Early Archaeology Department

The task of the Department is:

1. To deal with the issues of early archaeology, which from the perspective of world archaeology relate to the periods of anthropogenesis, the formation and development of societies characterized by the first productive economy and complexity.
2. From the temporal perspective, to deal with the stages from the Stone Age to the Middle Iron Age (inclusive), from the chronological perspective – to deal with the period from about 2 million years BC to the middle of the 1st millennium BC.
3. To develop early archaeology in Armenia (equivalent study of geographical regions and chronological periods, timely publication of the results of excavation, regular application of modern methods, ensuring communication with the museums in RA, developing cooperation with foreign scientific, educational and publishing institutions, objective presentation of relevant issues at local and international conferences and publications), contributing to the influx of relevant personnel and natural generational succession.
4. The Department carries out its work in the following forms of activity: field, laboratory, museum, archive/library.`
5. The output of the Department is measured by quality scientific publications (monographs, collections, articles), which must be relevant and innovative, using modern methods and laboratory analyses, events participated in and organized (conferences, seminars, etc.), field and laboratory work, effective development of international relations (attraction of foreign resources, access to laboratories, participation in international scientific conferences), personnel inflow, defense of theses, provision of professional opinions.

 

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The past and present of the Department

Introduction

The study of the ancient past of Armenia has a rich history, which dates back to the 19th century. In the 1870s, Alexander Yeritsyan conducted excavations in Akner, Friedrich Bayern in Redkin Lager, and in 1887, Jacques de Morgan in the Debed Basin.

These studies laid the foundation for field archaeological studies in Armenia. With the establishment of Soviet rule, a new era began for Armenian archaeology in the 1920s. Important scientific institutions were created to preserve and study the country's antiquities at the state level. These were Yerevan State University (1919), the State Museum of History (1920), as well as the Committee for the Preservation of Monuments (1923). In 1943, the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR was founded, and in 1959, the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR.

After its foundation, the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography became the central and leading institution for the study of the ancient past of Armenia. In the very first year of its foundation, the Department of Early Archaeology (Early Archaeology Sector) was also formed under the leadership of the distinguished archaeologist Harutyun Martirosyan, whose first employees were archaeologists Sandro Sardaryan, Nikolay Harutyunyan, Zohrab Ghasabyan, Stepan Yesayan and Emma Khanzadyan.

In the very first year of the foundation of the Institute, joint expeditions of the Department, the Russian State Hermitage Museum and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts conducted excavations in Karmir Blur (Boris Piotrovsky, Harutyun Martirosyan) and Arin Berd (Konstandin Hovhannisyan). The Institute's expedition also conducted excavations in Shengavit (Sandro Sardaryan).

 

Areas of research of the Department

The Department of Early Archaeology aims to reconstruct the spiritual and material culture of ancient Armenia in the context of demography, chronology and periodization, the formation of the city and complex societies, the formation of the Armenian people, etc. The main areas of research are:

• The study of the initial population of the region (Old Stone Age)
• The study of early agricultural cultures (Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods)
• The study of complex societies (Early Bronze Age)
• The study of early state formations (Middle Bronze and Early Iron Ages)
• The study of the Kingdom of Van (Late Iron Age).

Each of these research areas is of key importance for understanding the dynamics and characteristics of the emergence and activity of man in the region. Through systematic and interdisciplinary research, as well as active cooperation with leading world scientific centers, the Department seeks to reveal the demographic picture of ancient Armenia, the processes of social organization and urban development, and other topics. These studies are key to examining the material and spiritual culture of ancient Armenia, for a deeper understanding of the civilizational development of the Near East as a whole, and for illustrating. The role and significance of Armenia in the early stages of human civilization.

 

Studies carried out by the Department

Over the past 60 years, the Department of Early Archaeology, both on its own and with international cooperation, has completed significant documentation and research of the ancient past of Armenia. Hundreds of settlements, burial grounds, cult complexes, monuments, and individual finds have been studied. The objects of such studies became the Ararat Valley (Harutyun Martirosyan, Emma Khanzadyan, Rafik Torosyan, Grigor Areshyan, Ruben Badalyan, Pavel Avetisyan), Tavush (Stepan Yesayan, Boris Gasparyan, Levon Aghikyan), Lori (Seda Devejyan, Aram Gevorgyan), Shirak (Levon Petrosyan, Ruben Badalyan), the Sevan Basin (Gedeon Mikayelyan, Ashot Piliposyan, Levon Petrosyan, Simon Hmayakyan, Nora Yengibaryan, Arsen Bobokhyan), Vayots Dzor (Boris Gasparyan), Syunik (Onik Khnkikyan, Pavel Avetisyan, Boris Gasparyan), Aragatsotn (Pavel Avetisyan, Hayk Avetisyan, Ruben Badalyan, Garegin Tumanyan, Boris Gasparyan, Artur Petrosyan), Kotayk and the Hrazdan River Valley (Vahan Hovhannisyan, Leonid Biyagov, Boris Gasparyan, Artur Petrosyan), and others.

For studying the early stages of population in Armenia (the Old Stone Age), the following excavations are particularly notable: Nor-Geghi 1 (Boris Gasparyan, Daniel Adler), Dalarik 1 (Boris Gasparyan, Phil Glauberman), Hovk 1 (Boris Gasparyan, Ron Pinhasi), Kalavan 1 (Boris Gasparyan, Cyril Mantoya), Aghitu (Boris Gasparyan, Andrew Kandel), and Yerevan 1 and Lusakert 1 (Benik Yeritsyan, Boris Gasparyan, Daniel Adler).

Toward uncovering the early agricultural cultures of Armenia (Neolithic and Chalcolithic), the following excavation sites are key: Teghut (Rafik Torosyan), Aknashen (Ruben Badalyan, Christine Chataigner), Aratashen (Ruben Badalyan, Pierre Lombard, Christine Chataigner, Armine Harutyunyan), Masis Blur (Grigor Areshyan, Pavel Avetisyan, Kristine Martirosyan-Olshansky), Godedzor (Pavel Avetisyan, Christine Chatenier), Lernagogi (Arthur Petrosyan, Makoto Arimura), Areni 1 (Boris Gasparyan, Keith Wilkinson), Getahovit 1 (Irena Klantaryan), and Tirinkatar (Arsen Bobokhyan) are key.

For researching complex societies in Armenia (Early Bronze Age), the following excavations are significant: Shengavit (Sandro Sardaryan, Hakob Simonyan, Mitchell Rothman), Teghut (Rafik Torosyan), Metsamor (Emma Khanzadyan), Elar (Emma Khanzadyan), Mokhrablur (Grigor Areshyan), Karnut (Ruben Badalyan), Gegharot (Ruben Badalyan, Adam Smith), Voskeblur (Ruben Badalyan, Berengere Perello).

For understanding early state formations (Middle Bronze and Early Iron Ages), the following excavations stand out: Lori-Berd (Seda Devedjian), Lchashen (Levon Petrosyan), Nerkin Getashen (Ashot Piliposyan), Karashambi (Emma Khanzadyan, Aram Gevorgyan, Vahan Hovhannisyan, Firdus Muradyan, Pavel Avetisyan, Varduhi Melikyan).

For elucidating the Kingdom of Van and the Late Iron Age, these excavations are noteworthy: Argishtikhinili (Harutyun Martirosyan, Simon Hmayakyan), Oshakan (Stepan Yesayan), Aramus (Hayk Avetisyan, Michael Herles), Aragats (Hayk Avetisyan), Dovri (Simon Hmayakyan), Nor Armavir (Simon Hmayakyan, Nvard Tiratsyan).

More generally, separate phenomena have also been studied, including the petroglyphs of Armenia (Harutyun Martirosyan, Anna Khechoyan), vishapakars, dragon stones (Arsen Bobokhyan), and kites (Irena Kalantaryan, Mariam Shakhmuradyan).

 

International cooperation

International cooperation is central to the Early Archaeology Department's activities. The Department collaborates with dozens of scientific centers in different countries, including Cornell University, the University of Central Florida, the University of North Carolina, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Connecticut, the University of Chicago, the University of New York, the University of Lyon-2, the Sorbonne University, the University of Tübingen, the University of Munich, the Freie Universität Berlin, the Institute of Archaeology in Mannheim, the Max Planck Institute, University of Halle, the International Association for the Study of the Mediterranean and the Orient in Rome, the Ca' Foscari University of Venice, the Italian Institute of Archaeology, University College Cork, University of Haifa, Tokai University, University of Adelaide, University of Warsaw, Institute of Archaeology in Prague, University of Innsbruck, Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and others. Dozens of archaeological expeditions are organized annually with the cooperation of various foreign scientific and academic centers.

The Department also actively partners with scientific institutions conducting laboratory research that includes the analyses of archaeo-anthropological, archaeo-zoological, archaeo-botanical materials, soil, as well as lithics, metal, and clay finds.

 

Scientific events

The Department hosts scientific conferences, workshops and sseminars that permit our staff and foreign researchers to share results, collaborate, and raise new questions for future research projects.

Over the years, the Department has organized many local and international conferences. These include the 1982 Yerevan conference on “Cultural Progress in the Bronze and Iron Ages”, which was attended by participants from numerous Soviet republics, as well as the republican scientific sessions entitled “Results of Archaeological Field Research in the Republic of Armenia", organized once every two years at the Institute with the participation of the Department, where the results of recent research are shared.

In the post-Soviet period, the conferences on “Archaeology of Armenia in the Regional Context” organized by the direct efforts of the Department in 2009 and 2019 are of particular importance. These large scholarly conventions were attended by archaeologists from Armenia and such countries (Georgia, Italy, France, Austria, Germany, Spain, Ireland, the United States, and Israel). The Department also regularly organizes sessions entitled “Culture of Ancient Armenia”, “The Ancient Culture of Armenia”, where the results of archaeological research conducted in previous years are discussed.

The Department often organizes thematic and methodological seminars to deepen professional knowledge and promote the use of innovative methods.

 

Scientific publications

The Department’s staff have shared their research results in hundreds of publications released in Armenia as well as abroad. A significant part of them have been published in the Institute's series, such as "Archaeological Monuments of Armenia", "Archaeological Excavations in Armenia", "Culture of Ancient Armenia", “The Ancient Culture of Armenia”, as well as in the local "Historical-philological Journal", “The Herald of Social Sciences", "Aramazd" (in English), "Works of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography", "Journal of Armenian studies ", "Issues of Armenian Studies", "Bazmavep" and a number of other periodicals. During the Soviet period, many studies carried out by the Department were published in the well-known series “Archaeological Discoveries”, as well as in the archaeological periodicals “Soviet Archaeology” and “Ancient East”. In the post-Soviet period our researchers and foreign colleagues have contributed works to internationally reviewed and highly rated journals, such as (Nature, Journal of Archaeological Science, Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici, Anatolian Studies, American Journal of Archaeology, Quaternary International, Paléorient, Antiquity and Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan). Many of the joint projects have been published as monographs.

 

Current research areas

The current research areas of the Department include:

 - Early agricultural societies of Armenia, obsidian industry (carried out by Ruben Badalyan, Head of the Department, Doctor of Historical Sciences);

- The periodization of the Stone Age of Armenia in the light of the latest archaeological research (carried out by Boris Gasparyan, researcher);

- The archaeological culture of Early Holocene of Armenia (11th-7th millennia BC) (carried out by Artur Petrosyan, researcher);

- The Old Stone Age sites of Shirak (carried out by Hayk Haydosyan, junior researcher);

 - The Chalcolithic culture of Armenia, excavations and study of the Getahovit cave (carried out by Iren Kalantaryan, researcher);

- The Neolithic and Chalcolithic pottery of Armenia (based on data from Aknashen and Aratashen) (carried out by Armine Harutyunyan, researcher, PhD);

- The Petroglyphs of Aragats (carried out by Anna Khechoyan, junior researcher);

- The Archaeological Research of Vishapakars (carried out by Arsen Bobokhyan, leading researcher, Doctor of Historical Sciences);

- The socio-cultural picture of the Early Bronze Age of Karnut according to the study of tombs (carried out by Levon Aghikyan, researcher);

- Archaeological manifestations of social landscape transformations in the Bronze and Iron Ages (according to data from the sites of Shirak, Aragatsotn and Gegharkunik) (carried out by Benik Vardanyan, researcher, PhD);

- Military affairs of the Sintashta and Petrovsky Bronze Age cultures in the light of experimental archaeology (carried out by Ivan Semian, researcher, PhD);

- The Tomb Groups of Ancient Armenia's with Chimmerians’ Features (the end of VIII century BC – VII/VI centuries) (carried out by Garegin Tumanyan, senior researcher, Doctor of Historical Sciences);

- Problems of studying the material culture of the Iron Age of Armenia (carried out by Nora Yengibaryan, senior researcher, PhD);

- Material culture of the Late Iron Age in Armenia (carried out by Levon Petrosyan, senior researcher, PhD);

- The Northwestern districts of Argishtikhinili and the tomb field (carried out by Simon Hmayakyan, senior Researcher, PhD; Nvard Tiratsyan, junior researcher);

- Culture of the Kingdom of Van (carried out by Yervand Grekyan, leading researcher, Doctor of Historical Sciences);

 - The Bronze-Iron Age pottery of the eastern regions of Sevan (carried out by Mariam Amiryan, junior researcher)

- The Shnogh Basin in the Iron Age (carried out by Ani Saratikyan, junior researcher)

- The oldest bone tools of Armenia (carried out by Ani Adigyozalyan, senior laboratory assistant).