Metsamor: topography of an archeological site near Metsamor River
Metsamor: topography of an archeological site near Metsamor River

Author(s): Krzysztof Jakubiak, Artavazd Zakyan
Subject(s): Archaeology, Ancient World
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Metsamor; citadel; stone architecture; oval shrines; Ararat plain; Bronze Age; Iron Age
Summary/Abstract: The Metsamor archaeological site is one of the most important materialrelics of ancient Armenia. Regular excavations were conducted therefrom the beginning of the 1960s until 2003, but the results failedto get much publicity, being published mostly in Armenian andsporadically in Russian. The most spectacular buildings discovered onthe site were small oval shrines (dated to the Early Iron Age) locatedon the southern slopes of the citadel hill. The settlement from thistime (about 1150–850 BC) was located on the opposite side of thehill. The article reconsiders the evidence from old excavations as wellas new research of a current Polish–Armenian project in an attemptto reconstruct the organization of internal space in this small town.It has been established that, compared to similar sites from ancientArmenia, Metsamor was for several centuries a relatively prosperoustown, well-organized and most probably well governed.

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