A group of Armenian archaeologists led by the scientific secretary of the State Non-Commercial Organization "Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserves" Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Ashot Piliposyan at the end of October this year discovered a unique support wall in the ancient megalithic complex Zorats Karer.
ARTIFACTS FOUND AT THIS PLACE RELATED TO VI-V CENTURIES. BC. This is already the second find of this season, confirming that Zorats Karer has been a settlement with a necropolis for a long time.
“In August, we excavated one of thirty burials,” A. Piliposyan said. - At first it seemed that we are unlikely to find interesting material, however, while excavating the central part of the tomb, we discovered many unique things. The oldest artifact is a fragment of decorated pottery from the Bronze Age, which dates back to the 18th-17th centuries BC. Cromlech with a diameter of 18 meters in the western part has an underground path leading to the necropolis, about seven meters long and three meters wide. 2.5 meters have been cleared and excavated. Burials of four historical periods were discovered here: the Middle Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age, Iron Age and Antiquity.
There are stones of the same type on both sides of the tomb, but they were first discovered in the masonry of the wall. The stones were delivered from the quarry, which is located a kilometer away, they were laid on logs, a rope was passed through the holes and dragged. According to the archaeologist, this technique of delivering stones has been used for a very long time and there are khachkars in the area, at the base of which there are the same holes. The wall of stones, according to the scientist, was built later, later than the 7th-6th centuries. BC, and was, in all likelihood, a protective value.
The finds also include several iron points, an iron knife, more than ten bronze bracelets, many of which are made in the shape of a snake's head, about ten rings and earrings, as well as very interesting beads. Unfortunately, the tomb was looted. But even the surviving artifacts contain interesting information.
“IT IS POSSIBLE TO SAY WITH CONFIDENCE THAT THIS IS A Tomb of a Noble Man with a high social status,” A. Piliposyan says. “In addition, artifacts suggest that during the early Iron Age, Syunik had rather close ties with the northwestern part of Iran. This is evidenced by products made from special sea shells that exist only in the Indian Ocean, that is, in the Persian Gulf. It can also be assumed that in the XII-XIII centuries AD, during the invasion of the Seljuk Turks or Mongol Tatars, such tombs apparently served as secret shelters for the inhabitants of the surrounding settlements."
The discovered wall was built of rough-cut stones and is located in the eastern part of the complex. The height of the wall is one and a half meters, the length is 10. Contraforts were of strategic importance, and huge boulders with holes in the wall, according to Piliposyan, were also of defensive importance. “According to preliminary findings, from the 7th century BC. part of the necropolis was turned into a settlement, and the wall on the eastern side protected the inhabitants from enemies, - said A. Piliposyan. "The found ceramic shards also belong to this period."
Recall that the Zorats Karer complex gained world fame after astrophysicist Paris Heruni called it an observatory and determined its age by the stars, stating that the Armenians studied the starry sky here 7000 years ago.
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Archaeologists strongly disagree with this interpretation, just as they disagree with the name of the monument. “Karahunj is a village near Goris, but it is quite far from here,” A. Piliposyan said. - Officially, this monument has the name Zorats Karer, and this is an ancient burial, however, younger than the "observatory of Paris Heruni". And therefore it is surprising that in school textbooks Zorats Karer is called Karahunj and the mistake is repeated. I want to say once again that Heruni's statements about the uniqueness of both the “Karahunj Observatory” (already represented by the Armenian Stonehenge) and the “radio-optical telescope” have nothing to do with true science. There is no reason to assert that the stones of the monument were erected for astronomical and calendar purposes, and the archaeological excavations carried out convincingly rejected the age, there are holes in other stones as well.found both there and elsewhere. The "Heruni Telescope" has never obtained results that could be published in scientific journals. This fact does not diminish the significance of this monument either on the scale of Armenia or on a global scale. Excavations will continue here to clarify once and for all the purpose of this monument, overgrown with all kinds of legends."
“THE ARTIFACTS FOUND BY THE EXPEDITION OF ASHOT PILIPOSYAN ONCE AGAIN confirm that Zorats Karer was a huge settlement with a necropolis and there can be no question of any observatory,” said Doctor of Historical Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. NAS RA Pavel AVETISYAN. - To replicate Heruni's nonsense not only does not make sense, but is unacceptable from an educational point of view. The younger generation should know the truth, not pseudoscientific ideas and statements. As for Azerbaijan's reaction to our open letter, there is much to do with the problem of identity formation. For every society, both changes in identity and the study of the process of its formation and management are important. School education plays a key role in all this. There are no trifles here, and if there are reasons for concern, then this should be discussed in plain text. Based on this, we turned to the decision-making bodies, considering it inadmissible, on the basis of groundless language exercises and astrophysical "calculations", to call the monument an observatory in school textbooks and encyclopedias. It is doubly unacceptable when viewpoints outside of science and the results of Internet disputes are transferred to the education system. The system of values of the citizens of Armenia is based on genuine universal and national values. And if we meet in this field, so to speak, "weeds", then they should be weeded out. Today false values form a corresponding identity in the region with all the ensuing disastrous consequences. "It is doubly unacceptable when viewpoints outside of science and the results of Internet disputes are transferred to the education system. The system of values of the citizens of Armenia is based on genuine universal and national values. And if we meet in this field, so to speak, "weeds", then they should be weeded out. Today false values form a corresponding identity in the region with all the ensuing disastrous consequences. "It is doubly unacceptable when viewpoints outside of science and the results of Internet disputes are transferred to the education system. The system of values of the citizens of Armenia is based on genuine universal and national values. And if we meet in this field, so to speak, "weeds", then they should be weeded out. Today false values form a corresponding identity in the region with all the ensuing disastrous consequences. "Today false values form a corresponding identity in the region with all the ensuing disastrous consequences. "Today false values form a corresponding identity in the region with all the ensuing disastrous consequences."
Tigran Mirzoyan, "The Voice of Armenia"