The next stage of archaeological excavations has started in Artsakh’s Tigranakert on July 3. Aravot.am spoke with the head of the archaeological expedition Hamlet Petrosyan.
It’s been exactly a month since we started the works this year, and totally it’s the 13th year that we continue to carry out excavations here.
Now the works are going on in the northern frontal part of the site and at the early Christian square. We are opening the fenced walls on the northern fenced part, a new tower, and in the early Christian square we discovered an early Christian capital”, Hamlet Petrosyan clarifies.
The head of the expedition notes that during this one month, a jar burial was also excavated in the fenced square, with very interesting materials, which is dated to the 2nd-3rd centuries. We have excavated many jar burials, and should mention, that it is very common in Artsakh. Just this is the first time that we found a jar burial in the fenced square, or within the castle built by Tigran. In general, before Christianity it was the most common type of burial in our territory, extending to the Kura river, in fact, showing the boundaries of Armenian ethnic culture. In this regard, the research of the jar burials is very remarkable”.
Hamlet Petrosyan notes that,1500 to 3,000 fragments of medieval glazed ceramics are found in Tigranakert every year. “There is no such rich material in any medieval settlement as in Tigranakert”.
It should be noted that last year archaeological works in Tigranakert were implemented in four main sections: in the northern fenced part of the fenced district, in the south terrace of the same district, in the early Christian square, and an excavation of a tomb was carried out in the eastern tomb field.
Davit ABAGHYAN
