A single 1.7km transect was walked today, connecting the Aparan survey quadrant with the Lusagyugh quadrant, moving east from the southern Aparan bay margin to the Aparan-Lusagyugh road. This afternoon work was preceded by a morning excursion along the Kasakh gorge and Tsaghkunyats (Ar/Ar quad) foothills to examine Paleolithic and Neolithic sites with Garin Azatyan.
These morning activities included additional surface collection along the right bank of the Kasakh terrace (from where much chipped stone material has been collected), surface collections and examinations of rock shelters and small caves in the gorge north of Aparani Berd, and examination of the larger cave(s) just across the gorge from Aparani Berd. Unfortunately, the presence of a herd of steer prevented us from examining the largest cave completely.
We were not able to focus the site more intensely, however Garin's analysis of this season's surface materials suggests that there is certainly a Paleolithic site of significance on the river's right bank/terrace.
In Ar/Ar, we surface collected the site in the center of the bay foothills, took focused elevation measurements, and then walked our transect towards Lusagyugh. My transect contained nothing of significance, other than several Soviet of modern irrigation cisterns/junctions. Much of it was taken up by Soviet planned forests and furrowed hillsides.