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Gold jewelry, a coin of Octavian Augustus, a bronze dagger and other valuable archaeological finds from different periods have been discovered during excavations at the Metsamor historical-archaeological site.
The Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum-Reservations, a state non-commercial organization under Armenia’s Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, reported the findings.
“Excavations launched two years ago continued in 2026 on a plot of land owned by private individuals adjacent to the Metsamor Historical-Archaeological Museum-Reserve. The archaeological structure under investigation is a stone-built burial chamber surrounded by a cromlech approximately 20 meters in diameter. The structure is built of tuff and basalt stones. At its center is a large stone-cist tomb constructed from the same types of stone, with internal dimensions of approximately 6 × 4 meters,” the organization said.
According to a press release issued by the organization, excavations in previous years had uncovered a burial from the Classical period in the upper layer of the tomb, accompanied by a rich assemblage of grave goods. The finds included gold jewelry, a coin and other objects characteristic of the Classical period, dating to the 1st century AD.
“Archaeological materials from different periods were discovered in the layers exposed during the 2026 excavations. Of particular note is a burial layer dating to the Iron Age, where the burial of a single individual was found, accompanied by grave goods and a large quantity of pottery. The main burial was uncovered in the lower part of the burial chamber, near the floor. Based on the preliminary dating of the materials found, it dates to the Late Bronze Age, the 14th–13th centuries BC. This layer contained substantial accumulations of horse bones, large quantities of pottery fragments, a dagger of the Lchashen type, belt fragments, fragments of various bronze objects and bell-shaped pendants. The diversity of the archaeological materials and the stratigraphic sequence indicate that the burial structure was used over a long period and reused in different periods,” the organization said.