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General Info
Site ID
Ar/Ge.55.02
Site Name
Gegharot BC 09
Site Type
Burial Cluster
Landscape
Gegharot
Periodization
Late Bronze, Iron 1
UTM Zone
38T
UTM Easting
434573
UTM Northing
4507475
Elevation
2,304m
Association

Located 1.11km north (bearing 1°) of Gegharot, this burial cluster is one of a band of burial clusters that encircle the slopes below Tsilkar and Ashot-Yerkat between the 2200 and 2350m contours (map quad E4g).

Topography

Dispersed along a moderate slope littered with fallen boulders and bedrock outcrops, the surrounding terrain reveals considerable evidence of erosion and deflation but it is unclear to what extent this has disturbed the site.

General Description

Fallen rocks obscure the surface making a count of the burials within this cluster difficult. Nevertheless, 45 burials were clearly identifiable with many more only faintly discernable. Overall, the burials are not closely packed but they stretch almost 500m along a spur of Mt. Tsilkar above Gegharot fortress. Several cromlechs were constructed atop prepared platforms or terraces. The visible constructions include a wide range of forms, including standard, stepped, bedrock, mounded, and spiral.

Features & Materials

No surface materials.

Feature 1: is a bedrock cromlech 2.9m in diameter. A small terrace built of unworked cobbles provides a flat surface for the tomb which is built of a partial ring of small stone blocks. Shaped bedrock was used to complete the ring on the upslope (east) side.

Feature 2: is a spiral cromlech constructed of large, rounded, unworked granite boulders. The stones swirl from the southern exterior in three rings to the center of the construction as the stones get progressively smaller. The tomb is 3.30m in diameter north-south and 3.2m in diameter east-west.

Feature 3: is a double-ringed standard cromlech built on an increasingly severe slope on the far western edge of the cluster as it drops into a ravine. 2.5m in diameter, the outer ring is built of small granite blocks, lightly worked to accentuate a circular form. The stones of the inner ring also appear to have been shaped, but are slightly smaller overall. Three large, unworked granite boulders serve as capstones.

Feature 4: is a stepped cromlech 4.5m in diameter east-west and 4.1m north-south. It is built of medium and large granite and basalt blocks.

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