Agarak () is a village in the

Ashtarak Municipality Aragatsotn (, ) is a province ('' marz'') of Armenia. It is located in the western part of the country. The capital and largest city of the province is the town of Ashtarak. The Statistical Committee of Armenia reported its population was 128, ...

of the

Aragatsotn Province Aragatsotn (, ) is a administrative divisions of Armenia, province (''Marz (country subdivision), marz'') of Armenia. It is located in the western part of the country. The capital and largest city of the province is the town of Ashtarak. The Sta ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. It is located on Amberd River. The modern settlement was founded mainly by emigrants from Van, Gavash and

Bitlis Bitlis ( or ; ) is a city in southeastern Turkey. It is the seat of Bitlis District and Bitlis Province. In 1897 the population of Agarak was 603; in 1979 it had reached 1150.

Archaeology

The archaeological site of Agarak is located south of the highway on the west side of the Amberd Canyon. A dirt road leads from the village sign to the south on the mound. The site contains some of the oldest large man-made structures carved into stone, dating to the Early Bronze Age ('Agarak 1' dated 3400 BC) and the earliest in the Caucasus. Rock wells, rock-cut stairways, corridors, and horseshoe-shaped structures are found. The Early Bronze Age culture area covers 200 hectares, of which 118 hectares have been declared a protected zone. The town had a regular street plan., and what may have been an astronomical observatory. The walls surrounding the settlement were up to one metre thick and were made of sun-dried mud brick. Agarak expedition 002

A large quantity of

potsherds This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

, as well as mumerousround portable clay fireplaces, represent the succeeding Kura–Araxes culture; they are dated to 29th-27th century BC, and are similar to Shengavit-type pottery. The findings show a continuous settlement up to the end of the early Iron Age (9th century), and then to the fall of the Urartian Empire in the 6th century BC. In 4th century BC, Agarak became an urban center due to its location on the Aras Valley trade route. Buried coins have been excavated, as well as well as signet rings from the

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

and

Roman period The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

s. Based on potsherd excavations Agarak was a village-level settlement in the early Middle Ages. There was also some sparse occupation during the 17th–18th centuries. There are ruins of an Astvatsatsin church of the 5th–6th century, and it's added on *gavit* of the 10th–13th century, ruins of a 10th-century church of Amenaprkich (also known as Tukh Manuk), and the ruins of a 17th-century mosque.Հայաստանի պատմության և մշակույթի անշարժ հուշարձանների ցանկ

References

*
Report of the results of the 2001 Armenian census
*Kiesling, ''Rediscovering Armenia'', p. 16, available online at th
US embassy to Armenia's website
{{Authority control Populated places in Aragatsotn Province Kura-Araxes culture Archaeological sites in Armenia