The Ancient Capitals in the Ararat Plain of Armenia is a conference that will be held in Armenia’s Ashtarak, at the Wine History Museum of Armenia, 18.-20. April 2023.
The conference on the “ancient capitals” is organized by the Institute for Classical Archaeology and Christian Archaeology/Archaeological Museum of Münster University (Münster, Germany), the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, (Yerevan), and the Wine History Museum of Armenia (Ashtarak).
Convenors: Hayk Gyulamiryan – Achim Lichtenberger – Syuzanna Muradyan – Torben Schreiber – Mkrtich Zardaryan
Program:
11:30 Winemaking in the Classical Period Cities of the Ararat Valley: Armavir, Artashat, Vagharshapat – R. Palaniyan (Yerevan)
12:15 Communication network of the Ararat Plain, Armenia. Geographical, Economic, Political dimensions (1st millennium B.C. – 1st millennium A.D.) – M. H. Zardaryan (Yerevan)
13:00 Lunch break
Capitals in the Ararat Valley I (chair: T. Schreiber)
14:00 Royal Cities in the Ararat Valley – S. Erhardt, J. Schellig (Münster – Jerusalem)
14:45 Armavir. From the religious center of Argishtikhinili to the capital of the Yervanduni – I. Karapetyan (Yerevan)
15:30 Coffee break
16:00 Yervandashat – Yervandakert. Connecting to the Past. The Orontid Capital in an Urartian Landscape – S. Muradyan (Yerevan)
16:45 Formation of Urban Space on the Territory of Vagharshapat – L. Mkrthyan, A. Tadevosyan, A. Gnuni (Yerevan)
17:30 Early Medieval Dvin – H. L. Petrosyan (Yerevan)
18:15 Reception at the Museum and guided Tour through the Exhibition (H. Gyulamiryan)
19:30 Dinner
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Capitals in the Ararat Valley II: Artashat (chair: H. L. Petrosyan)
09:30 The Armenian-German Artaxata Project: Investigating the Lower City of ancient Artashat – H. Gyulamiryan, A. Lichtenberger, T. Schreiber, M. H. Zardaryan (Yerevan – Münster)
10:15 A Survey of the Palaeofauna in the Ararat Plain from Artaxata, Hill XIII – V. Becker (Copenhagen)
11:00 Coffee break
11:30 The Agricultural Landscape of Hellenistic Artaxata – A. Orendi (Tübingen)
12:15 Human Remains from Artashat (Results of the preliminary Investigation) – H. Simonyan (Yerevan)
13:00 Lunch break
14:00 Field trip to Artaxata-Artashat
Thursday, April 20, 2023
Settlements in the Ararat Valley (chair: M. H. Zardaryan)
09:30 Metsamor. Reconstruction of the Town Space Arrangement and its Significance – K. Jakubiak (Warsaw)
10:15 Asia Minor Columnar Sarcophagi in the Structure of the Arsacids Residence in Garni – H. Margaryan (Yerevan)
11:00 Coffee break
Capitals beyond the Ararat Valley (chair: M. H. Zardaryan)
11:30 Capital Cities and Royal Residences of late Hellenistic Sophene and Commagene – M. Blömer (Münster)
12:15 Seleukeia on the Tigris – New Considerations on the Seleukid Royal City – W. Held (Marburg)
13:00 Lunch break
14:00 Final Discussion