SIUNIK (Noyan Tapan)–The Sisian expedition of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia recently excavated several burial-vaults in the area of the Siunik fortress located in the eastern part of Sisian. An altar and a woman buried in one of the vaults was found–suggesting that the woman was a priestess. A year ago the expedition was excavating in the Sisian territory of Zorakarer-Portsakayan-Dzakkar as well as at the Sisian fortress.
According to the expedition chief Manvel Avetissian–the excavations provide new materials for the source study of the ancient history of 17-16 centuries BC–as well as materials in Armenia that have been rare up to now. "In fact–the Sisian area had been populated since the middle of the Bronze Age up to the Middle Ages. It can now be argued that Siunik keeps in its entrails historical and cultural values which are very important not only for Armenia but also for the Transcaucasus–and our task is to present them to the world," Avetissian emphasized.