Please take a look at following pictures from Urartu, Assyria and Mesopotamian region. These artifacts are from “The ancient world” collection presented at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, May 2011.

Some of the images have related textual material. Click on textual images to get better resolution if you are unable to read from the thumbnail image.    

Musical instruments.    

Kamanche-zurna-kanon

Kamanche-zurna-kanon-text

    

Goat figurines.    

Goat

Goat_Iraq

Goat_Iraq_text

Two_goats

    

Horse and chariot ornaments, Urartu.    

Horse_blinkers_Urartu

Horse_blinkers_text

Horse_collar_Urartu

Horse_chariot_ornament_Urartu

Horse_collar_Urartu_text

 

    

 Helmet, Urartu.

Helmet_Urartu

    

Helmet_Urartu_text

     

Pottery.    

    

Ritual_pitcher_Phrygia

    

Ritual_pitcher_Phrygia_text

Ancient coins.   

Artavardes_monet

Artavardes_monet_text

 Seated man.   

Seated_man-Hittite

Seated_man_text

Pottery.

Pottery

Pottery1

Pottery_text

Jar, Iraq.   

Jar_Iraq

Jar_Iraq_text

Assyrian soldier.   

Assyrian_soldier

 Lion attacking bull. 

Lion_attacking_bull

Area floor map.

Urartu_floor_map

 

 

These pages are from “Armenian rare books” online digital library.

This is the title page of the book.

"Patmutjun Hajoc" Title Page

 On this page Movses Khorenaci tells us that King Abgar was son of Arsham and his name was Avagayr (Armenian for Senior Man – Avag Ayr) but assyrians and greeks could not pronounce his name and called him Abgar instead. On the second year of his kingdom the Armenian land was put under levy by the Roman empire. On this same page at the very bottom Movses Khorenaci tells us that at that same time the Savior was born in Judea.

King Abgar - Avagayr

And now the pages with the letter. If you can not read Armenian you can still clearly see the start of the letter in the lower right corner of the graphic with ”Jesus Savior” written in capital letters. 

King Abgar Letter to Jesus First Page

 Then most of the letter is on the left side of this second page from the book. If you can read Armenian click on the pages to get full size images so that font is large enough to read. And the right side of this page contains reply to King Abgar. As the title on the right hand side says – the letter was dictated by the Savior and written by Apostol Thomas. Here is my translation from old Armenian:

“Blessed you are that believe in me without seeing me as it is written: those that seen me shall not believe in me but those that not seen me shall believe and blessed they are. And about what you written to me – me coming to see you – after completing what i was sent for to Jerusalem and after ascending i will send my disciple to heal you and give life to you and those that are with you.”

And the rest of the text on this page states that the letter was delivered by Enan (or Anan) along with the image of Savior.

King Abgar Letter to Jesus Second Page

More on the history of this letter in the upcoming posts…

 This blog already referred to the book of Movses Khorenaci in the entry about Smbat Bagratuni (Smbat Bagratuni).

Some facts from the full article:

1. analysis of the Armenian sample yields a mean estimate for the start of population growth of 4.8 thousand years ago
2. The more isolated southern and eastern regions… one step removed from the Atlantic Modal Haplotype, the centre of a cluster found at high frequencies in England, Friesland and Atlantic populations, and which may represent a remnant paternal signal of a Paleolithic migration event.
3. Atlantic Modal Haplotype was found in the separate isolated regional samples of Syunik (7.9%) and Karabakh (2.8%)
4. The frequencies of the Atlantic Modal Cluster (defined as the Atlantic Modal Haplotype plus its one-step neighbours) are 24.3% in Syunik, 14.0% in Karabakh, and less than 10.0% in all other regions and data sets in our study apart from England (41.0%) and Friesland (36.2%).
5. Tests for population differentiation reveal significant differences for Syunik vs. all other regions, and also for Karabakh vs. all other regions.

These relationships with Atlantic Type and with Atlantic Cluster are quite interesting considering that Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentions that first inhabitants of England came from Armenia (Armenian People and Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).

Armenian Y chromosome haplotypes reveal strong regional structure within a single ethno-national group
Michael E. Weale, Levon Yepiskoposyan, Rolf F. Jager, Nelli Hovhannisyan, Armine Khudoyan, Oliver Burbage-Hall, Neil Bradman and Mark G. Thomas
Abstract

Armenia has been little-studied genetically, even though it is situated in an important area with respect to theories of ancient Middle Eastern population expansion and the spread of Indo-European languages. We screened 734 Armenian males for 11 biallelic and 6 microsatellite Y chromosome markers, segregated them according to paternal grandparental region of birth within or close to Armenia, and compared them with data from other population samples. We found significant regional stratification, on a level greater than that found in some comparisons between different ethno-national identities. A diasporan Armenian sub-sample (collected in London) was not sufficient to describe this stratified haplotype distribution adequately, warning against the use of such samples as surrogates for the non-diasporan population in future studies. The haplotype distribution and pattern of genetic distances suggest a high degree of genetic isolation in the mountainous southern and eastern regions, while in the northern, central and western regions there has been greater admixture with populations from neighbouring Middle Eastern countries. Georgia, to the north of Armenia, also appears genetically more distinct, suggesting that in the past Trans-Caucasia may have acted as a genetic barrier. A Bayesian full-likelihood analysis of the Armenian sample yields a mean estimate for the start of population growth of 4.8 thousand years ago (95% credible interval: 2.0-11.1), consistent with the onset of Neolithic farming. The more isolated southern and eastern regions have high frequencies of a microsatellite defined cluster within haplogroup 1 that is centred on a modal haplotype one step removed from the Atlantic Modal Haplotype, the centre of a cluster found at high frequencies in England, Friesland and Atlantic populations, and which may represent a remnant paternal signal of a Paleolithic migration event.

ArmenianYChromosome

I archived the article from National Geogrphic and you can view it by clicking the link below but i also wanted to mention what extra-ordinary finds and conclusions were made by the scientitsts who made the discovery. Here are just few:

…radiocarbon-dated to between 4100 B.C. and 4000 B.C.

The chemical tests revealed traces of malvidin, the plant pigment largely responsible for red wine’s color.

McGovern called the discovery “important and unique, because it indicates large-scale wine production, which would imply, I think, that the grape had already been domesticated.”

Twenty burials have been identified around the wine-pressing installation. There was a cemetery, and the wine production in the cave was related to this ritualistic aspect… Significantly, drinking cups have been found inside and around the graves.

Please enjoy the original article from National Geographic web site and be patient it may take few seconds to load:
Earliest Known Winery Found in Armenian Cave

These pages are from “Armenian rare books” online digital library. Click on the pages to get full size versions for better viewing.

MovsesKhorenaci_70

MovsesKhorenaci_72

The 5,900-year-old garment discovery was reported by the head of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography in Yerevan, Pavel Avetisian. The researcher indicated at a news conference held on Tuesday that the uncovered piece of skirt could be the world’s oldest piece of reed clothing ever discovered.

The skirt fragment, made from reeds, was found while the archeologists were working a dig in the Areni-1 cave located in the southeastern part of Armenia.

Areni-1 cave is located in the village of Areni, a village in the Vayots Dzor province and part of the Fertile Crescent region of Armenia. The area, known for its great wine country, located in between the areas of Nakhichevan and Ararat, which runs along the Turkey border.

Boris Gasparian, another Armenian archaeologist working at the site with the group made up of Armenian, U.S. and Irish scientists, had also found a mummified goat that they believe is roughly 5,900 years old as well.

If their estimates prove correct, the mummified goat found in Armenia is more than 1,000 years older than many of the mummified animals that have been discovered in Egypt.

The joint international excavation has been an ongoing effort to understand and restore the ancient historical and archeological past of Armenia since 2007 and has already yielded a number of incredible finds besides the skirt and mummified goat, such as Copper Age artifacts that date back between 6,200 to 5,900 years ago.
Oldest leather shoe also found in Armenia
The skirt findings in southeastern Armenia come almost a year and a half after a leather shoe, believed to be the world’s oldest at 5,500 years old was also found in the same country and same location as the skirt. (Read about the ancient shoe discovered in Armenia here “Ancient shoe found in Armenia”)
The shoe, which is now considered the oldest known piece of leather footwear in existence, was also discovered in the Areni-1 cave.

Diana Zardaryan, an Armenian PhD student at the Institute of Archeology in Armenia said at the time of the discovery that it was astounding to find the shoe in such good condition.

“I was amazed to find that even the shoe-laces were preserved,” Zardaryan remarked.

Before the shoe discovery, the oldest known leather shoe was thought to be that of Otzi the Iceman, a 5,300-year-old man who was discovered inside a glacier in Austria.

While the shoe found in Armenia is considered the oldest known leather shoe, it is not considered the oldest form of footwear.

That distinction goes to a pair of plant-fiber sandals that were discovered in Missouri in the Arnold Research Cave.

The plant-fiber sandals are believed to be at least 2,000 to 2,500 years older than the shoes discovered in the Areni-1.

Link to the article:

Archeologists uncover 5900-year-old skirt in Armenia

A group of archaeologists studying the ancient city concluded that 4000-3000 B.C. Armenia was a highly developed state with exclusive culture. The excavations are carried out by an Armenian-American archaeological expedition.

Director of the Scientific and Research Institute of Historical and Cultural Heritage of the RA Ministry of Culture Simonyan said that for example, the glass beads discovered at the territory of Shengavit are of a higher quality than the Egypt samples.

“Meanwhile, the amount of revealed horse bones at the territory has exceeded all expectations of the researchers. With respect to this, German paleozoologist Hans Peter Wertman stated that he has not observed such a quantity of horses in the entire Ancient East.

A great number of stone tools have been found in workrooms. While the discovered evidences of copper production prove that a systematized iron production was established in Armenia,” said Simonyan, adding that many surprises are still awaiting us.

For his part, Mitchell S. Rothman, a Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology and founder of the Anthropology Department at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, said that all the discoveries prove that around 6,000 years ago the culture of Shengavit has spread over the ancient world. “All that was known in Mesopotamia came from Armenia. Armenia is the absent fragment in the entire mosaics of the ancient world’s civilizations construction. Shengavit has supplemented the lacking chains, that we had been facing while studying the ancient culture of Mesopotamia,” concluded Rothman.

———————————————————-
Link to the archived article in English Mesopotamian civilization originated in Armenia

Link to the archived article in Russian Mesopotamian civilization originated in Armenia

If you had it before then you know the feeling, the smell and the taste of it. If you never had Armenian gata well then go locate the closest Armenian store and try it. What are you waiting for? Once you try it, come back and look at this pictures again. Then you will think like everyone else who had Armenian gata before – no words can describe it!

Armenian Gata

Armenian Gata

Armenian Gata

And now some pictures that show preparation steps.

 Armenian Heritage Foundation is building Armenian Heritage Park in Boston, in very prominent location, next to the Faneul Hall in the center of the City.

Below is the informational letter about the Park.

The Foundation has a web site with very nice slide show http://armenianheritagepark.net/

Armenian Heritage Park