The aim of the conference is to exchange recent archaeological and environmental data obtained in Armenia and to bring together the points of view of researchers from various disciplines in the fields of Human Sciences and Environmental Sciences. Particular attention will be paid to the theme of traffic flows: the movement of people, in connection with the evolution of the environment; the circulation of techniques and know-how and the circulation of raw materials and objects.

Presentation

The International Associated Laboratory (LIA) France-Armenia "NHASA" - Natural Hazards and Adaptation Strategies in Armenia from 10,000 BC onwards, organizes on 06 and 07th November 2018 in Lyon an international conference entitled "Ancient Armenia at the Crossroads".

The aim of the conference is to exchange recent archaeological and environmental data obtained in Armenia and to bring together the points of view of researchers from various disciplines in the fields of Human Sciences and Environmental Sciences. Particular attention will be paid to the theme of traffic flows: the movement of people, in connection with the evolution of the environment; the circulation of techniques and know-how and the circulation of raw materials and objects.

Program

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

• 09:30 - 10:00 Holocene volcanism and human occupation in Armenia: new data - Kh. Meliksetian, A. Karakhanyan, R. Badalyan, I. Neill, A. Avagyan, A. Harutyunyan, Kh. Makaryan, S. Balasanyan, G. Navasardyan, D. Miggins, A. Koopers
• 10:00 - 10:30 Volcanic eruptions witnessed by prehistoric people in Armenia - A. Avagyan1, J.-F. Ritz, P.-H. Blard, K. Meliksetian, P. Munch, P. Valla, K.S. Tokhatyan, M. Mkrtchyan, T. Atalyan 

10:30 - 11:00 Coffee break

• 11:00 - 11:30 Archaeoseismological studies of the eastern branch of the Syunik pull-apart basin structure - S. Balasanyan, A. Karakhanyan, Kh. Meliksetian 
• 11:30 - 12:00 Analysis of soil liquefaction effect: new evidence on the seismic activity of the Syunik highland (Armenia) - Kh. Makaryan, A. Karakhanyan, S. Balasanyan
• 12:00 - 12:30 Multiple Holocene morphoclimatic factors and their impact on the landscapes and societies of the Lesser Caucasus - V. Ollivier, M. Fontugne 

12:30 - 14:00 Lunch

• 14:00 - 14:30 Climate of Abandonment: contextualizing environmental change and abandonment events during the Early Bronze and Late Iron Age on the Tsaghkahovit Plain, Armenia - A. Cromartie, S. Joannin, C. Blanchet, C. Barhoumi
• 14:30 - 15:00 Upper Holocene vegetation history from the Kalavan Red Lake in Armenia. - S. Joannin, V. Ollivier, O. Bellier, P. Tozalakian, A. Karakhanyan, B. Perello 
• 15:00 - 15:30 The Early Holocene in Armenia and in Georgia: climate, vegetation and Neolithic expansion - E. Messager, C. Hamon, S. Joannin, B. Lyonnet, C. Leroyer, R. Badalyan, V. Ollivier, C. Chataigner, M. Jalabadze
• 15:30 - 16:00 Environmental pressures in prehistory and variability of animal and botanical stable isotope ratios (6th - mid-4th millennium BC, Armenia) - E. Herrscher, R. Hovsepyan, A. Balasescu
• 16:00 - 16:30 Seeds from vishap contexts: Archaeobotanical finds from the high-mountain site of Karmir Sar (Mt. Aragats, Armenia) - R. Hovsepyan 

16:30 - 17:00 Coffee break

• 17:00 - 17:30 Preliminary results on Paleolithic through Bronze Age settlement patterns from ArAGATS’ Kasakh Valley Archaeological Survey (KVAS) Project (2015-17) - A. F. Greene, K. Azatyan, I. Lindsay, A. Mkrtchyan
• 17:30 - 18:00 The macrolithic tools from Akhnashen: cultural links and economy of a Neolithic site in the Arax Basin (South Caucasus) - C. Hamon
• 18:00 - 18:30 The problem of the cultural and chronological attribution of the upper horizon at Aknashen - A. Harutyunyan, K. Azatyan, R. Badalyan 
• 18:30 - 19:00   Geographical proximity and material culture: the interplay between Iran and Armenia in the 6th to the 3rd millennium BC - S. Maziar

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

• 09:00 - 09:30 Lithic technology from the chalcolithic layers of Getahovit 2 - N. Tardy, I. Kalantaryan, B. Perello 
• 09:30 - 10:00 Desert kites and agglomerated cells of the Mount Aragats: Spatial Coincidences? - O. Barge, E. Régagnon, I. Kalantaryan, B. Perello 
• 10:00 - 10:30 How old are they? An up-to-date synthesis on the chronology of Mount Aragats’ kites in Armeni - J.É. Brochier, O. Barge, F. Magnin, R. Crassard

10:30 - 11:00 Coffee break

• 11:00 - 11:30 Aspects of funerary practices of the Kura-Araxes culture (based on Early Bronze Age sites in Armenia) - R. Badalyan
• 11:30 - 12:00 Diachronic changes in human activities and diet in Armenia from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age: the contribution of anthropological data - M. Poulmarc’h, B. Chamel, G. Andre, P. Avetisyan, R. Badalyan, C. Chataigner, B. Gasparyan, A. Harutyunyan, G. Palumbi, E. Herrscher, F. Le Mort
• 12:00 - 12:30 New burial elements in Early Bronze of Armenia: the discovery of Karnut cemetery - L. Aghikyan

12:30 - 14:00 Lunch

• 14:00 - 14:30 Toward the periodization and chronology of archeological cultures of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages in Armenia - P. Avetisyan
• 14:30 - 15:00 Recent rock art research in Armenia: case studies from Aragats and Syunik regions - A. Khechoyan, A. Danielyan, T. Walkling, B. Gaspryan, D.Nadel 
• 15:00 - 15:30 The Church of the Transguration (Kumaraghan) in Garni: archeoseismology and transformation of this monumental building from Antiquity to the 19th century - B. Helly, A. Rideaud
• 15:30 - 16:00 The research of the Franco-Armenian mission on the plain of Ararat and at Chirak: from Urartu to Achaemenid period in the first millennium B.C. - F. Fichet De Clairfontaine, S. Deschamps, M. Karapetian
• 16:00 - 16:30 The French-Armenian archaeological mission of the LA3M (Aix-en-Provence) at Yereruyk (Armenia): main results - P. Donabedian

16:30 - 17:00 Coffee break

• 17:00 - 17:30 Archaeological pottery as a source in the study of medieval landscape of the Silk Road: material recorded by the VayotsDzor Silk Road Survey - A. Babajanyan, K. Franklin
• 17:30 - 18:00 Earthen construction and architecture in Armenia - S. Monnot
• 18:00 - 18:30 Current pastoral practices in Armenia: mobility of men, mobility of animals and festive rituals - M. Thevenin
• 18:30 - 20:00 Opening of the exhibition "Bergers et Bergères des montagnes d'Arménie" - "Bergers et Bergères des montagnes d'Arménie"

Organizers

• Bérengère PERELLO - CNRS, Archéorient, Lyon
• Ruben BADALYAN - Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Yerevan
• Khachatur MELIKSETIAN - Institute of Geological Sciences, Yerevan

Scientific committee

• Ara AVAGYAN - Institute of Geological Sciences, Yerevan
• Christine CHATAIGNER - CNRS, Archéorient, Lyon
• Bruno HELLY - CNRS, HiSoMA, Lyon
• Pierre LOMBARD - CNRS, Archéorient, Lyon

Organizing institutions

• Archéorient (Umr 5133) - Cnrs/Université Lumière - Lyon 27 rue Raulin, 69365 Lyon cedex 07, France http://www.archeorient.mom.fr 
• Institute Of Archaeology And Ethnography - Armenian National Academy Of Sciences15 Charents st., 0025, RA, Yerevan, Armenia http://iae.am/en
• Institute Of Geological Sciences - Armenian National Academy Of Sciences24a M. Baghramyan, Ave. 0019, Yerevan, Armenia http://www.geology.am/en/home.html