VirtualANI messageboard: Armenian architecture, art, archaeology, history: Tigranakert (Hetq article)

Hetq Online - 11/20/2006
www.hetq.am

Tigranakert
By Tigran Paskevichyan, Anna Sargsyan

In the summer of 2006, Armenian media announced to the entire world
that the ruins of an ancient city built by King Tigran the Great had
been discovered in the Martakert region of Nagorno Karabakh. Archeologist
Hamlet Petrosyan said it was no coincidence that that very location
had been chosen for excavation - history had pointed to it strongly.

When asked how they identified the probable location of the city of
Tigranakert, Petrosyan replied that it had been because of the
staircase-like cliffs that stretched across the hill.

`There is a slope or Saralanj above the Shahbulagh spring, which leads
to Vankasar, and on that mountain there is a seventh-century church.
The cliffs on the section of the slope leading towards Vankasar are
dug out. Someone who is not an expert might think that they are a path
of some sort, but in reality they form the base for the fortress walls,
dug into the cliff.'

He also said that our history had not been made up; all one had to do
was carefully read Armenian historical narratives. `We have historical
sources and travelers' notes; and after all, that region was called
Tkrakert by the Armenians in the nineteenth century.' As Hamlet
Petrosyan's sees it, this archeological discovery was one of the
few cases when `excavations literally prove historians' claims.'

The first days of the excavation revealed only pottery, which was
insufficient evidence to back the claims that this was the city of
King Tigran the Great, although they dated back to his time. `We
went a little higher and saw that there were two small rocks which
seemed to form a line. We decided to dig there and it turned out to
be one of the higher areas of the city,' Petrosyan said.

`Ancient architectural techniques assumed that it was the rocks in
a wall that determined how strong it would be. The larger the rocks,
the smoother and sharper they are, the stronger the wall will be.'

A few days later, another section of the city was discovered.
Inscriptions resembling swallowtails were seen on rocks, which
testified to advanced architectural skill. This might have seemed
trivial, but it led to a very important conclusion.

`This meant that there was a whole team of architects and experts
who knew how to polish that stone, process its facets, make a regular
pattern and produce ideal smoothness. Managing all that and centering
it on the summit of that hill could only be possible if this was
a state-sponsored program. That is to say, a local feudal lord could
not build a fortress of this kind.'

After discovering the fortress walls, the archeologists assumed that
they would find the city on the plain. Here too they found more than
they expected.

`It was a sensation, to be honest. We chose an area of five by six.
There were walls there, and I assumed that the city church would be
there - obviously, not from Tigran the Great's time, but from the
Christian era. Because we know about Tigranakert today, one can
assume that this city lived a prosperous life after it was founded.'

The excavations were carried out by the Artshakh archaeological
group of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Academy
of Sciences of Armenia with the participation of Hamlet Petrosyan,
Zhores Khachatryan, Lyuba Kirakosyan, Hayk Hakobyan and Vardges
Safaryan. The Yerkir Union for Repatriation and Resettlement
initiated and financed this undertaking.

The excavations lasted only fifteen days, which was not enough to
extract this city founded by Tigran the Great from within the depths
of history and time. The archeologists have only managed to develop
the theory that this is Tigranakert. A lot of time and material
resources are required to completely excavate the city. If they
are made available, according to Hamlet Petrosyan, it would not
only be possible to excavate Tigranakert, but also make other
discoveries from the early Christian era in the Khachen River valley.