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General Info
Site ID
Ar/Ma.56.01
Site Name
Mantash Settlement 01
Site Type
Settlement
Landscape
Mantash
Periodization
Modern
UTM Zone
38T
UTM Easting
423861
UTM Northing
4494391
Elevation
2,590m
Association

This remote upland settlement is located 4.97km southeast (bearing 243°) of Hnaberd fortress and 5.8km southeast of Mets Mantash village (map quad B1d).

Topography

Mantash Settlement 1 is located on a triangular promontory extending roughly north-south with small watercourses descending the mountain on both the east and west flanks. The settlement appears to have been concentrated on the western side of the promontory.

General Description

This settlement consists of several distinct features. The most prominent of these is a cluster of well-preserved rectilinear rooms. Five rooms are built as a single integrated L-shaped block. Two additional rooms on the western side of the settlement are visible as freestanding constructions. Northwest of the freestanding rooms, several large curvilinear features are visible that appear to be corrals. The architecture is very well preserved (in places, walls survive to heights of 1-1.5m), constructed of medium-sized tuff and basalt blocks, double-faced and set into courses. The rooms are regular in their dimensions, generally 9.5 x 5m square. In the corrals, this well-carpentered architecture gives way to smaller blocks, unshaped, piled into a single line of stones averaging 3m in thickness.

Features & Materials

Intensive surface survey on the promontory recorded two areas of high material densities--one just 15m northeast of the room block and one small area on the east side of the promontory. Beyond these patches, no surface materials were recovered, including within the rooms themselves. Surface materials included small pieces of ceramics and obsidian. The ceramic remains appeared to have been repeatedly trampled, as none of the pieces were large enough to support a temporal identification. Two obsidian tools were recovered: a mid-section of a broken obsidian blade and a tanged obsidian arrowhead. Neither object, unfortunately, provides a strong basis for defining Ma Settlement 1's period of occupation. The preservation of the architecture suggests that the rooms themselves may be quite recent (19th-early 20th century). It is possible that during construction one of the burials from the adjacent Ma BC 21 was disturbed, bringing the obsidian artifacts to the surface.

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