Armenian and French expeditions have been conducting joint excavations in the territory of the Erebuni fortress since 2008, thanks to the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs, the French Embassy in Armenia, as well as the Yerevan Municipality, the Erebuni Museum, and Armenia’s Institutes of Archaeology and Ethnography. The archaeological expedition is led by cultural heritage guardian Stéphane Deschamps and Mikael Badalyan, director of the Erebuni Museum and archaeological site.
The new research program for 2019-2022 envisages continuing excavations near the main structure and its surroundings. The foundations of a new temple have already been excavated, bringing the number of temples to three and making it possible to qualify the site as a “cultic complex.”
In parallel with the research, the program is turning to new technological devices applied in the field of cultural heritage. With the support of the French Embassy in Armenia, the specialized company Aird’Eco Drone carried out a LIDAR (Light detection and ranging) topographical survey of the archaeological site and adjacent area on 12 and 13 September.
This drone-based technique makes it possible to obtain an absolutely precise topographical survey of the area. The more than 150 million points of the survey are then processed, allowing a 3D digital model of the area to be obtained. The laser survey work will continue in 2020. These tools, in cooperation with the Erebuni Museum, will later make it possible to present visitors with a 3D modeling of the archaeological site at different stages of its history and to revisit the valorization of this remarkable cultural heritage that marks the origins of the city of Yerevan.
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