Dvin Archaeological Project
Armenia
Summer 2010
Explore Near Eastern archaeology and Armenian civilization in the land of the Biblical Mount Ararat. Located in the center of the Near East, Armenia is the birthplace of many civilizations. You can participate in the recently redesigned excavations of one of the largest archaeological sites of the Near East – Dvin, Armenia. It was a major center of early Bronze Age and early Iron Age civilizations and the capital of Armenia from the end of Antiquity through the early and high Middle Ages. Dvin is also the birthplace of the independent Armenian Apostolic Church and a major sociopolitical and economic center of the Iranian Sasanian Empire from the fifth to the seventh century AD. Then, it became an important capital of the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates in the eighth and ninth centuries. Study the archaeology of multiculturalism and learn the methods of stratigraphic excavations by working on the Citadel Mound and in Midtown. You'll complement this work with five study trips to other archaeological sites and museums.