Cave Writing from Lake Sevan. Before hieroglyphic writing was developed between 900 and 700 BC, the inhabitants of the Armenian Highlands expressed themselves by carving and painting on the rocks.
These three pictograms were completed between the 8th and 4th millennia BC (from 9,000 to 3,000 BC). According to archaeologists, the drawings are associated with Neolithic cultures, especially in the higher mountain regions, including Aragats, Armaghan, and the Lake Sevan basin.
Armenian language and its roots
The Indo-European language group is one of the most widely spoken language families in the world. Around 3000 BC, the proto-Indo-European languages were probably closely connected to each other. But by 2000 BC, Greek and two extinct languages, Hittite and Sanskrit, already differed one from another quite significantly.
Although changes in grammar and definitions have taken place, vocabulary analyses show that people of ancient Indo-European culture were farmers, knew how to handle iron, and had developed cattle breeding.
Recent discoveries also reveal common ties with the Kurgan people, who lived in the steppes to the west of the Urals.
Samples of Armenian hieroglyphs were revealed in excavations in Karmir Blur, where ceramics, bronze cups, and cylindrical shells were unearthed. This type of writing was used by the people living in the Ararat valley long before the establishment of the Kingdom of Van.
Famous English poet Lord Byron studied the Armenian language on the island of St. Lazarus in the monastery of the Mekhitarists in Venice, Italy, from 1816 to 1823. He wrote: “It is a rich language, however, and would amply repay any one the trouble of learning it”. In a note of April 11, 1818, he wrote: “You will not neglect my Armenians.”
By PeopleOfAr Source: University of Minnesota
