Large-scale excavations have been unfolding in Yerevan in recent decades. In the territory of the Erebuni fortress, during one of the excavations was discovered an ancient street dating back to the 7th century BC. Experts believe that this finding can shed light on the history of the ancient settlement that once stood on this place.
Here, each stone is several thousand years old. There is a cultural layer wherever you excavate. In order not to damage the layers, archaeologists remove the earth with a plastering trowel and carefully clean each layer with small brushes. The road itself has been presumably built from cobblestone.
“We also found the entrance from which the road began. Now, it is necessary to find out where it ended. All this information, as well as measurements, will help us establish the age of the find accurately,” said archaeologist Mary Karapetyan.
This site is practically fully explored. Specialists from France aided local archaeologists during the excavations.
Eventually, it has been found out where the road led. It ended at the main temple of Haldi, the supreme deity of the ancient Kingdom of Van (Urartu).
“In the middle of the road passes a depression along which rainwater flowed into a well. This water was then used for household needs. It was a kind of ancient sewage system. The road is uneven, with the stones of the walls dilapidated and displaced.
This information allowed us to find out that in the middle of the 7th century BC, a powerful earthquake destroyed the temple of the deity Haldi and the surrounding buildings,” explained the head of the Armenian-French archaeological expedition Stephan Deschamps.
Archaeologists have yet to establish what the territory of the ancient fortress was used for after the earthquake and before the domination of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty. A time period of an entire century hasn’t yet been investigated. One of the tasks of the international expeditionary group is to shed light on this stage of history.
THE TRAVELER ACROSS MILLENNIA – YEREVAN
