Gharaul Tapa Ancient Site :: ARMENIAN HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Gharaul Tapa Ancient Site

Azerbaijan / Northern Artsakh / Shamkhor / Dzegam-Jerdakhan

Description
1890 y․

The territory of Dzegam-Jerdakhan has been inhabited since time immemorial. S. Kamalian, who visited it in 1890, writes, “...to the north-west of the station can be seen Gharaul Tapa. During the excavations conducted here, some pitchers, bracelets, coral jewellery, horn-shaped glasses and other articles were unearthed. The buildings of the station are of finely-cut stone, which is extracted from the aforementioned hill. It bears the remnants of the walls of an old structure which is believed to have been a stable belonging to Kyor Oghli.”

Yeghishe Charents Art and Literature Museum. Sargis Kamalian Fund, copy-book No. 1, VI-11, p. 2.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 482.

1914 y․

One of the first investigators to conduct research into the area was S. Ter-Avetissian, who supervised some preliminary excavations there in 1914: “During the construction of a canal for the Russian immigrants who had settled down in the vicinity of Zakam Station, some antiquities, dating from the period of paganism, were discovered at a depth of two to three arshins. Following the instructions of the Caucasian Museum, Smbat Ter-Avetissian, one of the members of the Caucasian Branch of the Imperial Archaeological Society (Moscow), left for Zakam. Studying the findings, he carried out preliminary digging at the foot of Gharaul-Dagh, rising within about three versts of the station. ...He disclosed some Stone Age articles and tombs of the pre-Christian period (about two hundred steps south of these findings) comprising several big and small burial urns (no metalware was found there). Three hundred steps south of the latter were unearthed several heathen cists of stone containing bronze items (similar structures are typical of many localities in Caucasia). All the aforementioned comes to suggest that this small territory has been inhabited since time immemorial when man had no idea about metals. ...All the findings have been handed to the Caucasian Museum and Smbat Ter-Avetissian has been assigned to start larger-scale excavations in August.”

Gitak. The Antiquities of Zageam. In: “Mshak,” 1914, No. 123, p. 4, in Armenian.
Also see A Report on the Caucasian Museum for 1914. Tiflis, 1917, pp. 21, 23, in Russian.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, pp. 482-483.