The place of “Dragon Stone” sanctuaries in context of cultic areas of Ancient Armenia

This article discusses the prehistoric stelae known as "dragon stones", vishaps, in the contexts of the history of cult space in ancient Armenia. Since 2012, a joint project of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, the Freie Universität Berlin and Ca’ Foscari University Venice investigates “dragon stones” in the territory of the Republic of Armenia. Dragon stones are megalithic basalt stelae decorated with animal imagery. Between one and five meters high, these stelae are solitary monuments sometimes shaped in the form of a fish, or decorated as if the prepared hide of a horned animal had been draped on them; rarely, additional animals such as birds or snakes are added to the composition. Such stelae represent the most ancient examples of monumental art in the Caucasus. The present article reflects upon the problems concerning the importance of dragon stones and their archaeological contexts in the frames of diachronic developments of sanctuaries in ancient Armenia

Karmir Sar. New evidence on dragon-stones and ritual landscapes on Mount Aragats, Armenia.

This contribution presents new evidence on a specific kind of prehistoric sacred landscape, a high-altitude monumental sanctuary characterized by the presence of megalithic stelae decorated with animal relief. The contribution is based on the case-study of Karmir Sar, a recently discovered Chalcolithic and Bronze Age site located on the south slope of Mount Aragats (Armenia), at 2850 m a.s.l. Archaeological investigations demonstrate that, in the ancient South Caucasus, vertical zonality in landscape use conditioned all cultural developments and constituted an integrated system—a chain, each link of which was dominant during particular periods. An important link in this chain were transhumant pastoralists, who each summer moved—as they still do—with their flocks from lowlands to high-altitude pastures. High-altitudes plateaus also functioned as ritual landscapes. Karmir Sar is an extraordinary example of such high-altitude sacred sites. the site is a vast meadow with at least ten monumental stelae (vishaps or ‘dragon stones’) scattered over an area of c. 40 ha, the highest thus far known concentration of such monuments at a single site. Its archaeological investigation adds important data to our knowledge about the early social processes in the region. This article discusses the site in its wider prehistoric context, and presents the results of the excavation at and around the vishap ‘Karmir Sar 10’. We also discuss the longue durée of the vishap phenomenon, taking into account a persisting ‘sacredness’ reflected in place names, medieval texts and local folk traditions

A prehistoric aggregated cells structure at 2850m asl on Mount Aragats, Armenia

This paper presents the preliminary results of a recently discovered and excavated aggregated cells structure at Karmir Sar in Armenia. As the first structure of its kind found in a high altitude, the aggregated cells structure at Karmir Sar opens new perspectives for both high-mountain archaeology and the general understanding of these enigmatic structures. Although no definite answer concerning the function can be proposed yet, the extant architecture and the pottery implicate an open-air installation combining space for human habitation with space for herding animals. Radiocarbon dating evidence points to a use episode in the middle of the 3rd Millennium BC, leaving open the possibility that the structure was first built in the 5th Millenium BC. On the basis of comparanda from other periods, this paper argues that the aggregated cells structures were a long-lasting phenomenon reflecting pastoral subsistence strategies. These strategies, though still largely unknown, reoccurred over several millennia, coexisting or alternating with other competing subsistence strategies

Integrated archaeo-geophysical survey on volcanic terrain: the case of Karmir Sar on Mount Aragats (Armenia)

This paper addresses the challenges posed by geophysical prospection in a high-altitude volcanic landscape. The case study is the site Karmir Sar, on Mount Aragats, Armenia. A major aim of the ongoing archaeological explorations at Karmir Sar is to detect, map and interpret prehistoric features on site, including the extraordinary concentration of megalithic monuments known as vishaps (“dragon stones”). This paper illustrates a workflow that has allowed us to detect archaeologically relevant features by combining geomagnetic prospection, groundpenetrating radar prospection and orthophotographs generated from image-based modelling of aerial pictures. The collected archaeological information was cross-checked through excavation and the results led to a new understanding of the site and its contexts

Looking for the tombs of dragons’: preliminary results of archaeo-geochemical prospecting studies at Tirinkatar - Karmir Sar area, southern slopes of Mt Aragats, Armenia.

This article reports on an interdisciplinary archaeogeochemical research on vishaps (stone stelae also known as dragon stones) that has been carried out for the first time in Armenia. The survey area is situated in the neighborhood of Tirinkatar and Karmir Sar volcanoes on the southern slopes of Mt. Aragats. The geochemical prospecting studies have been realized on a high mountain meadow (2850 m asl) with 12 vishaps and numerous circular stone structures known as cromlechs. Five cromlechs excavated until now did not yield any human remains and the main aim of the geochemical prospection was to check whether other cromlechs detected by archaeological surface survey and by ground-penetrating radar contained burials. The geochemical haloes of some chemical elements indicate their anthropogenic character and a very high probability that some of the cromlechs were tombs

Burial of two closely related infants under a “dragon stone” from prehistoric Armenia

“Dragon stones” are prehistoric basalt stelae carved with animal imagery found in Armenia and surrounding regions. These monuments have a complex history of use and reuse across millennia, and the original date of creation is still a matter of debate. In this article, we present a unique dragon stone context excavated at the site of Lchashen, Armenia, where a three-and-a-half-meter high basalt stela with an image of a sacrificed bovid was found above a burial dating to the 16th century BC. The burial stands out among hundreds from this site as the only one in connection with a “dragon stone”, and one of very few containing the remains of newborn babies. Furthermore, our analyses of ancient DNA extracted from the well-preserved skeletal remains of two 0–2-month-old individuals showed them to be second-degree related females with identical mitochondrial sequences of the haplogroup U5a1a1 lineage, thus indicating that the infants are closely related. Additionally, we assessed that the buried individuals displayed genetic ancestry profiles similar to other Bronze Age individuals from the region

Dragon Stones in context. The discovery of high-altitude burial grounds with sculpted stelae in the Armenian mountains

“Dragon stones” (Armenian vishapakar) are standing stones carved with animal imagery found in the high-altitude summer pastures of modern Armenia and neighboring regions. So far, their existence has been largely ignored by the international scientific community and their function and dating have remained the object of speculation. In June 2012, an Armenian–German team started the first systematic archaeological investigation of the Armenian dragon stones. This article offers an introduction to the topic and presents the results of the first fieldwork season. Most importantly, it reveals for the first time that the dragon stones are systematically associated with Bronze Age burial mounds. Thus, dragon stones are unraveled as a monumental feature of a previously unknown high-altitude mortuary landscape, probably connected with the economic exploitation of summer pastures by early transhumant pastoralists

Vishaps of the Geghama Mountains. New discoveries and propedeutics to a history of research

Vishaps are characteristic prehistoric megaliths found at high-altitude pastures of the South-Caucasian mountains. First "discovered" in the early 20th century, these monuments have remained largely unknown to the international scientific community, and their date and function are still debated. This paper presents an overview of the history of research on the vishaps of the Gheghama Mountains, modern Armenia

Prehistoric sacred landscapes in the high mountains: the case of the vishap stelae between Taurus and Caucasus

This paper deals with prehistoric stone stelae called »vishaps« or »dragon stones«. Vishaps are impressive basalt stelae sculpted with animal reliefs. They originally stood upright in secluded, water-rich, high-altitude meadows in the mountains of East Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, and the Azerbaijani exclave Nakhichevan. Since 2012 an Armenian-German-Italian team has been conducting field research in modern Armenia, primarily in the Geghama Mountains and on Mount Aragats, in order to understand who produced these monuments in a seemingly remote and hidden setting, when and why. Though cardinal questions related to vishaps remain open, it is argued in this paper that dragon stones were monuments integrated into prehistoric sacred landscapes bestowing specific significance to mountain peaks and water springs, certainly pre-dating the Late Bronze Age and perhaps going back as early as the Chalcolithic period