ARCHEOLOGISTS CONTINUE SEARCH FOR ANCIENT ARMENIAN CITIES IN KARABAKH
Asbarez Staff
Jul 21st, 2009
STEPANAKERT (ArmRadio)-As international mediators continue to seek
a resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, archeologists in the
mountainous republic are searching for the remains of ancient Armenian
cities in Karabakh, buried under the sands of time.
The Armenian specialists came close in 2005, when they found one of
four Tigranakert cities built by Armenian King Tigran the Great on
the liberated land of Aghdam, to the southeast of Martaket region.
"For me this is Troy, this is how I would assess it," said Vardges
Safaryan, member of the Tigranakert expedition. "We continue finding
different items here, but it’s not the most important. What’s important
is that the city once existed here,"
According to Safaryan, the city, founded sometime in the 80s B.C.,
survived through the 15th century, which explains the presence of not
only Hellenic monuments, but Christian ones as well. Among the findings
were two main walls and the towers of the Hellenic styled city and
an Armenian church built sometime between the 5th and 7th centuries,
in which was found a clay, dish-like item with an engraving that reads
"My, Vache, the slave of God."
"This inscription dates back to the 6th-7th century, and it is the
most ancient Armenian inscription found on Karbakh soil20to date,"
said Safaryan.
The authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh have attached a great deal of
importance to the excavations of Tigranakert and the government has
been financing the project for approximately two years now.