Armenian Highlands: the birth place of civilization

[Armenian]

i used to know this whole poem about him- memorized- thanx to my teacher in 3rd grade

I love the poem/song of the "Birth of Vahakn" dearly. I consider it a pre-Christian "Sharakan,"a cultural jewel, that needs to be uttered by every self-respecting Armenian. I have even taught it to my five year old daughter. And every time she recites it, with her clear, angelic and innocent voice, it is absolutely ethereal - it transports me into another world.

I apologize for the bad transliteration, nevertheless, it goes something like this.

1) Yerkner yerkin, yerkner yerkir, yerkner yev tsoven tsirani
2) Yerkn i tsovoun ouner zkarmrikn yegheknik
3) Ent yeghegan pogh dzoukh yelaner
4) Ent yeghegan pogh pots yelaner
5) Yev i potsouyn vazer, khartiash pataneik
6) Na hour her ouner
7) Bots ouner morous
8) Yev ajkounkn eyin aregakounk

[Armenian]

The Early History of Indo-European Languages

by Thomas V. Gamkrelidze and V. V. Ivanov

"Migrations and Cultural Diffusion carried the Indo-European proto-language from the homeland, which the authors place in the Trans-Caucasus (see Historical Armenia maps), and fragmented it into dialects. Some spread west to Anatolia and Greece, others southwest to Iran and India. Most Western languages stem from an Eastern branch that rounded the Caspian Sea. Contact with Semitic languages in Mesopotamia and with Kartvelian languages in the Caucasus led to the adoption of many foreign words."
"Linguistics, the scientific study of language, can reach more deeply into the human past than the most ancient written records. It compares related languages to reconstruct their immediate progenitors and eventually their ultimate ancestor, or protolanguage. The protolanguage in turn illuminates the lives of its speakers and locates them in time and place. The science developed from the study of the Indo-European superfamily of languages, by far the largest in number of languages and number of speakers. Nearly half of the world's population speaks an Indo-European language as a first language; six of the 10 languages in which Scientific American appears—English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish—belong to this superfamily."

"Over the past 200 years, linguists have reconstructed the vocabulary and syntax of the postulated IndoEuropean protolanguage with increasing confidence and insight. They have tried to unravel the paths by which the language broke into daughter languages that spread throughout Eurasia, seeking at the origin of those paths the homeland of the protolanguage itself. The early investigators placed the homeland in Europe and posited migratory paths by which the daughter languages evolved into clearly defined Eastern or Western branches. Our work indicates that the protolanguage originated more than 6,000 years ago in eastern Anatolia and that some daughter languages must have differentiated in the course of migrations that took them first to the East and later to the West..."

Source: http://www.armenianhighland.com/home...onicle120.html

[Armenian]

World's oldest sewer system found in Van (historic Armenia)

NTVMSNBC.com
August 23, 2004

September 02, 2004 13:14:56

The find revealed a far more advanced understanding of architecture and
plumbing that had hitherto been known


August 23 - What is believed to be the world's oldest first toilet
and sewer system, dating to prehistoric times, has been unearthed in
the eastern Turkish province of Van.

The sewerage system was found by archaeologists working on excavations
at the site of a Urartian castle in Gurpinar region of eastern Turkey.

According to Professor Dr. Oktay Belli, the director of Istanbul
University's Eurasian Archaeology Institute, the find was of
particular significance. The discovery of a toilet in the western
part of Cavustepe Castle built by Urartian King Sarduri II in 764 BC
pushed back the dating for such systems, he said in an interview with
the Anatolian news agency.

"We revealed that Urartian architects had formed a sewer system before
building the castle. The toilet and sewer system in the castle is
similar to today's toilets," the professor said.

The Urartu Kingdom gave great importance to architecture," Belli said.
"Their architects used the most developed techniques of the prehistoric
period. They had built their castles in strategic areas after carrying
out ground studies. We believe that Urartu Kingdom was the first
civilisation to use toilet and sewer systems."

The Urartu Kingdom was formed in eastern Anatolia at the beginning
of the first millennium BC after the fall of the Hittite empire and
survived for three centuries.

Source: http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/news/283730.asp?cp1=1

[Armenian]

Indo-European language tree rooted in Anatolia

By Russell Gray and Quentin Atkinson, of the University of Auckland in New Zealand

"A family tree of Indo-European languages suggests they began to spread and split about 9,000 years ago. The finding hints that farmers in what is now Turkey drove the language boom - and not later Siberian horsemen, as some linguists reckon. Russell Gray and Quentin Atkinson, of the University of Auckland in New Zealand use the rate at which words change to gauge the age of the tree's roots - just as biologists estimate a species' age from the rate of gene mutations. The differences between words, or DNA sequences, are a measure of how closely languages, or species, are related."

"Gray and Atkinson analyzed 87 languages from Irish to Afghan. Rather than compare entire dictionaries, they used a list of 200 words that are found in all cultures, such as 'I', 'hunt' and 'sky'. Words are better understood than grammar as a guide to language history; the same sentence structure can arise independently in different tongues. The resulting tree matches many existing ideas about language development. Spanish and Portuguese come out as sisters, for example - both are cousins to German, and Hindi is a more distant relation to all three."

"All other Indo-European languages split off from Hittite, the oldest recorded member of the group, between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago, the pair calculates1. Around this time, farming techniques began to spread out of Anatolia - now Turkey - across Europe and Asia, archaeological evidence shows. The farmers themselves may have moved, or natives may have adopted words along with agricultural technology. The conclusion will be controversial, as there is no consensus on where Indo-European languages came from. Some linguists believe that Kurgan horsemen carried them out of central Asia 6,000 years ago. "No matter how we [changed] the analysis or assumptions, we couldn't get a date of around 6,000 years," says Gray..."

Source: http://www.nature.com/nsu/031124/031124-6.html

[IvyLipstick]

Archeologists find evidence of settlement seven thousand years old.

Excavations in the Yerevan district of Shengavit over the past two years have uncovered a city which local and some foreign archeologists believe to have been settled five thousand years before the birth of Christ. Scientists say the site has yielded some of the archeologically-richest finds in all the Caucasus, and if the dating proves accurate, it would mean that the area was settled nearly 4,000 years before the Urartus founded Yerevan. Among the unearthed remains are jewelry, female idols, baked-clay statues, a furnace for making flint forging instruments, suggesting a developed settlement. More than 50 horse bones have been found, evidence of developed horse-breeding - a find that archeologists say is the first of its kind in the Caucasus. Shengavit is not a new site of interests for archeologists. The shapeless hill some 30 meters above the Yerevan Lake has been the focus of scientific study since 1936, when archeologist Yevgeni Bayburdyan started a two-year study there.

In 1958, excavations were renewed by a group of archeologists under the leadership of Sandro Sardaryan. After 1985, however, the area was turned into a training ground for archeological practice. It remained an archeological laboratory until last year and over the years the site itself suffered damage as a result. Research restarted in 2000, but was sporadic. But new funding from the British Embassy (about $4,000) helped the research continue since September. It is being carried out by the Armenian Center of Cultural-Historical Heritage. Two main areas have been the focus of excavation. In one, an area of about 250 square meters, evidence of brick and river-stone walls was found. In the second area, on the hill's northern side researchers found a wall surrounding the city. "The low level dwellings discovered as a result of the excavations were two-to-three meters below the ground level," says director of the Center, historian Hakob Simonyan. According to Simonyan the dwellings were built in a hurry, using available materials, not paying attention to the aesthetic side and also ignoring seismic stability.

Unlike its common first-level houses, two meters below the ground level are dwellings made of stone blocks and basalt, mortared with clay, and are of rectangular, polygonal and round shapes. "The variety of construction materials indicates that the society was divided into different social and economic groups," Simonyan says. Onyx, marble and granite staffs were found among structures that surprised scientists by their sense of aesthetics and attention to seismic stability. "A very interesting method of building the lodgings was used to resist earthquakes," Simonyan says. "Stones were attached to each other with weeds dipped into liquid clay. This made the walls more flexible and protected from the quakes."

Sanctuaries, decorated by ornamentation depicting rams, stone instruments and clay plates made with great professionalism were also found here. Obsidian stones were used for the sheep eyes, which according to ancient belief, was a symbol of protection. "This is the first case in Armenia when eyes of an animal are decorated by stones," Simonyan says. Pear-shaped barns for storing grain, with round entrances were also found. The huge, four-meter deep storages could have held four tons of wheat. A large quantity of sickles, axes, and tools for wheat milling were found in the barn areas. The principles of town-planning and house construction suggest that Shengavit was once a city. Further, remnants of a forge with nine smelts indicate an industrial settlement producing copper. Some of the artifacts have been sent to Germany, where archeologists there confirm local scientists' belief that the finding - from the bronze age - shows Yerevan to have been built not only on the basis of the ancient city of Erebuni, but also on the basis of this earlier founded habitat.

Source: http://www.armenianow.com/2003/nove...atures/history/

Yes that is indeed interesting and very informative. However, keep in mind that from what we mostly read (my teachers in schools etc.) that all of what they call "northern Iran" is not all originally theirs and from the earliest date given, it is original Armenian soil. That "northern iranian" plateau is actually part of the only remaining fraction of Armenia's soil like 30% of the original land. But thank you kind sir, I always am opened to be informed with such news. However, I think your real target should be that person whom we call "anileve" that serves the potential threat with her ill-conceived ideology here.

[Armenian]

Armenian: the land of the sun.

Within the Armenian highlands (comprising the present territories of north-eastern Iran, eastern Turkey, south Caucasus), the sun was revered second to none. The sun was the physical manifestation of the supreme deity in the heavens. During the classical period, Aramazd (an Armenianized version of the Iranian supreme god Ahura-Mazda of Zoroastrianism) symbolized by the Zoroastrian sun/fire, was the supreme deity of the Armenian highlands. Sun worship was so profound within Armenian territories that many of its rituals and theosophies were incorporated within Armenian Apostolic Church, which was officially founded in 301 A.D. and even as late as the nineteenth century, there were isolated pockets of sun worship being practiced. Of historical importance is a medieval Armenian source (eight centuries after the conversion of Armenians to Christianity) describing a resilient Armenian sun cult whose adherents were known as "Arevorti", sons (children) of the sun (light).

It is suggested by Armenologists that even the essence of the compound word "Ar-men-ia,” implies sun worship. The prefix Ar, the first syllable of Armenia, is the primordial root word for Areg or Arev (sun). This pre-historic root word for the sun also manifests its-self as the pre-historic Armenian god Ara popularly known in Armenian historiography as Ara the Fair, the primordial god most commonly associated with agriculture and spring. The second component of the compound word men obviously designates group of people. The final component of the compound word ia designates a geographic location.

It should be noted here that the Armenian Highlands were not the exclusive location were the god Ara was revered and worshiped. According to Armenian scholars Ghapantsian and Kavookjian, the worship of the cult of Ara as they term it, could be observed within the worship of various peoples throughout the ancient Near-East and Europe. For the Urartians the deity was known as Ardi; within the Hellenic world he was known as Ares, Aras and Er, Germanic tribes recognized him as Ertag; among the Celts of Ireland he was manifested as Ir, within Georgia he was called Arali, among Slavic tribes he was know as Yar or Yarilo, within Mesopotamia Ar was worshiped as Aria and Aru. It is interesting to note at this time that the sun god Ra (Ra-Amon) of ancient Egypt might very well have been a corrupted (reversed) form of the root word of the god Ara. Ar or Ara may very well have been introduced into Egypt by the conquering Hyksos tribes who Armenian historians speculate originated somewhere within the territories of the Armenian Highlands. Thus, the compound word Armenia may very well imply – the land of the god Ar or the land of sun worshipers.

[Armenian]

Below is an excerpt from an essay titled "The Evolution of Armenian and World Alphabets" written by an Armenian Historian named Melkon Khandjian. The essay is concerning the early culture of proto-Armenians and the very early development of civilization within the Armenian Highlands.

"Astounding archaeological discoveries and scientific research of the post two decades in Soviet Armenia and in lesser degree in Turkish occupied western Armenia, have come to establish the Armenian Highlands as the cradle of human civilization. With a unique and indigenous culture, her contributions of universal magnitude have decisively shaped the course of history and human destiny. After two billion years of evolutionary progress from pre-human species, the modern physical man appeared about 50,000 years ago. Although the origins of civilization are complex, yet modern investigations agree that the foundations of civilization building began about 9000 BC. Through the Neolithic Revolution in the highlands of Armenia and Kurdistan. Here for the first time man cultivated wheat and barley and domesticated the goat, sheep, and cattle: species of plants and animals the wild ancestors of which were native to this region. Thus, the savage hunting and food-gathering man transformed into sedentary village-city life, and through the control of his food production and acquisition of more leisure time, mankind diverted his energy and intellect to civilization making through economic, technological, religious, social, and political developments, Following the Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Revolutions, major developments followed. First, pottery making was discovered in western Armenia about 7000 BC, making possible the storage of surplus foodstuff."

"Next emerged the Technological Revolution, in the vicinity of Lake Van in Armenia, when after a million and a half years of stone age subculture, the native volcanic gloss known as obsidian was used and later exported as a material from which sharp edged and superior tools were manufactured Between 6500 and 4000 before Christ, Armenian tribesmen carried on a thriving trade by supplying obsidian to Near Eastern lands. This traffic set in motion the beginnings of trade and commerce, and o communication system, which initiated the diffusion, and exchange of economic. Cultural, and urban advances among the ancients. Thereafter, in the metalliferous Armenian highlands emerged the Metallurgical Age, when natives discovered the technique of cold working with (8000 BC) and smelting of (5000 BC) copper, and later the manufacture of bronze by addition of tin. All evidences confirm Armenia was also the birthplace for silver, brass, and iron, and her riverbeds and mines source for ancient gold. Although meteoric iron had been in use since 2500 BC the true Iron Age begins about 1400 BC, when some Armenian smelters learned how to make steel from wrought iron: a secret closely guarded for centuries. In 1963, the world's oldest metallurgical factory was excavated at Metzamor, in Soviet Armenia, doted beyond 4000 years ago and containing over 200 furnaces."

"Although wheels and carriages had been known for some time, the invention of the first practical wheeled vehicles -- the cart and the chariot -- seem to have token place in the vicinity of Lake Sevan in Soviet Armenia circa 3000 BC. After taming of the horse around 2500 BC, probably in Eurasia, this swift animal replaced the slower moving oxen as the driving power. The development of the lightweight, horse drown chariot revolutionized long distance transport and warfare, which under the Hyksos in 1730 BC, made possible the establishment of the world's first empire. Of paramount importance to the evolution of religion and political and social order is the birth of astrology the understanding of the movements of the heavenly bodies and their relationship to earth and its life cycles. Modern research concludes that since the Zodiac signs represent animals native only to ancient Armenia and east Asia Minor, and that the arrangement of the stars in the constellation are such as if viewed from an area around the 40th parallel; therefore, the sciences of astrology, as well as alchemy and medicine, have their origins in Armenia. The recent discovery in Soviet Armenia of 5000-year-old triangular, three story astronomical observatory where the star Sirius was worshipped (just as in Egypt) adds strength to the above conclusion. Ancient peoples believed that mankind evolved in Armenia, built a high civilization, but was destroyed by a great flood, offer which the remnants spread to Oil directions Modern geology supports the view of a catastrophic local flood. Mythology and traditions of nations of antiquity confirm this belief. The Holy Bible places the Garden of Eden in Armenia and the genesis of human races around Mount Ararat upon which landed Noah’s Ark."

[Armenian]

Armenian Religion During the Pre-Christian Era

Similar to all the pre-historic nations, Armenians, during their Pre-Christian era worshiped the nature, the elements, spirits, eponymous and other legendary heroes and a number of gods. We can divide the Armenian pre-Christian era into three periods.

Period of nature worship:

During this time, Armenians had nature gods and worshiped the elements. Consequently they worshiped.- The mountains. Armenia being mountainous, Armenians worshiped the mountains in a special way and particularly the volcanoes. Massis, Arakatz, Krkour, Gortuk, Nebad, Varak, Sipan and Nemrout are some of them. It is noteworthy that Armenians had devoted particular days of the months to the above mentioned "mountain-gods". The trees and the flowers. Special place among Armenians' nature gods had the poplar and the plane-tree. The worship of the plane-tree had a special significance for Armenians.

In the valley of Mount Ararat (near Armavir city) a wood of plane-trees was planted, which unfortunately has not been preserved till nowadays. Armenians believed, that their priests (Kourms) could foretell the future or that they could communicate with the spirits of their ancestors by listening to the rustling of leaves. The offer of royal family boys to the plane-tree, called "sosanver", is also mentioned The water. Armenia also being full of water Armenians worshiped the very essential element for life, water.

They worshiped the rain, the flood, the water spring, the river, the lake and the sea. The lakes Sevan and Van and the rivers Arax, Yeprad, Dikris, Tzorokh and Gour were some of the worshiped "nature gods". The animals. Some of the animals worshiped by Armenians are the sheep, the pig, the cow, the horse, the dog, the cat, the mouse, the frog, the eagle, the crane, the stork, the swallow, the chicken, the xxxx, the lion, the bear, the wolf, the bull and the snake or dragon. The sun and the moon. Armenians had so deep faith to the sun that even after their conversion to Christianity they continued worshipping the sun, for some time. The planets and the stars. Together with the sun and the moon, Armenians worshiped the rest of the planets of the solar system, naming the days of the week after them. Armenians worshiped also our galaxy -the Milky Way-, and the rainbow. During this period the Armenians paid their respects mostly in the forest.

Period of spirits' and heroes' worship:

In the following centuries the Armenians started worshipping invisible and imaginary spirits and heroes. According to the Armenians these spirits belonged to their ancestors and to various nature elements and they were distinguished to "good" and "evil". They lived in water or on land having human, animal or both human and animal appearance. "The Braves", were good spirits. The most famous of them were those who inhabited at the foot of Massis (an other name for Mt. Ararat) and were vengeful spirits against bad people. The Haralez (Arlez or Aralez), were good spirits, having dog-form appearance who, by licking the wounds of dead brave soldiers, brought them back to life.

The Armenians continued worshipping the "Haralez"s for some time even after their conversion to Christianity. The Vishap (Dragon), was an evil and harmful spirit having various appearances.(Big snake, big fish) The Haverzahars, the nymphs, were good spirits protecting the women. They lived in beautiful places. Beside the mentioned spirits, the Armenians also worshiped others such as the.- Barig, Bai, Hamparou, Nhunk and Shahabed. In time, after the conversion to Christianity at 301AD, the spirits turned to either angels or demons.

The Pagan period:

During the 5th century BC Armenians adopted the Iranian form of these divinities and domesticated them. The principal gods Armenians worshiped were.- Aramazd, the father of the gods, the creator of the sky and the earth. Anahid, daughter of Aramazd, goddess of fertility and maternity, mother of all prudence and virtues. She was the favorite goddess of the Armenians. Her statue in Yeriza was golden. Vahakn, the god of fire, power and bravery. These three divinities constituted the "trinity". Mihr (of iranian origin), the son of Aramazd, god of light and sun. Dir, the god of rain.

He was also the scribe of Aramazd and the messenger of the gods. He was mosthe messenger of the gods. He was most likely the god of literature, science and the recorder of man's deeds of good and evil. One of his duties was to record the dead and take them near Aramazd. Astghik, the goddess of water, beauty, love and fertility. She was the mistress of Vahakn. Armenians used to celebrate, in order to honor Astghik, they offered her roses (vart in Armenian - therefore the celebration was called "Vartavar"), they let doves fly and sprinkled water on each other. Armenians still celebrate "Vartavar", having adopted it to a christian custom.

Nanne, daughter of Aramazd and the goddess of the sky, she Aramazd and the goddess of the sky, she represented the mind and the bravery. Parshamin (of syrian origin), the god of the sky and Vanadour, the god of germination and fruit bearing. During this period, Armenians built temples the "mehian"s. In these temples there were statues of the god or goddess for whom the temple was built, and in front of the statues there was the altar, called Pakin, where offerings were made to the god or goddess. There was also a special place called kantsaran (something more or less like a safe), where the gifts from the people were kept.

The priests were called kourm. In Armenia there were a lot of temples. However, only seven of them were the most famous. Armenians gathered there every year to worship. Those are The Temple of Aramazd, in Ani and Pakavan, the Temple of Anahid, in Yeriza and Ardashad, the Temple of Mihr, in Pakaraidz, the Temple of Dir, in Yerazamuin, the Temple of Astghik, in Ashdishad, where there were also the Temples of Vahakn and Anahid, the Temple of Nane, in Til and the statue of Parshamin in Tortan. All these temples were ruined during the 4th century by St. Gregory the Illuminator.

Source: http://www.ercole.net/hayaser/religion.asp

[Hayq]

If we are talking about the roots of European civilization, then perhaps Armenia is. But, there has been earlier civilizations such as China.

Around what year was this? There was probably no OFFICIAL Armenian back then, just our many tribes.

[Virgil]

If we are talking about the roots of European civilization, then perhaps Armenia is. But, there has been earlier civilizations such as China.

Around what year was this? There was probably no OFFICIAL Armenian back then, just our many tribes.

The "official" birth of China is dated at around 233 BC when the Qin dynasty united the Chinese provinces. However, the "official" birth of the Armenian nation is dated around 550 BC when Darius (Persian King) list the Armenians as one of the people he conquered.