YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Excavations are planned for September at the Metsamor archaeological site, the remains of an Iron Age city and fortress 35km south-west from Yerevan.

The Protection Service of Historical-Cultural Reserve-Museums and Historical Environment, a governmental agency which has initiated the excavations, plans to cooperate with specialists from Poland.

Professor Ashot Piliposyan, a senior scientist of the agency and the co-leader of the Armenian-Polish team of the site, told ARMENPRESS that according to preliminary arrangements the experts from Poland will visit Armenia in May to make preparations. “But if the situation were to get more complicated due to the coronavirus pandemic and our partners aren’t able to come, we will anyway start the work only with Armenian experts,” he said. He said they’ve found traces of a mausoleum during earlier excavations and they will further study the site.

“I’d really want our Polish partners to be able to come because in case of joint work they are really supporting us especially in doing C 14 analysis, something which is difficult to do in Armenia because of financial issues,” he said, referring to the radiocarbon dating procedure.

All findings from the site are being restored and then put on display at the eponymous Metsamor Historical-Archaeological Reserve-Museum. Piliposyan said that in the first three months of 2021 alone the museum saw as many visitors as in 2020 altogether. The visitors were mostly Russian tourists, he said.

Reporting by Angela Hambardzumyan

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan