Metsamor
Dates of work: 16 August–30 September 2016
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: Tatiana Adamowska (Antiquity of Southeastern Europe Research Center University of Warsaw), Mateusz Iskra (PhD candidate, Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw), Marek Truszkowski (PCMA UW), 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)
Anthropologists: Dr. Ruzan Mkrtchyan and Hasmik Simonyan (both Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum-Reservations NCSO)
Topographer: Menua Gevorgyan (Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum- Reservations NCSO)
Archaeology student-trainees: Otto Bagi, Kornelia Kasperkiewicz, Sergi Manas Jolis, Aleksandra Grzegorska, Julia Maczuga, Anne Maele Desmarqouy, Aleksandra Zaleska, Dominika Majchrzak, Anna Weźranowska, Zofia Arcab (all Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw), Maciej Sobczak (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań), Lusine Aleqsanyan, Nerses Mamikonyan (Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum-Reservations NCSO), Elisabeth Bastien (Universite de Nantes)
Volunteers: Joanna Dzik, Karol Zajdowski
Excavation in Metsamor in 2016 was focused on the settlement area as well as necropolis. Extended trenches uncovered a substantial part of the settlement and contributed new stratigraphic and chronological data on the three phases of occupation, especially the heavy fire that appears to have destroyed the buildings in the early 8th century BC. A unique find from this level of destruction was a necklace made of sardonyx, agate and gold beads. In the post-Urartian period, the northeastern part of the settlement was clearly rearranged. Exploration of a kurgan tomb in the cemetery showed that the tomb had been reused for the most recent burial, looted, which may have included a symbolic horse burial. The construction of the tomb, based on finds from a layer at the bottom of the burial chamber, which included several golden adornments and beads of different materials, can be dated to the Middle Bronze Age, the latest burials to the Iron I period.
The first aerial survey conducted within the vicinity of the ancient city of Metsamor and its cemetery detected several promising anomalies in the aerial photos and processed images within and beyond the known limits of the burial ground.
Text: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 26/1