Wednesday, December 10, 2014

WARSAW, POLAND—Krzysztof Jakubiak of the University of Warsaw and Armenian archaeologist Ashot Philiposjan unearthed evidence of the destruction and capture of the ancient city of Metsamor in Armenia in the eighth century B.C. “In the entire area of research we found layers of burning and ash. The city was probably captured by the army of Argishti I, the ruler of Urartu,” he told Science & Scholarship in Poland. A woman’s skeleton missing its head, and another set of remains with an injured skull, are thought to represent victims of the attack. Their bodies had not been buried, but were found among the town’s buildings. Smashed pottery was also found on stone platforms in one of the city’s seven shrines. To read an in-depth report on the ancient city in Kurdistan, see "Erbil Revealed."