Annali, Sezione orientale 77 (2017) 294–317 brill.com/aioo The Kotayk Survey Project. Preliminary Report on 2015 Fieldwork Activities Roberto Dan International Association of Mediterranean and Oriental Studies (ISMEO) [email protected] Artur Petrosyan Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of the Armenian Republic (IAE NAS RA) [email protected] Abstract The Kotayk Survey Project (KSP) started in the summer of 2013. This is a joint Armenian—Italian project involving the study of the upper Hrazdan river valley, located in the northern part of the Kotayk region in the Armenian Republic. This article presents the results of the third fieldwork season, which involved both excavation and survey. In particular, the text describes the excavation of the Solak 1 fortress and dis- cusses its role in the framework of Middle Iron Age/Urartian archaeology. Keywords Kotayk Survey Project – Solak 1 – Urartu – Middle Iron Age – Kotayk region – Hrazdan River The Kotayk Survey Project (KSP) started in the summer of 2013. This is a joint Armenian–Italian project involving the study of the upper Hrazdan river valley, * “Introduction”, “Archaeological excavations in Solak 1”, “Room 1”, “The corridor” and “The main gate” were written jointly by both authors; Roberto Dan wrote “Some remarks on the Solak 1 Fortress”, “The Solak 1 Fortress in the context of Urartian and post-Urartian archaeol- ogy”; Artur Petrosyan wrote “The survey”, “The rescue excavations in Meghradzor village” and “Investigations in Kaghsi village”. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi �0.��63/�468563�-��Downloaded340035 from Brill.com10/07/2021 06:55:48PM via free access The Kotayk Survey Project 295 located in the northern part of the Kotayk region in the Armenian Republic.1 The third season has seen the participation of both Armenian and Italian scholars in the project that is underpinned by a scientific cooperation agree- ment between the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian Republic (IAE NAS RA) and the International Association of Mediterranean and Oriental Studies (ISMEO). The project has the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Italian Republic (MAECI, code ARC-001096). Its main goals may be sum- marized in the following points: 1) The creation of an archaeological map of the area between the upper River Hrazdan and the western foothills of the Geghama Range, from the Palaeolithic until the Middle Ages. 2) The investigation of human presence in prehistoric times in this part of the Hrazdan gorge and the area of the extinct volcano Guthanasar. 3) The study of the complex-society sites in the region (Early Bronze Age). 4) The study of the formation and growth of the first pre-state community in the region (Late Bronze–Early Iron Age). 5) The analysis of the nature of Urartian presence, the first state in the region (Middle Iron Age). 6) Investigation of the composition and characteristics of the settlements relating to the formation period of the Armenian nation (Late Iron Age). The third season, which took place between June 7 and July 7, involved: 1 The authors would like express their deepest thanks to Prof. Pavel Avetisyan, Director of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences RA. The con- duction of the work from the Italian side has been possible thanks to the assistance of the Italian institutions that are supporting and financing the project. In this context, we would like to thank Prof. Adriano V. Rossi, President of ISMEO, and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), the Italian Embassy and Ambassador Giovanni Ricciulli, and Prof. Laura Pacenti, the Italian cultural attaché in Yerevan. We would also like to thank Marie-Claude Trémouille, Boris Gasparyan, Ruben Badalyan, Adam T. Smith, Lori Khatchadourian and Ian Lindsay of the ArAGATS Project for their help and assistance. Special thanks are due to Tommaso Saccone, Yervand Grekyan (Armenian State Pedagogical University after Khachatour Abovyan), Samvel Nahapetyan (Yerevan State University, Faculty of Geography and Geology) and those who have worked with us: Mattia Raccidi, Ara Petrosyan, Armine Apresyan, Andranik Grigoryan, Hrach Avetisyan, Karen Mesropyan, Suren Margaryan, Arman Hovhannisyan and Gevorg Margaryan. Annali, Sezione orientale 77 (2017) 294–317 Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 06:55:48PM via free access 296 Dan and PETROSYAN 1) The continued excavation of Solak 1, a newly discovered site covering 16 hectares. 2) The survey of the upper Kotayk region in order to produce an archaeo- logical map of the evidence of human activity from prehistoric times until the Middle Ages. 3) A number of trial excavations in important and endangered sites pro- posed for inclusion in the National Cultural Heritage List to evaluate their general nature and chronology. History of Archaeological Investigations in the Upper Hrazdan River Basin The Kotayk region includes the Hrazdan, Abovian and former Nairi administrative regions. The studied region includes the upper part of the river and the Hrazdan plateau (average altitude 1700–1800 m above sea level). The River Hrazdan (for- merly Zangu) is one of the left tributaries of the River Araxes (141 km in length). The river has 340 tributaries, 25 of which are more than 10 km long. The longest rivers are the Marmarik, Tsakhadzor, Arai and Getar. The area also contains the Geghama mountains, the Tsaghuniats mountain chain, and Mount Guthanasar. The administrative area covers some parts of the historical Ayrarat region of Armenia, in which are the Kotayk, Mazaz, Nig, Varazhnunik and Aragatsotn provinces. According to Urartian cuneiform inscriptions, this area was probably part of a country (or the territory of a tribe) called Etiuni. In the area under study by the Kotayk Survey Project excavations were conducted in a cemetery at Bjni in 1928 by E. Bayburtian (Khanzadyan 1967: 19). In the 1950s, H. Mnatsakanyan carried out excavations in a necropolis in Jrarat (Mnatsakanyan, Tiratsyan 1961: 69–70; Mnatsakanyan 1965: 95–96; Khanzadyan 1967: 18) and at a site dat- ing to the Early Bronze-Iron Age in Kaghsi (Mnatsakanyan 1954: 85, 86, 93; Khanzadyan 1967: 18). In the 1980s, S. Barkhudaryan investigated archaeo- logically the area of Meghradzor (Barkhudaryan 1935: 31). L. Biagov conducted excavations in Meghradzor and Aghavnadzor (Biagov 1986: 6–19; Gharibyan 2006: 126, 129), and E. Khanzadyan in Kaghsi (Khanzadyan 1967: 18). Since 2004, an expedition of Yerevan State University has been excavating a medi- eval settlement located in the gorge of the River Hrazdan, just in front of the village of Bjni (Gharibyan et al. 2008: 185–96; Gharibyan et al. 2010: 67–90). From 2004 onwards the archaeological site of Aramus, located on the southern border of the area under investigation by the Kotayk Survey Project, has been excavated under the direction of H. Avetisyan, W. Kuntner and S. Heinsch. Annali, Sezione orientaleDownloaded from 77 Brill.com10/07/2021(2017) 294–317 06:55:48PM via free access The Kotayk Survey Project 297 The site, divided into six fortified sectors, has furnished interesting evidence of occupation dating to the Early, Middle and Late Iron Age, i.e. the pre-Urartian, Urartian and ‘Achaemenid’ periods2 (Kuntner, Heinsch 2010; Heinsch, Kuntner, Avetisyan 2012). The initial archaeological investigation in Karashamb was carried out in 1966 (Karapetyan 1969: 278–83), and large-scale archaeological excavations were conducted in the 1980s, when more than 1000 Middle Bronze to Iron Age tombs were dug (Gevorgyan 1993: 50–60; Hovhannisyan 1993: 26–36; Melikyan 2015: 7). After a long break, controlled excavation began again in 2008 and has continued up to the present. In recent years 776 tombs have been recorded and 450 of these excavated (Melikyan 2015: 7–28). Since 2008 the Hrazdan Gorge Palaeolithic Project under the direction of B. Gasparyan, B. Yeritsyan and D. Adler has been active. The project is focused on the investigation of the Middle and Upper Pleistocene archaeology (750,000–11,500 years ago) of the Hrazdan Valley. Excavations have been conducted in the important sites of Lusakert 1 and Nor Gheri 1 (Adler et al. 2012). In 2012 the Marmarik Archaeology Project under the direction of A. Petrosyan, D. Peterson and J. Dudgeon started; the results are still unpublished. In 2015 the River Marmarik area was included in the Kotayk Survey Project. The Survey During the 2015 campaign, four archaeological sites were identified; these were added to the Kotayk Survey Project database site list (Fig. 1). Two unpublished caves with interesting archaeological potential (KSP 057 and KSP 058) were discovered. Cave KSP 057 is located on the western slopes of the Gegham mountain range, about 6 km east/south-east of the town of Lernanist. Cave KSP 058 is situated in the middle of the Gegham mountain range, 9.5 km south-east of two extinct volcanoes, on the border between the Kotayk and Gegharkunik regions. A fortress with Early Bronze Age pot- tery (Meghradzor 1/KSP 059) was studied in Meghradzor village on the north bank of River Marmarik, in the Marmarik Valley. A dam (KSP 060) was dis- covered in the hills around the Solak 1 fortress; it was built between two hills 2 Achaemenid is put in inverted commas because the archaeological evidence indicates a generic Achaemenid period occupation, given that to date no clear evidence of so-called Persepolitan architecture or material culture has been found in the site. Annali, Sezione orientale 77 (2017) 294–317 Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 06:55:48PM via free access 298 Dan and PETROSYAN Figure 1 Map showing sites recorded in 2013–2015 (by T. Saccone). to collect water from springs and from the melting of the winter snow.3 Due to the absence of surface finds or specific architectural features, the struc- ture is not currently datable.