Excavations on the northwestern edge of the Armenian capital have uncovered an open-air Upper Paleolithic settlement with more than 40 dwellings and an unusually large “communal” structure. Here we look at what exactly has been found, what it can be compared with, and which questions remain unanswered.
According to Akop Simonyan, work at this location began as far back as the 1980s, but systematic excavations started only in 2025 (Voice of Armenia). MIR 24 correspondent Lilit Madunts visited the excavation and reported that about 500 sq. m had been investigated.
The settlement appeared after the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. At that time the climate on the Highland was more humid, and the environment was suitable for living and obtaining food. Besides the main area, the archaeologists are also exploring the hill opposite: even before excavation began, clusters and rows of stones resembling some kind of construction were noticed on its summit. The task, as archaeologist Karen Tseretsyan put it, is to determine how the hill is connected to the settlement and what this stonework actually was.
A note on dating. The sources differ: Voice of Armenia gives the age as “about 15,000 years,” MIR 24 as 15,000–20,000. For comparison, according to researchers of the Kalavan sites, the Last Glacial Maximum in the region falls at roughly 26,500–19,000/20,000 years ago (Zenodo). In popular texts, the phrase “after the end of the Ice Age” most often refers to the end of this maximum rather than the end of the entire Pleistocene. The exact dating (radiocarbon and possibly luminescence methods) remains to be published.
Dwellings. The remains of more than 40 structures have round walls with a diameter of two to five meters (MIR 24 says “no more than four”) and clay-plastered floors. The discrepancy is small, but for publication it is best to rely on the expedition’s final report.
The large structure. One building stands out sharply: its diameter is about 17 meters, while the others do not exceed four or five. According to Simonyan’s description, it is a hall with walls built as an arc of medium and large stones. For comparison, a circle 17 m across covers about 230 sq. m (our calculation), roughly 10–20 times the area of an ordinary dwelling.
The expedition provisionally calls it “communal.” The expedition leader’s hypothesis is that residents gathered there, with elders teaching the young to hunt and telling them the history of the clan, its legends and myths. The southern part of the structure was coated with clay to create a kind of platform on which such gatherings could take place. It is important to understand that this is an interpretation, not an established fact. Archaeology cannot obtain direct evidence of teaching or storytelling; only the form, size and construction of the space can be demonstrated.
In total, more than 300 artifacts have been recovered. These are mainly obsidian tools and the waste from working it, as well as basalt implements.
According to Simonyan, the collection includes both macroliths (large tools for heavy work) and microliths: very small stone pieces one to two centimeters in size. Microliths were mounted on a wooden base to produce composite tools used for hunting. A hoe made from an old basalt vessel is mentioned separately.
What requires caution here. A basalt vessel, and a hoe made from it, is an unexpected find for a site 15,000 years old. Stone vessels, mortars and pestles are known in the Levant among the Natufians (about 12,500–9,500 BC), that is, later and in a different cultural setting (Wikipedia: ʿAin Mallaha). We must wait for the publication of the stratigraphy: which layer the find belongs to, and whether the excavation contains later intrusions. This is a standard question for any open-air site, especially one that remained on the surface for centuries.
To understand the significance of the discovery, one needs to know what we know about the period.
Aghitu-3 (Syunik). The first stratified Upper Paleolithic cave site in Armenia, located at an altitude of about 1,600 m in the Vorotan valley. According to an international team led by Andrew Kandel and Boris Gasparyan, its layers span roughly 39,000–24,000 years ago. Bone tools, including an eyed needle, and shell beads brought from the east were found there, pointing to sophisticated clothing and ornaments. Over time, the distance over which obsidian was transported also grows, which indicates an expansion of social networks (Kandel et al., 2017, Journal of Human Evolution).
Kalavan-1 (northern Armenia, Lake Sevan shore). An open-air Epigravettian site at an altitude of 1,640 m; according to the excavators (2005–2009), a paleosol about 14,000 years old with hearths and activity areas has been preserved there (Montoya et al., 2013). It is the first Upper Paleolithic site excavated in Armenia; analysis of the tooth enamel of wild sheep revealed seasonal movements of the herds and, probably, of the hunters following them (HAL, Tornero et al.).
Kalavan-6. Later work showed that during the Last Glacial Maximum the region was poorly suited to habitation because of the cold and prolonged winters, and that people returned when conditions improved (Malinsky-Buller et al., 2024). If the dating of the Yerevan settlement is confirmed, it belongs precisely to this period of people’s return to the Highland after the maximum.
The Hrazdan Gorge and Yerevan-1. Cave sites right next to Yerevan have long been known: B. Yeritsyan excavated Yerevan-1 in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2026 work resumed there under the University of Tübingen: Andrew Kandel is studying the cave with new methods, and the site itself lies within the capital, a few hundred meters from the American embassy (Uni Tübingen, 29.09.2026). In conversation with Voice of Armenia, Simonyan noted that the caves of the Hrazdan Gorge, including Yerevan-1 and Lusakert, also belong to the Paleolithic.
Obsidian routes. We previously examined the study of Ararat-1 Cave, where tools were made from obsidian brought from 180–200 km away (article on the site). The new settlement, where obsidian predominates among the finds, fits the same picture: the Highland was a space of long-distance connections, and volcanic glass was a key resource.
Thus, until now the Upper Paleolithic of Armenia was represented by caves and seasonal hunters’ camps. A populous settlement with dozens of dwellings did not fit into that series.
The claim that there are no analogues applies to Armenia and the nearest region. If the search is widened, parallels appear, though not direct ones.
Ohalo II (Israel, about 23,000 years ago). A submerged camp on the shore of the Sea of Galilee: six oval huts made of branches and grasses, hearths, the grave of an adult male, an area of at least 2,000 sq. m, and traces of year-round occupation (Enzel, Bar-Yosef, Cambridge University Press; University of Haifa). But these are huts of plant materials, not stone buildings.
The Natufian culture (Levant, about 12,500–9,500 BC). The first truly stable villages of hunter-gatherers: round houses on stone foundations. At ʿAin Mallaha the dwellings were 3–7 m in diameter (Journal of Urban Morphology), and according to a survey in a UCL journal, the area of Natufian houses did not exceed 28 sq. m (UCL Press).
What follows from this:
The condition of the settlement is a cause for concern. According to Simonyan, in the 1990s a significant part of the area ended up under a landfill, and several stone quarries producing crushed stone operate nearby. He stresses that the monument is unique not only on a regional scale, so further damage must be prevented.
MIR 24 reports that in the future the area will become part of the Academic Campus and will be preserved as an open-air museum, where visitors will be able to see the ancient structures on the very spot where they were discovered. The timeline and protection status have not yet been named; this question deserves separate attention once official information is released.
Caution requires separating two conclusions. Ethnic continuity cannot be traced back 15,000 years: the inhabitants of a Paleolithic settlement are not “Armenians” or any other people known to us, and no serious scholar would draw such a conclusion.
What can be said is something else: the Armenian Highland and its resources — obsidian, pastures, river valleys — were settled by people continuously, or with interruptions, over tens of thousands of years. From the Aghitu-3 sites through Kalavan and the new Yerevan settlement to later eras, a long line of habitation of the same geographic space stretches onward. It is against this background that the Shengavit culture, Erebuni and the Kingdom of Van later appear. The new settlement adds to this chain a link that was previously missing: a sedentary or semi-sedentary community of hunter-gatherers with developed architecture in the immediate vicinity of the future Yerevan.
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