In November 2016, the archaeological excavations conducted by the Armenian and foreign scientists in the Karabakh village of Azokh confirmed that the people who had lived there seven thousand years ago are the ancestors of modern Armenians.
“Armenians are the only autochthonous people of the Armenian Highlands, they did not move in from other regions,” Dr. Levon Yepiskoposyan, Doctor of Biological Sciences, said.
“We came to this conclusion after numerous excavations conducted in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, where we examined more than ten caves. The caves of Azokh and Aleksan Uzeh are particularly remarkable,” Yepiskoposyan said.
According to him, the remains of Neanderthals as well as bones of ancient fish were found in numerous cultural layers. However, unlike the Azokh cave, the cave of Aleksan Uzeh had better DNA samples.
“We found a tooth of a man who lived in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh about seven thousand years ago. As you know, the DNA data can be retained for centuries,” Yepiskoposyan said.
This find inspired the Armenian scientists to further continue the research. Examination of the DNA structure of the detected tooth was carried out at the Copenhagen University of Genetics.
“As a result, it was established that the gene of the ancient man almost fully resembles the gene of modern Armenians,” Yepiskoposyan said.
This is another proof that the Armenians are not aliens from other regions but autochthonous inhabitants of the Armenian Highlands.
During the excavations, Armenian scientists have been closely working with specialists from Russia, Ireland, Portugal, England, the USA, Denmark, and other countries since 1997.
Source: Azokh Cave and the Transcaucasian Corridor (Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology) 1st ed. 2016 Edition
