Hartashen Megalithic Avenue

Hartashen Megalithic Avenue
Armenia is located in Armenia
Armenia
Armenia
Shown within Armenia
LocationHartashen, Shirak Province, Armenia
Coordinates41°0′47″N 43°56′1″E / 41.01306°N 43.93361°E / 41.01306; 43.93361
TypeMegalith
History
PeriodsNeolithic / Bronze Age

Hartashen Megalithic Avenue is a prehistoric megalithic monument in Armenia. There are two avenues of megalithic rocks which do not intersect.[1] These avenues are composed of basalt stones which are placed at an angle, and menhirs are arranged in three rows in each.[2] There is no clarity about the purpose of these three rows of menhirs and further research is under progress.[3] There is no firm dating of the monument. It has been attributed in recent years to anti tank defences constructed in the Second World War, but recent research favours an interpretation that the site, if not its arrangement, dates to the neolithic or bronze age and perhaps shares a context with the Carnac stones of France.[4]

Context

The monument comprises 760 preserved steles. Some steles have been disturbed, and it is estimated there may have been up to 1200 originally. The flat surface between the monuments comprises an unexcavated funerary monument. No connection has been discovered between the avenue and the funerary monuments. The rows of stele begin at a rocky outcrop and follow the valley topography for 500 metres. The monument is not astronomically aligned, nor aligned with any features within the topography.[4]

The arrangement of the stone rows were integrated into a modern anti tank military barrier. As there is no firm dating, it is unknown to what extent and in what form the avenues predate this modern use.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Allen 2023, p. 264.
  2. ^ Carahunge Armenological Center 2021.
  3. ^ Neal 2024.
  4. ^ a b Cassen 2016, p. 6.
  5. ^ Schunke, Yeganyan & Khachatryan 2011, p. 73.

Bibliography

  • Allen, T (8 September 2023). Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh (2023 ed.). Buckinghamshire: Bradt Guides Ltd. p. 264. ISBN 9781784779436. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  • "Expedition to Hartashen". Carahunge. 25 June 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  • Cassen, S (2016). "Sites de passage (2). Le modèle carnacois des pierres dressées à l'épreuve des steppes et des légendes." (PDF). Fonctions, utilisations et représentations de l'espace dans les sépultures monumentales du Néolithique européen/Functions, uses and representations of space in the monumental graves of Neolithic Europe. Préhistoires Méditerranéennes (in French). pp. 343–362. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  • Neal, Meagan (20 August 2024). "Walk along a slice of prehistory at Hartashen's Megalithic Avenues". Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  • Schunke, T; Yeganyan, L; Khachatryan, H (2011). "Ein steiniges Tal – rätselhafte Steinstrukturen im Ashotsk-Tal bei Hartashen, Provinz Schirak,". In Meller, H; Avetisya, P (eds.). Archäologie Armenien: Ergebnisse der Kooperationsprojekte 2010: ein Vorbericht. Halle: Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt - Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte. pp. 73–105. Retrieved 3 October 2024.