Armenian archeologists discovered an ancient burial place of a horse during archeological excavations on the territory of the Republic of Armenia. Hakob Simonian, the director of the Research Center of Cultural and Historical Heritage, told the journalists about this.
According to him, the excavations were found in the Nerkin Naver necropolis, which is 3.5 km to the west of Ashtarak.
“This find dates back to the 26-25th centuries BC, and it’s the oldest burial place of a horse discovered to this day. It has an all-important significance not only for Armenia, but for the whole Western Asia as well,” Simonian said.
The archeological find testifies that Armenians used horses for military purposes. Simonian mentioned that horse is the animal that defined the development of humanity, and its domestication can be associated with the establishment of civilization.
During the excavations in Nerkin Naver, the Armenian archeologists discovered another burial place that resembles the grave of one of the heroes of the famous Armenian national epic poem Sasuntsi David (“David of Sassoon”).
There are nearly 60 hills at the graveyard of Verin Naver. The graveyard was discovered 35 years ago and occupies over 100 hectares area in Ashtarak region. There are a number of graveyards near these areas, including Agarak archaeological site, Aghtamir fortress, the royal graveyard of Aghtsk and Nerkin Naver archaeological site where an enormous temple complex related to the old Aryan ritual was discovered.
“This could not be by chance. This area was probably a holy place which later became an Armenian royal residence. This was the Arshakuni’s royal residence where members of the royal family lived and were buried here,” said director of the “Historical Cultural Heritage” scientific research center Hakob Simonyan.
The head of the expedition noted that they are not only excavating to obtain archaeological materials, but to discover ancient civilizations and have serious recompilations. One of the main recompilations, according to him, was that Karmirberdyan culture of the Mid-Bronze Age was set aside as one of the most ancient cultures in South Caucasus.
The center’s director sets aside a part of the graveyard and calls it the late Bronze Age. “We can say that these are mainly the royal graves and date back to 15-14th centuries B.C.,” said the expert, adding that the opened graveyards are mainly robbed, but even after the robbery the findings show that there were elegant and luxurious funerals here.
“We have found a bronze statuette with a golden color, as well as many symbolic findings, including teeth of lions that were sacrificed. There are also human sacrifices, especially youth and bodyguards. There is an enormous amount of animals that were sacrificed, especially bulls, horses, pigs, sheep and there were also skins of beasts such as lions, wolves, foxes and dogs,” he said.
According to Hakob Simonyan, the people living here were definitely Indo-Europeans and proof of that are the sacrifices of bulls and horses and the fact that the graveyards were engraved in tuff rock. According to Indo-European mindset, they did everything to make sure the body didn’t touch the holy land to not destroy it.
“Here I have clearly noted that the graveyards were oriented by the sunrise and that shows the priests’ knowledge of astrology,” said the archaeologist, adding that all graveyards are foreseen for one person.
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