A Paleolithic Monument in Armenia

During the archaeological excavations in the Aghavnatun area of the Armavir province in Armenia, an Armenian expeditionary group found a very interesting Stone Age monument.

The head of the archaeological expedition and a researcher of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia Boris Gasparyan thinks that the monument belongs to the Paleolithic age. It is approximately 250-300 thousand years old.

“We cannot date the monument yet,” the scientist said. He added that the Armenian expeditionary group lately conducted more research work compared to excavations.

According to Gasparyan, an Armenian-German scientific group will conduct excavations in Sisian at the end of August to find out when the transformation of Neanderthals into Homo Sapiens took place in the territory of Armenia.

In search for answers to numerous questions, excavations will be continued in the Debed gorge as well. “Every excavation is carried out for a specific purpose, but there is also the issue of preserving finds and monuments. Studies that take place abroad as well as dating analyses cost a lot of money,” Gasparyan said.

Nevertheless, archaeologists have many sources of funding. In the course of cooperative research, most of the funds are provided by foreign partners. The rest is financed by the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia.

“A lot of resources are also provided by an American fund, which has been financing archeological excavations for many years,” Gasparyan said.

Левон Епископосян. “Генетика происхождения армян” Ч-6 Levon Episkoposian. “Genetics of the origin of Armenians”