Artaxata in Armenia – Archaeological research in a Hellenistic metropolis in the Ararat plain

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Achim Lichtenberger
• Subject Area: Classical, Roman, Christian and Islamic Archaeology
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 422785411

Artaxata was the capital of the Armenian kingdom of the Artaxid dynasty, which had become independent from the Seleucids. Founded in the 180s of the 2nd cent, BC by King Artaxias I (189-160 BC), Artaxata rapidly developed into an important city of Armenia. Artaxata is located about 10 km south of the modern town of Artashat on the hills of Khor Virap. Since 2018, an Armenian-German team is researching the city. Previously, excavations were carried out only in selected areas of the city in the 1970s and 80s. Several field research campaigns by the Armenian Academy of Sciences focused on geodesic survey of the hills and the fortifications. In addition, they concentrated on two larger urban quarters on Hills I and VIII. A large part of the results remains unpublished to this day. Knowledge of Artaxata thus remains unsatisfactory. The research project proposed here for extension is intended to continue the successful cooperation with the Armenian Academy of Sciences to clarify central questions concerning urbanistics and the cultural profile of the city in the Hellenistic period. The work carried out so far in the 'Lower City' shows enormous potential for clarifying the founding phase of Artaxata: what does a newly founded Artaxian residential city look like and what are the urbanistic consequences of the Roman destruction? How is Armenian 'Hellenism' characterized, which cultural legacies of this epoch follow an indigenous tradition, which innovations can be identified, and which forms of cultural adaptation or transformation ('Hellenization' / 'Romanization') can be grasped in material culture? The answers to these questions are linked to the results achieved in the first funding phase, an unfinished Roman aqueduct, corridor houses and a presumed sacred complex as well as a monumental hall. It is also linked to the development of a firmly datable pottery chronology, which is already advanced after the first phase of the project thanks to the collection of 14C data for the foundation period (2nd cent. BC, phase I). For the subsequent phases II and III (1st cent. BC / 1st century AD), such a fine-grained pottery typology is also aimed at. It has been shown that the traditional dating of pottery and the previous phasing of the city's history, based almost exclusively on literary sources, must be re-evaluated by the new archaeological features and finds. Only in this way and with the inclusion of further archaeometric research methods is the desired cultural-historical classification of the city possible. The fieldwork concentrates on the features south of Hill XIII. The results of the prospection and excavation to the south of the hill and thus in the immediate vicinity of the slopes of Hill II have brought to light a large hall complex, the investigation of which will take two further excavation campaigns. This complex is crucial for the understanding of the refoundation as it was constructed in the Urartian but reused in the Artaxiad period.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants