reservations. Archaeologist Ashot Piliposyan says that the artifacts are really exceptional and date back to the 8th century B.C. 

Artsakh Was Proven Part of the Kingdom of Van

Siranush Ghazanchyan

 

Armenians had four viceroy seats, one of them in Artsakh. Archeologists have discovered a bronze scepter that belonged to a viceroy during excavations at Teishebani (Karmir Blur), archeologist Hakob Simonyan, deputy head of the Research Center of Historical-Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture, told reporters today. He said the findings unearthed from the site shed light on disputed pages of history.

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.

Discoveries of Polish Archaeologists in Armenia

Archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw discovered evidence of destruction of the ancient city of Metsamor, one of the most famous archaeological sites in the vicinity of Yerevan.

"In the entire area of research we found layers of burning and ash. The city was probably captured by the army of Argishti I, the ruler of Urartu," told PAP Krysztof Jakubiak, head of the project.