FOLLOWING THE SILK ROAD. VAYOTS DZOR

Abstract

The present article offers an analysis of some material from a medieval ceramics collection
of the Regional Museum in the city of Yeghegnadzor, which is the center of the historical
region of Vayots Dzor. In this region, within the framework of the joint project “Studying the
Silk Road in Vayots Dzor”, the Armenian-Italian archaeological expedition of Yerevan State
University (YSU) and the University of Florence have been conducting studies for several
years to establish a system of medieval Silk Road trade routes crossing Armenia. Studying the
medieval ceramics of Vayots Dzor, it was interesting to turn to the materials of the local
Regional Museum in Yeghegnadzor. Many items of this collection were found by chance,
during agricultural works in Vayots Dzor, as well as during the cleaning and restoration of such
monasteries as Noravank, Gndevank, Shatinvank and others. As part of the cooperation
between the Regional Museum in Yeghegnadzor and Yerevan State University (YSU), in
support to the museum some of the medieval ceramic items of the museum were studied and
restored in the archaeological laboratory of Yerevan State Institute for Armenian Studies.