Metsamor
Dates of work: 3 September–3 October 2015
Team:
Co-directors: Dr. Krzysztof Jakubiak (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw), Prof. Ashot Piliposyan (Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum-Reservations NCSO)
Archaeologists: Mateusz Iskra (PCMA UW), Marek Truszkowski (independent), Artavazd Zaqyan (Metsamor Museum, Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum-Reservations NCSO)
Pottery specialist: Tigran Zaqyan (Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum-Reservations NCSO)
Anthropologist: Hasmik Simonyan (Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum-Reservations NCSO)
Archaeology student-trainees: Mariya Baeva, Otto Bagi, Marta Daniel, Deborah Gawlikowska, Justyna Łukaszewicz, Julia Maczuga, Marcin Okniński, Stayko Staykov (all Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw), Tatiana Adamowska (Institute of Archaeology, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń), Lusine Aleqsanyan (Yerevan State University), Elisabeth Bastien (freelance), Menua Gevorgyan (Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum-Reservations NCSO)
(Joint description of seasons 2014 and 2015)
The Metsamor excavation project is a Polish–Armenian effort to investigate a Bronze Age citadel site located about 35 km west of Yerevan, on a hill dominating the Araxes plain. Fieldwork started in 2013 and was aimed during the first three seasons at clarifying site chronology in the citadel as well as the northern lower town. An unbroken sequence from the Kura Araxes culture (Early Bronze Age) to medieval times was confirmed. Settlement remains of Early Iron Age buildings included an almost square structure NSB 2 and a dwelling NSB 1, furnished with a relatively large storage room.
Four human skeletons, two of young men, were also recorded, suggesting they were victims of a raid on the settlement. The results of recent field observations coupled with pottery analysis postulate two destructive events, for the first time during the Urartian invasion led by Argishti I and the second one at the beginning of the 6th century BC.
Text: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 25