Ancient Prints with Armenian-Assyrian Inscriptions Found at the Bottom of the Issyk-Kul lake

The participants of the International Historical and Archeological Expedition to Lake Issyk-Kul – among whom were specialists from Tomsk State University – found a settlement aged 2500 years at the bottom of its reservoir in 2015.

Tomsk submariners for the second year participated in underwater excavations within the scope of the long-term expedition to the largest lake in Kyrgyzstan. Divers explored the territory, determined the depth of the bottom, searched and gathered artifacts from the water, and did photo and video shooting, reports “Rosnauka.”

“There were much more interesting findings in 2015 than in the past,” the press service of Tomsk State University (TSU) cited the words of the director of the SKAT TSU submariners club Dmitry Gorn, “And the most pleasant thing here is that the most significant finds were made by our scuba divers. For example, the only intact vessel this year was discovered and lifted out of the water by our student.”

“The expedition members think that the fragment of a large ceramic cauldron with manufacturing stamps is the most interesting find of the expedition,” said Dmitry Gorn.

“These could be seals with Armenian-Assyrian inscriptions, which can be another strong argument in favor of the theory that there was an Armenian monastery in Issyk-Kul in ancient times, in which the relics of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew rested.”

P.S. This news is dated to 2015, but in my opinion, it is more relevant today. Historian Artak Movsisyan’s book “The Culture of Writing in Pre-Christian Armenia” was published recently. Apparently, the find from the bottom of the Issyk-Kul lake once again confirms the existence of an Armenian writing system in pre-Christian Armenia.