Archaeologists and civil society organizations in Armenia face a daunting task in the wake of the ceasefire agreement in Nagorno-Karabakh. Heritage sites are under threat direct threat. Project ArAGATS stands ready to help. In the meantime, The Aragats Foundation has launched a project to compile evidence of heritage destruction posted on social media. If you see something, please tweet it to @aragatsfound so we can follow up.
The Aragats Foundation, the non-profit, charitable arm of Project ArAGATS, has joined with the HALO Trust to help with humanitarian relief in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The resumption of hostilities in the region has provoked a massive humanitarian crisis ranging from thousands of displaced persons to unexploded cluster bomb ordinance strewn across cities and villages. We are partnering with HALO to help raise funds to address these urgent needs. So far, we have raised over $10,000, which the Aragats Foundation will match alongside another anonymous donor.
Following the field season in 2018–the 20th anniversary of the project–ArAGATS entered a new phase of materials analysis and publication. Work proceeds on publication of the Kazakh Valley survey, analyses of materials, and the second volume in the ArAGATS monograph series. The latter will provide the full results of our investigations into the Bronze Age on the Tsaghkahovit Plain.
ArAGATS co-director Lori Khatchadourian has initiated a new program focused on the ruins of socialist modernity. She is conducting ethnographic and archaeological fieldwork in decommissioned and underused Soviet factories across Armenia. To learn more, visit the project website and watch the interview with Urbanista below.
