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Since 2013 an Armenian - Italian archaeological mission has been working in the Kotayk Province in Armenia with multiple purposes. One of these is the systematic investigation of the valley of the River Marmarik, the main tributary of the River Hrazdan, which is the main watercourse in the Central Armenia. The Marmarik valley is an area of great interest, both for its geographical characteristics and for the archaeological remains that have been found there over the years. In fact the area is characterised by the presence of gold, and some of the most important ores in Armenia, including iron and copper. This contribution presents and discusses the archaeological evidence relating to the first protohistoric phase, the Early Bronze Age, in the River Marmarik valley.

This article examines the Middle Bronze Age archaeological evidence from surveys and excavations conducted in the in the area of the Lake Orūmīyeh basin in what is now north-western Iran. The sites were first analysed with regard to their more general classification, for example in relation to their geographical locations or according to the presence or absence of fortification structures. Another aspect discussed in the article concerns pottery traditions and their territorial distribution. The situation from this perspective is particularly interesting and complex due to the identification over the years of three different pottery traditions. The results of these analyses have led to new proposals concerning the Middle Bronze Age settlement pattern in this area.

The present article is devoted to a new study of two archaeological complexes, Abuli and Shaori in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia, that are known in the research literature. The sites discussed in this article have been visited and studied multiple times during the first three years of activities in the region in the frame of the Georgian-Italian Samtskhe-Javakheti Project. They have been carefully examined from both architectural and environmental perspectives and new hypotheses about their function have been proposed. Due to their unique geographical position and architectural features, the protohistoric fortified shelters of Abuli and Shaori may be considered exceptional archaeological sites not only in the archaeological panorama of Georgia but in the entire South Caucasus region.

This article discusses a bronze belt kept in the Orumiyeh Museum. The belt, almost completely preserved, has a geometric decoration consisting of five parallel bands filled with small embossed dots: this kind of decoration has many parallels spread from the Southern Caucasus to the north-western region of Iran (mainly from the site of Hasanlu). In this contribution, the authors analyse the belt’s morphology and decoration, and identify a series of finds that resemble this specimen, proposing in the end a possible local origin for this kind of motif.

Goyje Qalʽeh is located in the city of Maragheh, Iran. This article gives a new presentation of a site that is already known in the literature. The site was occupied in various periods, a circumstance, which demonstrates its importance and strategic location. Of particular significance are its outstanding rock-cut features, such as terraces, stairs, rock-cut chambers, and cisterns, and its geographical position—on the border between Urartu and Mannea—was clearly important. Goyje Qalʽeh is compared with other sites known in the area.

OverviewDaily data collection during archaeological fieldwork forms the basis for later interpretation and analysis. Across the world, we observe a wide variety of digital data collection methods and tools employed during fieldwork. Here, we detail the daily practices at four recent survey and excavation projects in the South Caucasian country of Armenia. As archaeology continues to become ever more digital, it is useful to consider these day-to-day recording processes at a typical field project. We provide details on both the types of data collected and the ways they are collected so as to foreground these topics. Finally, we reflect on how our work is currently impacted by digital changes and how it may continue to change in the future.

This article proposes a general re-evaluation of the archaeological site of Shahr Yeri, the most striking feature of which is the presence of over five hundred of what we may call statue-stelae. Despite the fact that the site and the statue-stelae have been known since at least 1978 and are of great archaeological interest, they have been relatively little studied in the past. The goal of this paper is to present a general review of the site and the statuestelae identified there, unique both with regard to their number and their iconographic features.

The area encompassing the modern Republic of Armenia lies within the Armenian highlands and is situated at the very core of a dynamic corridor between Africa and Eurasia. As such, Armenia proves critical for understanding the initial stages of human settlement and the formation of ancient civilisations in the Near East and beyond. Stone Age artefacts have been known to exist within the territory of Armenia since the end of the 19th century, and they indicate that the area attracted a variety of Stone Age populations, from early hominids to early complex societies of the Chalcolithic. Presented work is the first attempt to summarise the results and achievements of the Stone Age archaeology in Armenia which is counting its history more than a century.

The Kotayk Survey Project is an Armenian–Italian expedition aimed at the archaeological study of Kotayk Region, Armenia. The research project is developed under a Memorandum of Understanding signed between Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of National Academy of the Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (IAE NAS RA) and ISMEO – International Association of Mediterranean and Oriental Studies. The project is co-funded by ISMEO, IAE NAS RA and MAECI (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy). The project combines an extensive survey in the region, the subsequent selection of important sites for test trenches, and a major excavation in the Urartian fortress of Solak-1/Varsak. The activities started in 2013 with a preliminary analysis of the territory through the study of satellite images of the area, followed by a field survey over an extensive area, which covers about 100,000 ha. During the survey activities, 114 archaeological sites have been identified, spanning from Palaeolithic to Late Medieval. The research is still in progress with two main aims: on one side the excavation, conservation and touristic fruition of the Urartian fortress of Solak-1/Varsak, and on the other, the creation of archaeological maps of the region, that will illuminate the massively exploited and partially still unknown area of Kotayk Region. The work of the Kotayk Survey Project is part of a long tradition of cooperation between Armenian and Italian archaeological institutions and develops from the history of prior investigations in the region, that first recognised the important heritage of this territory.

The Vayots Dzor Project (VDP) is an Armenian-Italian archaeological research project involving both survey and excavation activities, conducted in accordance with an agreement between IAE NAS RA (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography NAS RA) and ISMEO-International Association of Mediterranean and Oriental Studies, co-funded by IAE NAS RA, Gfoeller Renaissance Foundation of USA, ISMEO and MAECI (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation). The work is carried out in cooperation with the Yeghegnadzor Regional Museum. The project started in summer 2016, after a preliminary visit to the region – renowned for its vineyards and high-quality wine production – in 2015, with a view to its archaeological exploration. It is particularly focused on the investigation of the area surrounding the valleys of the River Arpa and its tributaries.

This paper describes a group of recently discovered structures identified during survey activities carried out in 2019 by the authors. All the newly discovered sites are located in the Shepiran Rural District of the Kohsar District, which is part of Salmas County in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. The group of buildings exhibits interesting and unusual features. To date we have had the opportunity to study eighteen specimens of this type of building. These buildings are very similar in size and shape to the so-called ‘Giants’ Houses’ well attested in south-eastern Turkey, especially in the southern part of Lake Van, and in Armenia. Although the architectural simplicity of these structures, some suggestions regarding their functional interpretation have been proposed.

The present article is aimed to discuss the problem of the dating of the ‘stepped rock-cut tunnels’, also known in the literature by the German term ‘Treppentunneln’ or ‘Felstreppentunnel’. The last section is dedicated to further thoughts on the problems involved in dating most of the Urartian archaeological remains currently known, from a wider perspective.

This article is focussed on the analysis of a very intriguing site located today in modern Turkey, Zernaki Tepe, one of the most interesting and debated in this region. The main feature of the site is its distinctive inhabited area, which is considered to be one of the oldest examples of a city with urban planning based on a Hippodamian Model. In the present article an archaeological review and some chronological hypothesis are offered. A first Urartian period occupation of Zernaki Tepe is highly possible, as attested by some specific rock-cut features and possible pottery evidence. Most of the remains currently visible on the site, the grid plan, and the remnants of important buildings featuring columns and stucco, point more realistically to the Artaxiad period, which was influenced by Hellenistic/Seleucid – Parthian period architecture.

This article describes an interesting archaeological site located in the Van region, Turkey, called Garibin Tepe or Alaköy fortress. It is located not far from the important Ayanis fortress, an Urartian site that dates to the 7th century B.C. Illegal excavations have brought to light remnants of unique andesite sculptures and diagnostic pottery, which allow it to be dated with certainty to Urartian times. The site stood on the main road which joined the capital of Urartu, Van fortress, with the Muradiye plain and the Ararat valley.

In 2013 an Urartian tomb has been identified by chance during the construction of a house in the village of Aghavnadzor in Vayots Dzor Region, Armenia. Despite the tomb was heavily damaged, archaeologists were able to dig it and document it before its destruction. The multiple burial showed the contemporary coexistence of inhumation and incineration, according to a funerary practice well known in Urartian times. A good amount of grave goods have been recovered and restored. Most of it shows typical Urartian features with some interesting exceptions that refer to contemporary Assyrian models. The grave has been dated back to the 8th century thanks to 14C. In the present poster, the materials of the grave are presented and discussed. This discovery is particularly important because gives new information on the Urartian occupation of this part of the Armenian Highlands and, in particular, of the Vayots Dzor Region. The tomb will be discussed in the wider frame of the important Urartian evidence already known in the region, like the so-called ‘tomb of Yeghegnadzor’.

The paper deals with the results of the discovery of three new archaeological sites in the Kotayk region of modern Republic of Armenia dated to the 3th millennium BC. The archaeological materials collected during the survey are indeed referable to the Kura-Araxes culture that developed in those areas during the Early Bronze Age. The three sites add important information for the knowledge of central Armenia during the 3th millennium BC.

This article discusses an important archaeological site known as Kazim Khan, located on the western side of the Lake Orumiyeh basin, in Iran. This site was occupied for a long period, from the Iron Age up to the Early Pahlavi epoch. It stood on the top of a huge rock spur, today a sort of peninsula, which in the past was presumably an island, when the water level of the lake was somewhat higher than today. In the paper the site’s most important structures are discussed. Of particular significance are the remains of cyclopean walls and rock-cut features. It should be noted that the latter include a rock-cut corridor, a complex water system characterized by the presence of a number of cisterns, and remnants of rock-cut rooms. It has been hypothesized that the earliest occupation of the site may date to Urartian times.

This article describes some of the archaeological activities carried out as part of the Vayots Dzor Project (VDP), an Armenian – Italian archaeological expedition aimed at a detailed investigation of Vayots Dzor Region. The project is based on a Memorandum of Understanding between the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (IAE NAS RA) and ISMEO – International Association of Mediterranean and Oriental Studies. The expeditions are co-financed by Gfoeller Renaissance Foundation of USA, ISMEO and MAECI (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Italian Republic, ARC-001548).

The hill of Arin-berd is located in the south-eastern periphery of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, on the northern edge of the Ararat Valley (Figure 1). On the hilltop are the ruins of a fortress built by the Urartian king Argišti I (785/780-756 BC). The fortress has been identified with certainty as corresponding to ancient Er(e)buni, which is mentioned in a number Urartian inscriptions discovered both on the site, and in Karmir-blur, as well in the Ḫorḫor annals of Argišti I in Van fortress and duplicate found in St.Sahak’s church in Van. The first information on the site goes back to 1879, when on a foothill, the first inscription of Argišti I was discovered. In 1894, an archaeological survey was conducted by A.A. Ivanovskij on behalf of the Imperial Archaeological Society of Moscow.

This article concerns the presentation of two unpublished coins discovered in the cave of Areni-1 (the Birds’ Cave). The Areni-1 cave is a particularly important site (Figure 1) mainly thanks to its very well preserved Late Chalcolithic sequence (4.300–3.400 Cal BC). In addition, important medieval (4th–18th centuries AD) occupations were found. The coins were discovered in July 2010, during the fifth season of excavations, inside the cave in Trench 2A in Gallery no. 1, in the lower level of the Late Medieval pit area (Figure 2). The coins were probably part of a hoard disturbed by excavation activities in the Late Medieval period. One coin dates to the Sasanian period and may be attributed to Khosrow I Anōšīravān. The beginning of the Sasanian domination of the Armenian highlands started in 428 AD with the investiture of Veh Mihr Shapur (428-442 AD) as marzbān by Bahrām V Gōr (406-438 AD). These years correspond to the earlier phase of the Early Medieval period in the regional chronology, a period of important socio-economic and cultural changes for Armenia. The second coin is of the Abbasid Caliph Abū Jaʿfar Abd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr. In this period Armenia, then called Arminiya or the Emirate of Armenia, was part of the Abbasid Caliphate. During this time, al-Manṣūr revoked the privileges and subsidies of the local rulers (naxarar) and imposed harsh taxation. This situation led to a major rebellion in 774 AD. The revolt was suppressed by the Battle of Bagrevand in 25 April 775 AD.

This article describes an Urartian stele base discovered in 2010 in eastern Turkey, during an epigraphical survey directed by Prof. Mirjo Salvini around Lake Van as part of the activities of CNR – ICEVO. During work in the region between 20 July and 9 August, 2010, several new archaeological sites and inscriptions were discovered, including the Urartian stele base discussed below. On 7 August 2007 an Urartian stele was discovered in the village of Bulutpınar, 25 km north-west of Patnos in Ağrı province, at the north foot of Bulutpınar Dağı (2024 m) (Figure 1). The basalt stele bears an inscription of Argišti II (713-? BC), one of the few inscriptions currently known for this Urartian king (Figure 2). The content of the inscription was published by Mirjo Salvini shortly afterwards, first in 2008 in the ‘Corpus of Urartian Text’ and later republished in 2010 with further remarks on the content of the text.

The article presents a newly discovered site with a fortress and a rock-cut complex in the Lake Urmiya basin. The site is located approximately 1 kilometre north-west of the village of Sydk/Sīdak in the Bārāndūz River valley, about 30 km south-west of the city of Urmiya.

The Kotayk Survey Project (ksp) started in the summer of 2013. This is a joint Armenian—Italian project involving the study of the upper Hrazdan river valley, located in the northern part of the Kotayk region in the Armenian Republic. This article presents the results of the third fieldwork season, which involved both excavation and survey. In particular, the text describes the excavation of the Solak 1 fortress and discusses its role in the framework of Middle Iron Age/Urartian archaeology.

This article presents a re-evaluation of an important Urartian archaeological site called Ašotakert/Yeşılalıç, located in eastern Turkey. The site is notable for its religious building, which is important for comprehending the evolution of Urartian religious architecture. This paper is divided into two parts, the first devoted to an assessment of the archaeological site of Yeşılalıç, and the second an attempt to explain the religious buildings identified there in terms of the Urartian religious architectural tradition, of which the main stages of development are outlined.

Blind stone windows are one of the characteristic traits of Urartian architecture. Although they were a reinterpretation of a Mesopotamian feature, Urartian blind windows are distinguished by their unusual T-shape. This peculiarity was evidently determined by a practical purpose; since the window stood directly on the stone base of the wall and was surrounded by the mud-brick upper wall, the projecting sidepieces gave more structural stability to the wall blocks. The principal reason for the scarcity of specimens of this type of window in Urartian sites is probably that they were usually made out of mud-bricks, as in Mesopotamia.

Not long ago, during excavation in the domestic area of the Urartian fortress of Ayanis, a cylindrical object made of gold was discovered. Objects of this kind were completely unknown in Urartu before this discovery and it is not possible to compare it with any other items in the Ancient Near East. However, a possible parallel can be found with some golden objects discovered in central Italy in the work of Etruscan metallurgists. These items from Iron Age Italy are made of precious metals, especially gold, and have been interpreted as clasps; they are generally considered to have been used mainly to secure the men’s cloaks on the shoulder. This type of object is generally dated to the 8th-7th century B.C. and comes mainly from a series of archaeological contexts in central Italy.

This paper presents the results of the first 3 years of activity of the joint Italian-Armenian expedition between the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Science (Armenia) and the ISMEO – Association of Mediterranean and Oriental Studies (Italy) in the Republic of Armenia. The Italian-Armenian project, named Kotayk Survey Project, aims to evaluate the archaeological landscape patterns of the territory of the Hrazdan river basin, which is located between two of the most important regions of Armenian highlands: the Araxes valley and the Lake Sevan basin. Along with a detailed surface survey, test excavations have been performed in a fortified site dated to the Middle Iron Age.

The goal of the present paper is to evaluate the plausibility of possible Urartian or Achaemenid presence in the territory of the present-day Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan. The area has been considered in relation to other neighbouring regions located in the Araxes valley, with a particular focus on the site of Oğlan Qala, the most important regional settlement. This has been the subject of recent archaeological investigations that have in fact yielded conclusive evidence of Urartian presence in this region. However, there is currently no reliable evidence of a Persian occupation of the area.

This paper presents a review of metal “bells”, a category of metal object often found in Iron Age archaeological contexts of Caucasian, north Iranian and Urartian cultures. Each cultural sphere is considered separately, focusing on material brought to light during archaeological excavations. An analysis of these three different traditions allows comparison of these artifacts in order to detect evidence of contacts and reciprocal influences between these cultural regions, which strongly interacted during the first half of the Iron Age.

Many of the sizeable inventory of Urartian bronze objects are unfortunately unprovenanced objects, which strongly limits our understanding of such Urartian metalwork. This article is devoted to one class of bronze artifacts – helmets – and takes into consideration only those of certain and recognized provenance. The authors also briefly describe some helmets from neighboring regions, such as Transcaucasia and northern Iran, which possess similar features, in order to highlight similarities and differences.