The American-Armenian Project for the Archaeology and Geography of Ancient Transcaucasian Societies (Project ArAGATS) is a collaborative research program directed by Dr. Ruben Badalyan (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Yerevan) and Dr. Adam T. Smith (Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago). Since 1998 they have been leading archaeological expeditions to the Tsaghkahovit Plain in northwestern Armenia, an elevated plateau below the north slope of Mt. Aragats. They are currently "in the field" excavating two sites, Tsaghkahovit and Gegharot, with funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society. Over the next few weeks, the American and Armenian members of the team will be sending dispatches from the field describing the progress of their work and providing a window into everyday life on an archaeological expedition in the Republic of Armenia. This dispatch, from the excavations at Gegharot Fortress, was sent in by Laura Popova (University of Chicago), Belinda Monahan (Northwestern University), Hasmik Sargsyan (Yerevan State University), and Rusan Mkrtchyan (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Yerevan).

Sometimes in archaeology the most difficult task is assembling all the data from the field season in order to create a picture of the past that accurately captures the details of the way people lived. We want to know not only how they built and structured their homes and fortresses, but also about more detailed things. For example, what types of animals did they raise? What did they serve when they held a feast? What kinds of things did they store in their home? How did they bury their dead to show them respect?

Project ArAGATS is very fortunate to have several specialists who work to uncover these complicated details of ancient life in the Tsaghkahovit Plain. Based on an examination of the ancient pollen from a sediment core extracted from a nearby marsh, our paleobotanist will be able to reconstruct the ancient environment of this area of Armenia, allowing us to understand the nature of past environments and the challenges they posed for the region's residents. On a smaller scale, pollen samples from the floors of rooms and from ceramic vessels will tell us what plants people in the past collected, how they organized their space, and what plant products they traded. Similarly, our faunal specialist examines the bones that we uncover at Gegharot and Tsaghkahovit. She is able to reconstruct what animals people were eating during different periods and how animals were used (for example, as offerings or as transportation). Since Project ArAGATS is examining such a long time span, we are able to compare changes in diet over time. It is impossible to talk about such domestic questions, however, without a skilled architect who can document the remains of ancient floors and walls that have survived until today and breath life into the structures to make them whole again. Finally, this year we are not only excavating settlements and fortresses, but also a burial mound. Thanks to our physical anthropologist, we will gain a better understanding of the ritual involved in burials rites during the Bronze Age.

The things specialists do in order to collect these samples can sometimes seem strange to other people. Just this week: our paleobotanist spent a day standing knee-deep in water to collect a pollen core from a nearby marsh; our faunal analyst excavated and cleaned a whole cow carcass she had buried a few years earlier so that she could more accurately recognize cow bones in the ancient collection; our architect spent countless hours with a writing tablet in one hand, two tape measures in the other, measuring and drawing every stone; and our physical anthropologist arrived just in time to sit all day in a narrow burial chamber. It is the promise of a clear image of life in the past that makes this work fulfilling. We do not think about the cramped spaces, the cold water, or the smell. We can already see the picture of the past in our heads.

The next dispatch from Project ArAGATS will come from team members excavating a large burial mound near the village of Gegharot. We have spent over a month cleaning the burial and will be opening the main chambers this week.