Monumental Bronze Age tomb reveals horse sacrifice and elite burial
Archaeologists have uncovered a monumental Late Bronze Age tomb containing weapons, obsidian arrowheads and the remains of a sacrificed horse during excavations at the ancient site of Shamiram in western Armenia.
The discovery was made by a joint Armenian-Italian archaeological expedition that investigated one of the country’s largest and most complex archaeological sites, which preserves evidence of continuous occupation spanning over three millennia.
The 2026 excavation campaign took place between May and June and focused on some areas of the fortified settlement and revealed new insights into the development of the site from the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age to the Urartian, Hellenistic, Late Antique, Medieval and Post-Medieval periods.
The expedition is a partnership between the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia and the International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies (ISMEO), led by Varduhí Melikyan and Roberto Dan.
One of the campaign’s most notable discoveries was from Tomb 3, a monumental burial dating back to the Late Bronze Age, between 1600 and 1200 BC. The tomb is surrounded by concentric stone circles and has a central burial chamber that houses an impressive collection of grave goods.
Among the finds were bronze weapons, metal and obsidian arrowheads, and the remains of a horse believed to have been sacrificed as part of the funerary rites.
According to the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, the discovery provides important new evidence for understanding the social status of local elites, burial customs and the symbolic role of horses in Late Bronze Age communities across the Armenian Highlands.
Excavations also uncovered evidence of occupation predating the rise of the Kingdom of Urartu, also known as the Kingdom of Van. Behind one of the fortress towers, archaeologists identified an Iron Age room that showed clear signs of destruction by fire. Beneath this level, they discovered an earlier burial that predates the construction of the Urartian defensive system.
Researchers hope the sequence of archaeological layers will help to reconstruct how an indigenous Iron Age settlement evolved before being integrated into the expanding Urartian kingdom, which dominated much of the Armenian Highlands between the 9th and 6th centuries BC.
The L-shaped entrance of Wall 2 at the site was rebuilt on top of an earlier Iron Age fortification during the Hellenistic period, and later inhabitants adapted and reused the old defensive structure.
Excavation of Tower 3 exposed a remarkably well-preserved Urartian megalithic structure measuring approximately 8.5 metres on each side, further confirming the monumental scale of the fortress built during the kingdom’s expansion.
In another area of excavation, column bases, architectural remains from Urartian towers and well-preserved medieval buildings were unearthed. The findings show that the settlement remained shaped by the earlier fortifications centuries after they had ceased to be used in their original defensive role.
Shamiram is established on a fortified rocky plateau and has a large defensive wall, residential homes and funerary monuments that document more than 3,000 years of human occupation. Archaeologists say those recent discoveries underline the importance of the site for the study of settlement, architecture and burial practices in central Armenia from the Late Bronze Age to the medieval period.
The recovered artefacts will be examined archaeologically, anthropologically and scientifically for their chronology and their long and complex history.
