Arsen Bobokhyan

Ներկայացվող աշխատանքն իր առջև նպատակ է դնում Կոմիտասին դիտարկել իր ապրած դարաշրջանի համատեքստում: Կոմիտասին ընկալելու համար որպես բանալի բառ է ընտրված «հայկական ոճ» հասկացությունը, որը փնտրելը, գտնելը և զարգացնելը եղել է Վարդապետի գերխնդիրը: Ընդ որում, «ոճ» ասելիս նկատի ունենք որևէ ժողովրդին բնորոշ մշակութային անփոփոխ (ինվարիանտ) այն առանձնահատկությունները, որոնք սահմանում են այդ տեսակի ինքնությունը: Հայ մտավորականների և մասնավորապես Կոմիտասի կողմից «հայկական ոճի» համար մղվող շարժումը դիտարկելի է XIX-XX դդ. սահմանի համաշխարհային զարգացումների միջավայրում: Այս շրջանը մարդկության պատմության մեջ բնորոշվում է արագ հաղորդակցական միջոցների առաջացմամբ, քաղաքային կյանքի աշխուժացմամբ, որի հետևանքով սկսում են քայքայվել գյուղը և ավանդական արժեքները: Այդ արժեքների վերացման վտանգները տեսանելի էին հատկապես հայերի նման ժողովուրդների շրջանակում, որոնք, զրկված լինելով պետականությունից, գոյության կռիվ էին մղում կայսրությունների սահմաններում: Այս տեսանկյունից «հայկական ոճի» գաղափարի արծարծումը Կոմիտասի և նրա ժամանակակիցների կողմից պատմական անհրաժեշտություն էր: Ցույց տալով, որ գոյություն ունի անկախ «հայկական ոճ», որն ունի ուրույն մշակութային արտահայտչաձևեր ու միավորում է հայկական ժամանակն ու տարածությունը, հոգևոր ու աշխարհիկ մշակույթը մի համակարգի մեջ, հայ գիտնականներն ու արվեստի գործիչները փորձում էին ոչ միայն արդարացնել անցյալը, այլև լեգիտիմացնել ներկան, և ամենակարևորը՝ ստեղծում էին ապագայի տեսլական: Առաջ է քաշվում տեսակետ, ըստ որի «հայկական ոճ» բուն հասկացությունը սկսվել է կիրառվել հայ մտավորականների կողմից կոլեկտիվ հիշողության վերականգնվող լանդշաֆտների, և մասնավորապես՝ Անիի համատեքստում, որի պեղումները վեր էին հանում ոչ միայն կործանված հայկական պետականության ավերակները, այլև այդ պետականությունը վերստեղծելու հույսը: The present contribution aims to view the image of Komitas in the context of his time. The concept of “Armenian style” is chosen as the key word to perceive Komitas, a concept the deciphering and developing of which is supposed to be the main purpose of the scientist. The culturally invariant features of the nation are considered by “style” that define the proper kind of its identity. The movement of Armenian intellectuals, particularly that of Komitas for definition of “Armenian style” can be observed in the context of global developments of the borderline of the 19th and 20th centuries. In the history of mankind this period is characterized by the emergence of rapid means of communication and the activation of urban life, as a result of which the rural and traditional values began to crumble. The dangers of the abolition of those values were especially visible among such peoples as the Armenians, who being deprived of statehood fought for their existence within the borders of empires. From this point of view, the introduction of the idea of “Armenian style” by Komitas and his contemporaries was of historical necessity. Demonstrating that there is an independent “Armenian style” that has unique cultural expressions and unites the Armenian times and spaces, its spiritual and secular cultural spheres in a system, Armenian scholars and artists sought not only to justify the past of their nation, but also to legitimize its present, and most importantly, to create a vision for the future. In this article a view point is developed, according to which the very concept of “Armenian style” has been used first by the Armenian intellectuals in context of the newly restored landscapes of memory such as Ani, the excavations of which uncovered not only the ruins of the past Armenian statehood but also the hope of its recreation.

Human imaginations of geographical environment and its components played essential role in the process of identity formation of early societies. Depending on the natural environment, each society created a unique value system, developing and modeling it in time and space. In this sense, it is not accidental, that in the modern discourse on ancient social processes the issue of interaction of different elements of the human habitat gains special importance. Moreover, it gradually has become one of the main topics of interest within disciplines studying the human past. In this contribution an attempt is made to consider the Armenian Highland, in particular present-day Armenia, from the mentioned perspective by emphasizing the early cultural developments in context of the vertical use of space.

Emma Khanzadyan (1922-2007) can be ranked among the greatest representatives of Armenian archaeology of the 20th century. Her life-path and career essentially characterise a special human being and a devoted scientist of distinguished ability.E. Khanzadyan was born into a family of musicians. She demonstrated her musical abilities in her school years, and in 1942-1943 even worked as a cello teacher. However, it happened that she became a student of the faculty of history at Yerevan State University (1943-1950). On graduating, Emma acquired a position at the Museum of Armenian History (1952-1959), at the same time continuing her post-graduate studies (1958-1960). Music was never forgotten, and she continued, of course, her musical education as well. In this context, it is not at all surprising in the least that Emma’s first article (1959) was dedicated to the musical instruments of ancient Armenia; this was a subconscious attempt to synthesise art with scholarship. Only years later, when she had an opportunity for independent excavations, did she finally acknowledge herself as an ‘archaeologist’.

In the 1920s a new phase began in the history of Armenian archaeology. The lasting peace established in Armenia after a long period of war and unrest fostered the establishment of scientific institutions, museums and other cultural and educational organisations. Nevertheless, the accumulation of archaeological information in 1920s and 1930s had a preliminary character. Armenian scholars collected data from various regions of Armenia without any formal classification. There was no holistic periodisation or chronology of the ancient cultures of the region. In 1959 the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography was organised in order to change this situation. Harutyun Martirosyan became a member of the Institute and since then he dedicated his scientific activities to solving the essential problems of Armenian archaeology.

The article gives an overview of the results of a joint Armenian-German project in the area of today's open pit gold mine of Sotk in Eastern Armenia. Special attention is given to the preliminary results of the gold analysis. Interdisciplinary studies on regional natural gold deposits-especially the Sotk and Tsarasar deposits-and their archaeological context are presented together with the analytical results of 43 gold and four silver objects from five different sites in Armenia. The LA-ICP-MS data are discussed in terms of their alloy and trace element composition. They provide information on the use of raw material sources, intentional alloying, and the preferred use of these alloys. The archaeometric investigations show that the gold objects were mostly made of secondary placer gold. However, for one object, the oldest object examined in this study, the use of primary rock gold could not be excluded. Furthermore, the data provide information on the serial production of typologically identical types found at different sites, indicating that these objects were probably traded over long distances.

Historical memory lies at the basis of identity of each society and predetermines the value system of that society. However historical memory is not purely an abstract category: the existence of it is justified only in a certain landscape, the separate elements of which, as landmarks, create the so called ‘landscape of memory’. This ‘embodied’ sphere of memory, which is expressed both in geographical units as well as in spiritual and material values predominates especially in traditional societies, which in contradiction to industrial and post-industrial future-oriented societies, are wholly oriented to the memory – to the past and ancestors. Thus, the ‘landscape of memory’ is a stratified database of memory under which a concrete space becomes sacred and the time – cyclic.

Harald Hauptmann (19 April, 1936 – 2 August, 2018), one of the most prominent representatives of world’s archaeological community, passed away at the age of 82. As representative of classical German archaeological school, H. Hauptmann has been very influential in shaping what Colin Renfrew calls ‘Great tradition’ of archaeology characterised by rigorous excavations carried out on a grand-scale, systematic inventory and careful categorization of artifacts, thorough and comprehensive publication of finds: this is a true archaeology carried out as a scientific experiment. In a dissertation concerning the history of the Keban Dam Rescue Project, in which H. Hauptmann played his great role, Laurent Dissard correctly writes (p. 24): ‘At Keban, H. Hauptmann who excavated at Norşuntepe can be placed alongside Winckelmann, Dörpfeld, Bittel and Blegen as some of the “great men” of German archaeology’. H. Hauptmann realised his scientific experiments in the time period between the Neolithic an...

The timespan from the mid 4th to the mid 3rd millennium BC is characterised by essential social transformations in the Near East and surrounding regions. The growing complexity is reflected, among others, also in technological innovations and active trade relations, which led to the appearance of balance weights and corresponding weight systems. This contribution, based on evidence from the settlement of Shengavit, Armenia, argues that balance weights were in use also beyond Mesopotamia, within the area of the spreading of Kura-Araxes cultural community, from the southern Caucasus to the Fertile Crescent. The use of such weight systems at Kura-Araxes sites implies possible cognitive links to the Near Eastern centres, reflecting the transfer of knowledge between mountains and lowlands.

‘Megaliths’ are one of the most important topics in world archaeology. Being often hallmarks of broader landscapes in various periods they used to be mythologised by the people, who considered them to be created by ‘giants’ or ‘cyclops’ symbolizing ‘ancient/pagan’ times. Megaliths were used by different early societies in varying geographical zones and were first noticed and investigated in European archaeology. These monuments appear also in the ancient Caucasus and the Armenian Highland with their own ways of reflection.

The Kura-Araxes (KA) cultural phenomenon (dated to the Early Bronze Age, c. 3500/3350-2500 BCE) is primarily characterised by the emergence of a homogeneous pottery style and a uniform ‘material culture package’ in settlements across the South Caucasus, as well as territories extending to the Ancient Near East and the Levant. It has been argued that KA societies practised pastoralism, despite a lack of direct examination of dietary and culinary practices in this region. Here, we report the first analyses of absorbed lipid residues from KA pottery to both determine the organic products produced and consumed and to reconstruct subsistence practices. Our results provide compelling evidence for a diversified diet across KA settlements in Armenia, comprising a mixed economy of meat and plant processing, aquatic fats and dairying. The preservation of diagnostic plant lipid biomarkers, notably long-chain fatty acids (C20 to C28) and n-alkanes (C23 to C33) has enabled the identification of ...

This paper deals with prehistoric stone stelae called »vishaps« or »dragon stones«. Vishaps are impressive basalt stelae sculpted with animal reliefs. They originally stood upright in secluded, water-rich, high-altitude meadows in the mountains of East Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, and the Azerbaijani exclave Nakhichevan. Since 2012 an Armenian-German-Italian team has been conducting field research in modern Armenia, primarily in the Geghama Mountains and on Mount Aragats, in order to understand who produced these monuments in a seemingly remote and hidden setting, when and why. Though cardinal questions related to vishaps remain open, it is argued in this paper that dragon stones were monuments integrated into prehistoric sacred landscapes bestowing specific significance to mountain peaks and water springs, certainly pre-dating the Late Bronze Age and perhaps going back as early as the Chalcolithic period.

The traditional view of Troy as a kind of central site presupposes balance weights and other artefacts that attest weighing procedures among the excavated material. Indeed, already in the works of Homer it is possible to find references to premonetary aspects (for example, the gold standard τάλαντον). The main purpose of this investigation is to provide an archaeological view on the issue of trading implements and their significance in early Troy. The principal group of objects defined as balance weights was unearthed during the excavations of Heinrich Schliemann. By contrast, very little data derive from Wilhelm Dörpfeld's activities at the site. Balance weights are known also from the recent excavations of Manfred Korfmann. In two previous reports I presented the state of balance weights found in the Schliemann and Korfmann excavations (Bobokhyan 2006; 2008a). The aim of this article is to consider the main stages of the investigation of balance weights, with special reference...

Vakıflı is the only remaining ethnic Armenian village in Turkey and the last officially recognized Western Armenian speaking settlement in the world. From this point of view it is an isolated community, the investigation of which is of primary importance as a case in common historical and social processes. When in 1939 the Sanjak of Alexandretta was handed over to Turkey, the inhabitants of Vakıflı did not leave the Mount Musa, they still live there (ca. 150 Armenians). Considering Vakıflı from various cultural perspectives (geography, name, history, population, settlement, cemetery, temple, material culture, language, script, economy, communication, myth, feast, value system) an attempt is made to pass from ethnography to archaeology and to check the possibilities of archaeological reconstructions. In the meanwhile, the question is touched upon, to what extent archaeology is able to speak about the problems of cultural and ethnic identity. The observations demonstrate the diversity...

The region around Sotk in the Gegharkunik Province, southeast of the Lake Sevan, is unique in the South Caucasus due to the intense interaction of prehistoric settlement and early gold mining. This naturally defined area has long been a terra incognita for prehistorians due to the lack of archaeological and archaeometallurgical investigations. The mine at Sotk which is still in operation exploits the largest gold deposit in the Caucasus and has been in use back to antiquity. The strategic importance of this mining site for the metal age cultural makeup of the entire region not only derives from the mine’s vast potential but also from its position on the Sotk pass which serves as a direct connection between the southern and eastern Caucasus. The preliminary work carried out during 2o1o and 2o11 already demonstrated the potential for documenting and analysing the prehistoric settlement structure in a clearly defined natural region that flanks this important inter-regional communicatio...

In the year 2o1o an Armenian-German survey took place in the Armenian goldfield near Sotk and Fioletovo, the largest gold source in the Caucasus. The goal of our research pro-gramme was to find evidence for fluvial gold deposits in local rivers and collecting samples in order to form the basis for future geochemical fingerprinting of archaeological finds. The identification of prehistoric mining traces and assessing the geology of the gold bearing matrix were further aspects of this survey. One aspect of the results of this research was the positive evidence for fluvial gold in Sotk and the Fioletovo River. Other results include finding evidence for large scale distribution of spoil tips from placer mining with an estimated minimum age of 25oo years, sink holes which point to underground mining and geological circumstances which favour prehistoric as well as modern small scale mining practices. It is the Sotk region that has produced geological and geo-archaeological evidence which ...

This paper addresses the challenges posed by geophysical prospection in a high-altitude volcanic landscape. The case study is the site Karmir Sar, on Mount Aragats, Armenia. A major aim of the ongoing archaeological explorations at Karmir Sar is to detect, map and interpret prehistoric features on site, including the extraordinary concentration of megalithic monuments known as vishaps (“dragon stones”). This paper illustrates a workflow that has allowed us to detect archaeologically relevant features by combining geomagnetic prospection, groundpenetrating radar prospection and orthophotographs generated from image-based modelling of aerial pictures. The collected archaeological information was cross-checked through excavation and the results led to a new understanding of the site and its contexts.

Archaeological investigations demonstrate that in the ancient South Caucasus there existed three levels of human use of the landscape. These levels correlated to three different altitude zones: lowland, foothills and uplands, which we may call ‘low’, ‘middle” and ‘high’ zones. This ‘vertical zonality’ conditioned all cultural developments in the region and constituted an integrated system—a chain, each link of which was dominant during particular periods. An important link in this chain were transhumant pastoralists, who each summer moved—as they still do—with their flocks to high-altitude pastures. These places also functioned as ritual landscapes. The recently discovered Bronze Age site of Karmir Sar on Mount Aragats (2850 m a.s.l.) in Armenia is a unique high-altitude sacred site. Its archaeological investigation adds important data to our knowledge about the early social processes in the region. Karmir Sar is a vast meadow surrounded by small hills, with stone circles and at lea...

The present contribution considers problems of spatial distribution and structural traits of cemeteries in the Bronze and Iron Age Armenia (ca. 3rd - first half of the 1st millennia BC) with special reference to its southern regions (Syunik). Being situated within various natural environments, the cemeteries in southern Armenia of the mentioned period demonstrate own principles of internal structure (concerning locations of tombs within cemeteries, formation of the cemetery centers and intra-cemetery complexes) which are visible within the common South Caucasian cultural zone.

“Dragon stones” (Armenian vishapakar) are standing stones carved with animal imagery found in the high-altitude summer pastures of modern Armenia and neighboring regions. So far, their existence has been largely ignored by the international scientific community and their function and dating have remained the object of speculation. In June 2012, an Armenian–German team started the first systematic archaeological investigation of the Armenian dragon stones. This article offers an introduction to the topic and presents the results of the first fieldwork season. Most importantly, it reveals for the first time that the dragon stones are systematically associated with Bronze Age burial mounds. Thus, dragon stones are unraveled as a monumental feature of a previously unknown high-altitude mortuary landscape, probably connected with the economic exploitation of summer pastures by early transhumant pastoralists.

Աշխատանքի նպատակն է պարզաբանել մետաղագործության և արտադրանքի տարածման առանձնահատկությունները Հայաստանում՝ այն դիտարկելով որպես տեղական մշակույթների արժեքային համակարգի մի բաղկացուցիչ։ В данной статье мы поставили задачу выяснить специфику использования металла и распространение готовой продукции в указанный исторический период, рассматривая металлопроизводство Армении как один из компонентов системы ценностей местной культуры.

Daily data collection during archaeological fieldwork forms the basis for later interpretation and analysis. Across the world, we observe a wide variety of digital data collection methods and tools employed during fieldwork. Here, we detail the daily practices at four recent survey and excavation projects in the South Caucasian country of Armenia. As archaeology continues to become ever more digital, it is useful to consider these day-today recording processes at a typical field project. We provide details on both the types of data collected and the ways they are collected so as to foreground these topics. Finally, we reflect on how our work is currently impacted by digital changes and how it may continue to change in the future.

The enclosed landscape around the Artanish Peninsula (Lake Sevan/Armenia) can be seen as a prehistoric terra incognita due to the wholesale lack of archaeological investigations to date. Initial approaches in 2019 – funded by the Gerda-Henkel-Foundation – revealed outlines of the prehistoric settlement patterns which could be placed in relation to gold mining in a clearly delineated natural corridor along this line of superregional communication and trade routes. The intention of the following project is to implement an intensive, holistic-archaeological investigation of the settlement network in the surroundings of the gold mining area and an interdisciplinary attempt to embed these structures within the larger ecological and anthropogenic environment.

The given contribution is devoted to the problem of computer modeling in archaeology. The territory of the Republic of Armenia is chosen as a target zone for investigations, which is considered in the context of historical and cultural developments of the neighboring countries. The chronological range of the given study is the Bronze and Iron Ages (3rd-1st millennia BC). Тhe principles of computer modeling are applicable to the investigation of monumental architecture (fortifications, towers, cairns, kites, kurgans, dolmens), aiming at reconstructing both the complexes of the monuments and the historical landscape.