In the Bronze Age, near the Armenian city of Yerevan was one of the largest metropolises in the region - Mezamor. Now, archaeologists have unearthed a 3,200-year-old tomb in the city's necropolis that, unlike most there, has remained untouched. Inside were two skeletons, as well as hundreds of beads, gold pendants, and carnelian jewelry. Ceramic vessels and a faience vessel from Mesopotamia were also among the grave goods. However, who the dead were is unknown.
The historic city of Mezamor is located around 35 kilometers southwest of Yerevan in southern Armenia. Where today only sparse ruins can be seen, there was a Bronze Age trading and power center from around the 4th millennium BC. The city had a central ziggurat, was surrounded by a city wall of massive blocks of stone, and had copper smelting workshops from its early days. Benefiting from its position at the crossroads of two important trade routes, Mezamor reached its peak from the 4th to the 2nd millennium BC. an area of about ten hectares. From the 11th century BC. the city was even 100 hectares in size and remained inhabited until the 17th century.
A dead couple in the Bronze Age tomb
“At the end of the 2nd millennium B.C. there was no other settlement in the region that could match it in size and power,” explains project leader Krzysztof Jakubiak from the University of Warsaw. Together with Armenian colleagues, Jakubiak's team has been conducting excavations in Mezamor and the associated necropolis since 2013. So far, the archaeologists have found and examined around 100 graves in addition to a few dolmens. However, very few of these have not already been plundered by grave robbers.
Typically, the graves in Mezamor are stone cist graves. The dead were buried in a pit lined with large stones and then the grave was covered with a burial mound. In autumn 2022, Jakubiak and his team came across such a stone box grave, in which two dead people - a man and a woman - were buried together around 3,200 years ago. Both lay on the remains of a wooden bier and were between 30 and 40 years old at the time of their deaths. "Her death is a mystery to us, we cannot determine a clear cause of death," reports Jakubiak. "But everything suggests that both died at the same time, because there is no trace of the tomb being reopened."
Jewelry made of pearls, carnelian and gold
Unlike most other tombs in Mezamor, this tomb was not looted. It contained rich grave goods, which is why Jakubiak also called it the "Golden Grave". Specifically, the archaeologists found more than a hundred beads and several gold pendants, some of which resembled Celtic crosses, the researchers report. About a dozen carnelian pendants also lay on and next to the skeletons. "These pieces of jewelery probably once belonged to three necklaces," reports Jakubiak.
In addition to the jewelry, the archaeologists also found around a dozen intact ceramic vessels in the tomb, as well as a faience bottle that is unique for this necropolis. It was not of local origin, but must have been imported from the border region of Syria and Mesopotamia at the time. So far it is not known who the dead were and what people they belonged to. Because the people in the Bronze Age Mezamor did not use writing, the cultural affiliation of the city population at this time has not yet been clarified. However, Jakubiak and his team hope to be able to clarify this mystery on the basis of their finds and further excavations.
Source: DAP – Science in Poland