The Armenian Highlands: The Birthplace Of Civiliza

[Armenian Highlander]

http://www.accuracyingenesis.com/urartu.gif

 

BIBLICAL RESEARCH BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

 

"The great majority of the cultivated plants of the world trace their origin to Asia. Out of 640 important cultivated plants, about 500 originated in Southern Asia. In Asia alone we have established five of the principle regions of cultivated plants.... The fifth region of origin in Asia is the Southwestern Asiatic centre and includes Asia Minor, Trans-Caucasia, Iran and Western Turkmenistan. This region is remarkable, first of all, for its richness in numbers of species of wheat resistant to different diseases...There is no doubt that Armenia is the chief home of cultivated wheat. Asia Minor and Trans-Caucasia gave origin to rye which is represented here by a great number of varieties and species....

 

Source: http://www.accuracyingenesis.com/biblicalresearch.html

 

 

Wheat Domestication and Evolution:

 

I have been focusing on studies of origin and evolution of Triticum species. In collaboration with Dr. J. Dvorak and other colleagues, RFLPs, SSRs and DNA sequencing have been employed in studies of domestication of emmer and evolution of almost of all the wheat species, including some special forms of cultivated species. Our results showed that T. aestivum originated in Transcaucasia, most likely in Armenia from hybridization between a tetraploid wheat and Ae. tauschii. It is generally believed that the tetraploid parent was cultivated emmer (T. turgidum ssp. dicoccum). Our results suggest a provocative possibility that the A and B genome genepool of T. aestivum was modified by hybridization of T. aestivum with wild emmer. The geographic distribution of the diagnostic alleles in the T. aestivum genepool suggests that this hybridization occurred in Turkey.

 

Source: http://agronomy.ucdavis.edu/mcluo/interest.htm

 

Evolution of Cultivated Wheat and Barley in Armenia According to the Archaeological Material

 

P.A. Gandilyan

 

Department of Biology, Armenian Agricultural Academy. 74 Terian Street, Yerevan, Armenia

 

Geographically, the territory of the Republic of Armenia is a part of a spacious region, conventionally called the Armenian Upland. Armenia was the place of origin of the ancient Armenian nation that encompassed the whole upland. The Armenian Upland is an integral part of the Western Asiatic region which is widely known as one of the primary foci of civilized culture. It is known that primitive communities were established predominantly in areas rich in biodiversity of vegetation including a wide range of edible plants. There is strong evidence to suggest that wheat (Triticum L.) and barley (Hordeum L.) have been cultivated in Armenia since ancient times. Many scientists assume that the place of wild plant domestication and the conversion to cultivated forms must lie within the area of the plant's natural habitat.

 

Wheat/barley crop mixtures were grown in Armenia, though the relatively "pure" plantings of wheat and barley were found only during a certain period of history. Both wheat and barley forms with small and round grains prevailed in more ancient samples. Later, the oblong forms appeared and very gradually began to dominate over other forms. This process was connected with the change to a drier climate and genetic changes. Bakhteyev named the "bottle-shaped" barley in Armenia Hordeum lagunculiformae. Tumanyan had also found such forms in archeobotanical material and named the round-grained forms as H. antiquorum sphaerococcum and forms with oblongBelliptical kernels as H. urartu. These forms have not been cultivated for a long time, but they can still be found under wild conditions.

 

The possible origins of "speltoid" tetraploid wheats in the wild and their domestication is assumed as follows: AA DD = AD, followed by increase of the chromosome number = AADD. They disappeared in the wild because of shattering of the spikes which prevented self-fertilization. The theory that barley of the Bronze Age was awnless is argued. Ears with well-developed awns have also been found. It is necessary to investigate thoroughly and to conserve the Armenian archaeobotanical material in genebanks for study and more precise taxonomic identification.

 

Source: http://agronomy.ucdavis.edu/symposium/ABSBOOK.htm

[Armenian Highlander]

http://www.armenianhighland.com/images/illustration490.jpg

 

Armenian Influences upon Crusader Castles in the Holy Land 1097–1192

 

Osprey Publishing - military history books

 

An extract from ‘Design and Development’

 

In the 19th and early-20th centuries, historians of the Crusades believed that Crusader military architecture was most strongly influenced by that of the Byzantine Empire. Shortly before World War I, a student from Oxford University conducted field research in the Asiatic provinces of the Ottoman Empire: he then returned to write a thesis in which he argued that the designers of Crusader castles largely based their ideas upon what was currently being built in Western Europe. This student’s name was T.E. Lawrence, soon to be better known as Lawrence of Arabia. His thesis eventually influenced the next generation of historians of Crusader architecture, but neither they nor Lawrence seriously considered the influence of Islamic traditions of fortification. This idea developed more recently and today it is widely accepted that the military architecture of the Crusader States reflected a broad array of influences, in addition to the inventiveness of those who actually designed it.

 

The late Nikita Elisséeff, who worked for much of his life in Damascus, maintained that Byzantine forms of military architecture in northern Syria were soon added to the Western European design concepts of the early Crusaders. Within a few decades these newcomers were also learning from their Muslim neighbours, especially in making greater use of topographical features to strengthen a fortified site. More recently the Israeli scholar Ronnie Ellenblum highlighted the fact that Crusader castles were built to deal with specific military situations or threats, and that their designers drew upon what seemed most suitable in the circumstances.

 

In the early-12th century, each of the newly established Crusader states found itself in a different situation. The Principality of Antioch, for example, was adjacent to the Armenian states of Cilicia, which evolved into the Kingdom of Cilician or Lesser Armenia. Here fortifications ranged from tiny hilltop outposts to major garrison fortresses, while Armenian architects favoured half-round towers that protruded from a curtain-wall far enough to permit archers to enfilade the enemy. Such design ideas influenced castle building in the Principality of Antioch. Furthermore Antioch attracted few Western European settlers and hence relied to a greater extent on military elites of Armenian, Greek and Syrian origin who may also have influenced the design of local fortifications. The mountainous character of the Principality of Antioch and the County of Tripoli clearly encouraged experimental and daring design ideas, though the castles themselves ranged from very simple, almost rustic structures to huge hilltop fortresses. Meanwhile building techniques ranged from a typically Byzantine use of small masonry an bricks within one structure, to mixtures of Byzantine, Armenian, Western European and soon also Syrian-Islamic methods of both cutting and shaping stones – each of which had their own distinctive. Sometimes variations in ways of mixing cement and mortar also reflected different cultural influences.

 

Crusader castle building quickly grew more sophisticated. For example the building of concentric castles first took place in the late-1160s, and although the idea had been around for some time, concentric castles certainly appeared in the Crusader States before they did in Western Europe. On the other hand, most early structures remained relatively small while the vast sums of money and effort expended on larger and more elaborate fortifications were characteristic of the 13th rather than the 12th century.

 

One ‘supposed’ characteristic of Crusader castles was a lack of timber in their construction, with this being attributed to a lack of suitable timber in the areas where they were built. However, abundant excellent timber was available in neighbouring Cilician Armenia. Although the deforestation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem may have been well advanced by the time of the Crusades, suitable large baulks of timber were available in the mountains of Lebanon and on Mount Carmel. The situation was better in the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch and the northern regions of the County of Edessa. Furthermore Western Europeans probably enjoyed a technological advantage over their Middle Eastern foes, not only in their tradition of timber architecture but in their logistical ability to transport large timbers over long distances...

 

Text Source: http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_deta...ad&view=extract

 

Picture Source: http://www.armenianhighland.com/cilicia/chronicle481.html

[Armenian Highlander]

The map below revels the route as proposed by Thomas V. Gamkrelidze and V. V. Ivanov that proto-Indo-European tribes took during their epic journey that began approximately six to eight thousand years ago. Indo-European Armenians, Greeks and ancient Persians essentially evolved from the remnants of these proto Indo-European tribes that had for some reason or another stayed within the vicinity of their origins. Nevertheless, it is the Armenian nation today that still remains, more-or-less unaltered, within the epicenter of the birthplace of Indo-Europeanism and Aryanism.

 

The Thracian Phrygians (also known as the Mushki) who are an essential component of the Armenian nation, essentially "returned" to the land of their origination when they "re-entered" Asia Minor approximately 1,500-1,000 BC. Nevertheless, as of to date, Asia Minor/Armenian Highlands and the southern Caucasus remains to be the undisputed epicenter of human civilization and the region where the white race first began to evolve. Asia Minor is where Indo-European/Aryan culture first originated and the land that spawned the greatest cultures know in world history.

 

http://www.armenianhighland.com/images/illustration130.jpg

Edited December 8, 2004 by Armenian Highlander

[Armenian Highlander]

http://http://www.armgate.com/ararat/far_14.jpg

 

Ararat, the Cradle of Civilization?

 

The Sumerians, an ancient peoples and one of the first civilizations in the world called Ararat, Arrata. In their great epic poems of Gilgamesh and Arrata, they tell of the land of their ancestors, the Arratans in the Highlands of Armenia. The Sumerians also in the epic poems describe the Great Flood and the rebirth of life after the terrible deluge that fell from the Highlands of Armenia unto the lands of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent. The Sumerians had a very close connection with the ancestral Land of Ararat and considered it as their ancestral homeland (many historians and archaeologists are convinced that the Sumerians initially lived in Northern Mesopotamia and Armenian Highland).The Greeks believed that the people who first worked with bronze and iron came from the same area, they called them Khaldi.

 

"The great majority of the cultivated plants of the world trace their origin to Asia. Out of 640 important cultivated plants, about 500 originated in Southern Asia. In Asia alone we have established five of the principle regions of cultivated plants.... The fifth region of origin in Asia is the Southwestern Asiatic centre and includes Asia Minor, Trans-Caucasia, Iran and Western Turkmenistan. This region is remarkable, first of all, for its richness in numbers of species of wheat resistant to different diseases...There is no doubt that Armenia is the chief home of cultivated wheat. Asia Minor and Trans-Caucasia gave origin to rye which is represented here by a great number of varieties and species....

 

Our studies show definitely that Asia is not only the home of the majority of modern cultivated plants, but also of our chief domesticated animals such as the cow, the yak, the buffalo, sheep, goat, horse, and pig...The chief home of the cow and other cattle, the Oriental type of horse, the goat and the sheep is specifically Iran....

 

As the result of a brilliant work of Dr. Sinskaya, the discovery was recently made that the home of alfalfa, the world's most important forage crop, is located in Trans-Caucasia and Iran....

 

From all these definitely established facts the importance of Asia as the primary home of the greatest majority of cultivated plants and domesticated animals is quite clear."

 

The above quotes from the book by Vavilov, N. , "Asia: Source of Species" in Asia, February 1937, p. 113, indicate a long held belief by many that cradle of civilization was in the hills of Armenia. Also the location of the Garden of Eden and the location of the flood and the landing place of the Ark of Noah! More recent studies conducted by Melinda A Zeder and Brian Hesse (Science 287 (2000) 2254-57) place the initial domestication of goats to the Zargos Mountains at about 10,000 years ago. And Manfred Heun's (Science 278 (1997) 1312-14) studies indicate that large scale wheat cultivation began from 8,000 to 9,000 years ago near the Karacadag Mountains. Both areas are very near where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers come close together.

 

Source: http://www.accuracyingenesis.com/ararat.html#urartu

[Aratta-Kingdom]

http://www.iatp.am/resource/artcult/rockart/geghama/table/t64.gif http://www.iatp.am/resource/artcult/rockart/ughtasar/080.gif

 

The Rock Arts of the Armenian Elevation are the Primary Source of

the Armenian, Egyptian, Indian and Hettitian Ideograms (Hieroglyphs)

 

 

 

http://www.iatp.am/ara/sites/articles/rockhierogl/images/image182.jpg

 

Source: http://www.iatp.am/ara/sites/articl...roglyhsengl.htm

 

this is a great work A.H. . Thanks for the pics.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

 

Armenian cave yields ancient human brain

 

 

 

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id...ent_human_brain

 

 

 

 

ScienceNews.org

 

 

 

Excavations have produced roughly 6,000-year-old relics of a poorly known culture existing near the dawn of civilization

 

 

PHILADELPHIA — In a cave overlooking southeastern Armenia’s Arpa River, just across the border from Iran, scientists have uncovered what may be the oldest preserved human brain from an ancient society. The cave also offers surprising new insights into the origins of modern civilizations, such as evidence of a winemaking enterprise and an array of culturally diverse pottery.

 

Excavations in and just outside of Areni-1 cave during 2007 and 2008 yielded an extensive array of Copper Age artifacts dating to between 6,200 and 5,900 years ago, reported Gregory Areshian of the University of California, Los Angeles, January 11 at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America. In eastern Europe and the Near East, an area that encompasses much of southwest Asia, the Copper Age ran from approximately 6,500 to 5,500 years ago.

 

The finds show that major cultural developments occurred during the Copper Age in areas outside southern Iraq, which is traditionally regarded as the cradle of civilization, Areshian noted. The new cave discoveries move cultural activity in what’s now Armenia back by about 800 years.

 

“This is exciting work,” comments Rana Özbal of Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey.

 

A basin two meters long installed inside the Armenian cave and surrounded by large jars and the scattered remains of grape husks and seeds apparently belonged to a large-scale winemaking operation.

 

Researchers also found a trio of Copper Age human skulls, each buried in a separate niche inside the three-chambered, 600-square–meter cave. The skulls belonged to 12- to 14-year-old girls, according to anatomical analyses conducted independently by three biological anthropologists. Fractures identified on two skulls indicate that the girls were killed by blows from a club of some sort, probably in a ritual ceremony, Areshian suggested.

 

Remarkably, one skull contained a shriveled but well-preserved brain. “This is the oldest known human brain from the Old World,” Areshian said. The Old World comprises Europe, Asia, Africa and surrounding islands.

 

Scientists now studying the brain have noted preserved blood vessels on its surface. Surviving red blood cells have been extracted from those hardy vessels for analysis.

 

It’s unclear who frequented Areshi-1, where these people lived or how big their settlements were. No trace of household activities has been found in or outside the cave.

 

Whoever they were, these people participated in trade networks that ran throughout the Near East, Areshian proposes. Copper Age pottery at the site falls into four groups, only one of which represents a local product. A group of painted ceramic items came from west-central Iran. Some pots display a style typical of the Maikop culture from southern Russia and southeastern Europe. Still other pieces were characteristic of the Kura-Arax culture that flourished just west of Maikop territory in Russia.

 

Radiocarbon dating of pottery and other Copper Age finds pushes back the origins of the Maikop and Kura-Arax cultures by nearly 1,000 years, Areshian says.

 

Additional discoveries at Areni-1 include metal knives, seeds from more than 30 types of fruit, remains of dozens of cereal species, rope, cloth, straw, grass, reeds and dried grapes and prunes.

 

A hard, carbonate crust covering the Copper Age soil layers, along with extreme dryness and stable temperatures inside the cave, contributed to preservation of artifacts and, in particular, the young girl’s brain.

 

Medieval ovens from the 12th to 14th centuries have also been excavated at the cave’s entrance, underneath a rock shelter.

 

Areshian expects much more material to emerge from further excavations at Areni-1 and from explorations of the many other caves bordering the Arpa River. “One of these caves is much larger than Areni-1, covering about an acre inside,” he said.

 

 

[Zartonk]

That's great. Thanks for posting Aratta

[Zartonk]

The image of the skull containing the brain tissue

 

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=82246...ctionid=3510212

Edited January 15, 2009 by Zartonk

[Arpa]

The image of the skull containing the brain tissue

 

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=82246...ctionid=3510212

Shut my mouth!

I have been biting my tongue so long it is bleeding.

This is not the proper topic, it is not the Humor section, but that skull with the 6000 year old "brain" looks so familiar, we see them daily in both the Diaspora and the Homeland.

Let me say it again. Slap my mouth!

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

xndrem Zartonk jan.

 

don't feel bad Arpa jan, help is on the way...

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

 

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009...rld-brain?page=

 

 

Archeologists Unearth Oldest "Old World" Brain As part a two-year excavation in one of southeastern Armenia's caves, archeologists discovered a well-preserved brain of a young girl, announcing it as the oldest known human brain from the Old World

 

 

By Jaya Jiwatram

 

The oldest known human brain from the Old World—comprised of Europe, Asia, Africa and contiguous islands—has been discovered in Armenia, announced UCLA researcher Gregory Areshian at an annual archeological conference Sunday.

 

The brain dates back to the Copper age, which ran approximately 5,500 to 6,500 years ago in Eastern Europe and the Near East. Archeologists discovered the brain, believed to be that of a young girl, while excavating for relics in the past two years inside and outside of Armenia's 600-square-meter Areni-1 cave across the border from Iran.

Scientists also found an extensive array of other artifacts, including some that showed evidence of a winemaking enterprise, which suggested that significant cultural developments happened during the Copper age outside of southern Iraq, Areshian said. Many people believe southern Iraq to be the centre of civilization's developments.

The skull that had the shriveled, yet well-preserved brain was found with two others, each of which was buried in separate niches in the cave. All the skulls belonged to girls between the ages of 12 and 14.

 

The brain from one of the skulls (along with several artifacts) managed to keep so well because of the cave's extremely dry and stable-temperature conditions and the hard, carbonate crust of the soil layers.

 

Scientists have already removed red blood cells from vessels on the brain's surface for further investigation.

 

[Arpa]

The image of the skull containing the brain tissue

 

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=82246...ctionid=3510212

http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2009-01-...ered-in-armenia

I wonder.

On our way to and from Noravank, we stopped at a “cave-restaurant”, well a small coffee and sandwich shop.

See reference to “cave-restaurant” in the above article.

 

 

[Zartonk]

It is also interesting that isotopic analysis of the teeth revealed that the individuals were fed on a particular diet. They had eaten only fish.

 

This is remarkable.

 

I wonder if we can derive any information about the neurology and cognition of these ancestors by analyzing the brain tissue. I assume that the preserved piece is too small to thoroughly suggest anything about her brain activity. Are there any marked differences...?

 

 

[DominO123]

This is remarkable.

 

I wonder if we can derive any information about the neurology and cognition of these ancestors by analyzing the brain tissue. I assume that the preserved piece is too small to thoroughly suggest anything about her brain activity. Are there any marked differences...?

 

No, we can't...

 

what they have found is probably shrinked tissue attached to the skull. BTW, those are not the oldest 'preserved' (preserved is relative, in this case it does not mean a whole brain, but tissue) brains, they found about two decades ago older ones from Florida. What is more facinating is the cultural artifacts they found.

 

Even if a whole preserved brain could be found, visually and histoligically it will be in the average of those of today. 5000 years is nothing to change physiology... (if we exclude famine, disease etc which were more common those years).

[Aratta-Kingdom]

No, we can't...

 

what they have found is probably shrinked tissue attached to the skull. BTW, those are not the oldest 'preserved' (preserved is relative, in this case it does not mean a whole brain, but tissue) brains, they found about two decades ago older ones from Florida. What is more facinating is the cultural artifacts they found.

 

Even if a whole preserved brain could be found, visually and histoligically it will be in the average of those of today. 5000 years is nothing to change physiology... (if we exclude famine, disease etc which were more common those years).

 

where did you get that information from?

[Lion1700]

Սա մի ժամանակաշրջան էր, երբ իր նախադեպը չունեցած արիական արշավանքներից ու դրա հետևանքով ստեղծված Հայկական Երրորդ համաշխարհային գերիշխանության անկումից հետո փաստացի փլուզվեց նաև Արատտայի քրմապետությունը և նրա հիմքի վրա Հայաստանի տարածքում առաջացան հինգ անկախ թագավորություններ` Արմենիին, Արարատը, Հայան, Միտանիին և Կիլիկիան, որոնք ռազմական բախումներ ունենալով տարածաշրջանային առաջատար պետությունների` Խեթթիի, Եգիպտոսի, իսկ հետագայում նաև կրկին հզորացած Ասորեստանի հետ, ընդհանուր առմամբ կարողացան հաջողությամբ պայքարել նրանց դեմ և նախադրյալներ ստեղծել Արարատյան թագավորության հետագա վերելքի համար:

"…Պիրկ, անպարտ կորովը նաիրյան ցեղի, որպես երկաթյա մի բռունցք, իջնի պիտի մի օր թշնամու գլխին…: Եվ նորից, որպես երկաթյա ահեղ մի սպառնալիք, կելնե, կհառնե ահասաստ նաիրյան ոգին, կորովը, ուժը հազարամյա նաիրյան աշխարհի: Ու կվառվի նորից անմար խնդությամբ, կժպտա խնդագին երկիրը հազարամյա` երկիրը Նաիրի…",- այսպես կասի այս ամենի մասին հազարամյակներ անց Մեծ Հայը…

[MosJan]

Mosjan, this is Sim, bell-the-cat, no doubt.

i don't gave a flaying &^%&^ who and what ... i have no time for BS