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Oshakan/Armenia

Location

Oshakan is situated approx. 20 km to the North-West of the Armenian capital of Yerevan and 8 km south of the town of Ashtarak in the province of Aragatsotn. It is one of the best-known towns of Armenia, since the creator of the Armenian alphabet, Mesrop Mashtots (approx. 360 – 440 A.D.), is buried there. Today, the local church Saint Mesrop Mashtots Cathedral rises on his last resting-place, which was erected in 1875 on the initiative of the Catholicos of Etschmiadzin, Georgios IV. (1866 – 1882), and which substituted for the small chapel that had been built over the shrine by the Armenian soldier Vahan Amatuni in the 5th century A.D.. Oshakan used to be the captital of the old Armenian province of Ayrarat during the epoch of the Amanuti dynasty.

The Find Spot Didi Kond

The western and northern parts of the modern municipality of Oshakan (between 1030 m and 1050 m a.s.l.) extend around a natural tuff hill called Didi Kond. This hill measures about 60 ha and rises 1121 m a.s.l. On its peak there are the ruins of an Urartian fortress, which in part have been overbuilt by the shrine Saint Grigor.

The Urartian fortification stretches across 0.25 ha and was excavated by the Armenian archaeologists S. Esayan and A. Kalantaryan from 1972-1975. In the course of these works, a settlement at the north-eastern hillside and a necropolis in the northern and eastern part of the hill were laid open.

Explorations since 2012

New explorations in Oshakan concentrate on the excavation of tombs on both the hill of Didi Kond and a small hill named Pokr Blur south of Didi Kond within the well-known necropolis.

Project Direction

This project is co-directed by Prof. Dr. Hayk Avetisyan (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology at Yerevan State University) and Dr. Michael Herles (Institute of Near Eastern Archaeology, LMU Munich).

Contact

Dr. Michael Herles: michael.herles@vaa.fak12.uni-muenchen.de