Repositories and Laboratories
Repositories and Laboratories
Library
The professional library of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the NAS RA has been operating since 1959. Since its foundation, the library has been regularly replenished with professional literature on archaeology, philology, ethnography, culturology, epigraphy, history, linguistics, art, sociology, physical anthropology. The replenishment is carried out through donations, Institute publications and book exchange. The library currently contains more than 44,500 units of literature: collections of documents, articles and materials, monographic studies, PhD theses and abstracts of dissertations, reports of scientific sessions and theses of reports, catalogs and picture books, dictionaries, maps and atlases, scientific periodicals and other scientific publications in Armenian, Russian, English, German, French, Georgian, Persian, Turkish and other languages.
The library holds rare publications of the 18th-19th centuries, as well as books with autographs of famous archaeologists and historians. An important part of the library are the individual funds formed by donations of the Institute's employees: the funds of Babken Arakelyan, Grigor Areshyan, Yuri Mkrtumyan, Emma Khanzadyan, Stepan Yesayan, donations of Telemak Khachatryan, Artashes Nazinyan, Srbuhi Lisitsyan, Suren Yeremyan, Asya Odabashyan, Husik Melkonyan and others.
The library has alphabetical, systematic catalogs and bibliographic files. It is also included in the Koha (an open-source integrated library system) program. It serves an average of 500 readers annually, and the exchange of books is an average of 3,000 units.
One of the important functions of the library is scientific and informational consultation. The library is used by both the Institute's employees, as well as students and researchers from the Yerevan State University, Yerevan State Pedagogical University, Russian-Armenian University and other universities, journalists, scientists visiting Armenia from abroad, and others.
Archive
The materials stored in the Institute's archives are a valuable source of archaeological research carried out in Armenia, on the traditional way of life and folklore of the Armenians of the second half of the 19th century - the 20th century. The archive contains also collections of photographic and other archival documents relating to the population and individual elements of culture of Western Armenia (now the eastern provinces of Turkey) before the First World War, as well as important scientific materials on Caucasian and Near Eastern cultures. Among others, the archive contain valuable materials relating to the ethnography and folklore of Gamirk, Bospor, Hamshen, Dersim, Moks, Shatakh, as well as of Lori, Tavush, Ararat, Kotayk, Syunik, Gegharkunik and other historical and geographical zones. In recent years, the Institute's archive has accepted for preservation the personal archives of prominent Armenian archaeologists, ethnographers, and folklorists of the 20th century. And as a result of the long-term work of the archive staff, the "Armenian Ethnography and Folklore" series has been published, where the archival materials of Yervand Ter-Mkrtchyan, Barunak Torlakyan, Bense, Gevorg Halajyan and other ethnographers and folklorists have been and are being published. Some of the archive materials are more than 50 years old, and the majority of those date back to the 1960s-1980s.
The Institute's archive, according to the scientific orientation of the preserved materials, is divided into the following units:
The Acrhaeological archive: The main part of the archaeological archive consists of scientific reports on excavations carried out in Armenia during the 20th century and related documents (drawings and photographs). The oldest archival documents are the photographs and measurements of the partial excavations of the site in Vanstan in 1912, as well as the report on the results of the work carried out at the site of Shengavit in the 1930s. The total number of photographs and negatives is 40,000, the number of reports for 1955-1998 is 325. The archival materials of famous archaeologists Babken Arakelyan, Karo Ghafadaryan, Harutyun Martirosyan, and Gevorg Tiratsyan are part of the archaeological archive.
The Epigraphic archive: The archive of the Department of Epigraphy preserves materials collected within the “Corpus of Armenian Inscriptions” project, including approximately 15,000 photographs and transcripts of inscriptions. The archive also includes personal materials of former editors of the “Corpus” Sedrak Barkhudaryan and Suren Saghumyan.
The Ethnographic archive. The archives of the Ethnography Department store ethnographic materials obtained from Armenians living throughout Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and the North Caucasus, which were part of Russia, from the end of the 19th century to the 1960s. They are about 165 individual archival works, each of which has about 1,000 typewritten or handwritten pages.
Among the mentioned primary sources, the memoirs of survivors of the Armenian Genocide in Western Armenia in 1915, materials related to the cultural characteristics of Armenians, Turks, Kurds, Assyrians, and Greeks living in their former places of residence are significant.
In the 1960s-1980s, ethnographers of the Institute's conducted annual scientific expeditions in the Republic of Armenia and adjacent Armenian-populated territories, which also enriched the archive with a variety of recorded data, about 50,000 photographs, and about 500 measurements of folk dwellings and other elements of rural culture.
Among the oldest materials of the ethnographic archive are about 2500 old-type (daguerreotype) photographs of the famous photographer Dmitry Ermakov of the late 19th century, taken in the territories of the Russian and Ottoman Empires, as well as Iran. The archive has a collection of Russian and European maps of the late 19th century and the 20th century.
Among the important materials of the ethnographic archive are the voluminous personal archives of the leading Armenian ethnographers of the 20th century, Yervand Lalayan, Stepan Lisitsyan, Vard Bdoyan, Asya Odabashyan, Derenik Vardumyan, Yuri Mkrtumyan, which consist materials related to the economic and social life, spiritual culture of Armenians and national minorities of the Republic of Armenia. There are also photographs and unpublished studies.
The Folklore archive. The materials of the folkloristic archive are classified according to 229 folklore collections. The archive has 20 separate funds, each of which has a volume of about 10,000 typewritten pages. The oldest materials of these were recorded in the second half of the 19th century, in the 1860s. The archive contains tens of thousands of dialect versions of Armenian fairy tales, proses, verses, and other folklore genres collected from the territories of present-day Armenia and neighboring countries, and 100 or more narratives from the epic poem "Sasna Tsrer" (“Daredevils of Sassoun”). The mentioned materials are of primary interest not only in terms of the study of the oral expression of the Armenian people, but also of other peoples of the Caucasus and Central Asia. The materials written down by Western Armenians who took refuge in Eastern Armenia after the 1915 genocide, which are no longer possible to restore from other sources, are of particular importance. There are also materials collected from Turkish-speaking and Kurdish-speaking Armenians. As a rule, folklore materials, are recorded in the corresponding Armenian dialects.
Among the most valuable folklore materials in Armenian are the personal archives of Garegin Srvandztyans, Yervand Lalayan, Tigran Navasardyan, Gegham Tarverdyan, Shahen Kuzhikyan, Artashes Nazinyan, Gevorg Sherents and other specialists.
The archive of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography contains collections of folk songs, dances, various musical instruments, folk liturgy and other notes, recordings of fieldwork, including original stories of informants, ethnographic materials (collected in 1959-2000). There are also large-scale funds of ethnographic photography. About 130,000 photographs and negatives, measurements, about 1,000,000 typewritten pages and other materials are preserved, mostly in paper version. The archive contains maps and their copies from different periods (20-21st centuries), family trees, large folders with plans and drawings, including images of buildings.
The archive contains separate funds, including the collection of "Sacred manuscripts kept in the houses" (ancient manuscripts owned by individuals and objects of worship), collected and digitized by researchers.
Laboratory of Restoration and Cameral processing
was established in 2007 on the basis of the previous laboratories of restoration and photography. The laboratory includes restorers of ceramics, bone, glass and metal artifacts Lilit Manukyan (group leader), Arevik Avetisyan, Tigran Isahakyan, Davit Baroyan, Lilit Vardanyan, draftswomen Narine Mkhitaryan and Ani Sahakyan, and photographer Vram Hakobyan. In different years, the laboratory has been staffed by restorers of ceramics Armine Samsonyan, Tatevik Harutyunyan, Seda Gasparyan.
In addition to restoration of materials in cameral conditions, the laboratory staff members participate in field research programs. Currently, laboratory staff are restoring, measuring, and photographing both materials discovered during recent excavations and finds unearthed during previous large-scale excavations. The laboratory has restored, processed, measured and photographed materials from such archaeological sites as early agricultural settlements and inhabited caves (Aratashen, Aknashen, Masis Blur, Godedzor, Areni, Getahovit), Early Bronze Age settlements and tomb fields (Agarak, Gegharot, Tsaghkasar, Karnut, Voske Blur, Avan, Talin, Shahumyan, Dasht), numerous tomb fields of the Middle Bronze-Iron Ages (sites on the territory of the Teghut mine development area, Sisian 1, Sisian 2, Aruch, Karashamb, Lori Berd, Lernakert, Jrarat), Urartian (or Kingdom of Van) sites (Getap, Solak, Aramus), capitals and settlements of Armenian of the Classical period and Middle Ages (Yervandashat, Artashat, Dvin, Dashtadem), Vedi – the flooded settlement of the Classical period, fortress of Berd and numerous other sites.
LABORATORY OF COMPUTER SERVICES
The Computer Laboratory was established in 1994. Its main function was the computer processing of materials obtained during field works, the development and coordination of illustrations that are part of the annual reports of the archaeological expeditions of the Institute, and the collection and layout of texts for the Institute's publications. The newly opened laboratory was headed by Anahit Sargsyan until 1998, and computer typesetting and publishing preparations were carried out by engineer-operators Susanna Sargsyan, Tigranuhi Levonyan, Naira Harutyunyan, and Leyla Yepremyan. From 1998 to 2018, the laboratory was headed by Sedrak Hakobyan. Anahit Galstyan has been working at the laboratory since 2007.
During its 25 years of activity, the computer laboratory has carried out computer typesetting and layout of monographs and scientific articles of the researchers of the Institute, books published by the Institute, collections of conference materials, brochures, and works to be submitted for publications. All significant archaeological and ethnographic series have been prepared for publication: "Archaeological Sites of Armenia", "Archaeological Excavations in Armenia", "Culture of Ancient Armenia", "Ancient Culture of Armenia", "Armenian Ethnography and Folklore", etc. More than 500 articles have also been prepared for publication. About 200 collections and more than 50 photo collections of the Institute's archive have also been digitized, and more than 3,000 archaeological and ethnographic books have been digitized and processed, resulting in the creation of an electronic database with the aim of making professional literature accessible to researchers.
Currently, the Computer Laboratory is a part of the Scientific and Organiztional Group of the Institute, the goal of which, while continuing its publishing activities, is to contribute to the popularization of the scientific output of the Institute.
