HISTORICAL BUILDINGS

2nd–1st millennium BC, 2nd–4th centuries AD, 9th–16th centuries AD

State index: 1.8.10

Located on the left bank of the Getar River, on the western edge of the 3rd district of the Nor Nork administrative district. On the eastern side of the Fortress are the buildings of the St. Gregory the Illuminator Medical Center. The western side and the slopes are covered with private gardens.

The fortress was discovered in the 1950s by archaeologist Sandro Sardaryan. In the 1960s, archaeological survey investigations were carried out in the area by archaeologist Grigor Areshyan, who collected Early Iron Age (1st millennium BC) materials.

The fortified settlement, with a triangular plan, occupies the entire area of the promontory. It is surrounded by a defensive wall running along the edge of the promontory, which is particularly strong in the southwestern section. It is built of massive, double-row, roughly hewn unworked basalt blocks. Only fragments of the defensive wall have survived in the northern and southwestern parts. Traces of residential structures built of small stones are visible in the area.

The fortress is multi-layered. The thickness of the cultural layer reaches 4–5 m on the southwestern side of the fortress. From the surface and from sections of the cultural layer, fragments of bowls, jars, large storage vessels, and pitchers with geometric decoration have been discovered, with black, polished, reddish, and gray surfaces, as well as an ancient grinding stone made of porous basalt and other finds. The discovered materials indicate that the settlement was formed in the Iron Age and continued to exist in later periods, maintaining continuity of habitation.