
The Armenian Highland is a treasure trove of ancient secrets, with petroglyphs that date back thousands of years. These rock carvings, depicting animals, birds, hunting scenes, solar signs, ritual processions, mythical images, astronomical phenomena, and much more, are found on stones and rocks from the shores of the Aegean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. The largest and unrivaled gallery of rock paintings, stretching for tens of kilometers, is located in Armenia, in the Geghama and Vardenis Mountains.
This incredible gallery was discovered 25 years ago by architect and researcher Suren Petrosyan, who stumbled upon it while traveling with a sketchbook in the mountains. What began as a casual exploration turned into a passionate pursuit, with Petrosyan dedicating his vacations, holidays, and weekends to uncovering new finds. Today, his collection boasts over fifteen thousand rock paintings.
Petrosyan recounts a particularly memorable discovery: “Once I saw unusual images on the rocks: dashes, holes, lines – the drawing looked erased. But suddenly it started to rain: the images appeared on the stone as if under the influence of a developer, and a real miracle happened: I saw a globe with four little men on it…”
The vast gallery of rock paintings holds countless secrets, particularly in the realm of mythology. While the Greeks preserved their mythology, the Armenians did not. However, Movses Khorenatsi’s “History of Armenia” contains excerpts from ancient Armenian mythology, which are confirmed by these rock paintings. One notable myth depicted is the birth of Vahagn and Vahagn the dragon-slayer.
The petroglyphs also provide a wealth of material in the field of astronomy. Many facts suggest that our ancestors possessed advanced astronomical knowledge. In the 17th century, Polish astronomer Jan Hevelius depicted constellations in mythological images, many of which closely resemble the petroglyphs of Armenia. These stone constellations are ancient, with the youngest drawings being four thousand years old and the oldest ten thousand years old.
Recent discoveries have provided irrefutable proof that the inhabitants of ancient Armenia were pioneers in the study of the starry sky. Researchers such as Maunder, Flammarion, Swartz, Olcott, and others have long theorized that ancient Armenians named many constellations.
One of Petrosyan’s most remarkable finds is an image of a part of the lunar surface, complete with craters, valleys, and mountains. He believes this to be the oldest known depiction of the Moon.
Several years ago, at an altitude of 3250 meters in the Geghama Mountains, Petrosyan discovered a cyclopean fortress. Nearby, he found lunar calendars, both annual and monthly, as well as other astronomical signs. This raises the question: why did the ancients climb to such lofty heights? Perhaps it was here that a school for transferring astronomical knowledge was located.
The Armenian Telecommunications Center “Poisk” has been instrumental in studying these rock paintings. They have created a computer bank of rock paintings and images called “Karadaran,” which contains over 20 thousand images carved in the mountains of Armenia. This resource is invaluable to cultural centers, art institutes, ethnographers, archaeologists, sociologists, psychologists, historians, scientists, educators, museums, and exhibition complexes.
Grigory Vaganyan, head of the “Poisk” center and a member of the National Commission for UNESCO, stated: “Our research allowed us to come to the conclusion that the Armenian complexes of rock paintings are the oldest stone encyclopedia of mankind, the first ‘university’ in the open air.”
The “Karadaran” program aims to revive this stone encyclopedia of mankind. The preservation and study of this treasury of knowledge is of universal human significance and meaning. However, a comprehensive study and systemic analysis of several tens of thousands of rock paintings is an overwhelming task for a small group of scientists and specialists at the Poisk center.
Artatsolum
Based on an article by Mary Cholakian




