EXPEDITION OF THE ARCHEOLOGY AND ETHNOGRAPHY INSTITUTE OF THE ARMENIAN NATIONAL SCIENCE ACADEMY STARTED EXCAVATIONS IN KARABAKH
Stepanakert, August 23. ArmInfo. By the initiative and financing of
‘Yerkir’ NGO Union, the expedition of the Archeology and Ethnography
Institute of the Armenian National Science Academy August 3-18 held
excavations of a settlement founded by king Tigran II the Great
(95-55 B.C.).
Member of the expedition Vardges Safarian told ArmInfo special
correspondent in Stepanakert that this was the first phase of the
excavations, preceded by preparation works in March 2005. During the
excavation the Acropolis of the ancient town, the terrace walls and a
church of 5-6 centuries A.D. were discovered. Hundreds of minor items
were also found. The expedition is also studying a church complex
on the outskirts of the ancient settlement, delved in a rock. The
preliminary study of the discovered artifacts showed that the town,
named after its founder Tigranakert, existed from the 1-st century
B.C. to 13-14 centuries A.D. In the Middle Ages the settlement became
one of the cradles of the early-Christian civilization. All of the
artifacts found on the site are of worldwide cultural importance and
of absolutely Armenian identity and origin.
This settlement is the most renowned settlement of the Artsakh province
(of which a part is modern Nagorno-Karabakh) of the Greater Armenia
of the pre-Christian period. It was found in the 90’s B.C.
and was the first of a number of settlements found by the great ruler
of Asia and named Tigranakert after the founder.