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 YEREVAN. A monumental tomb  was discovered in 1984 during the construction works in the territory of the factory ‘Autoagregat’ near  Arshakunyats Avenue, Yerevan. It was excavated by the expedition of Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography NAS of the Armenian SSR. The tomb is an underground rectangular building orientated to north-south. The inner dimensions are: length-  3,46 m,  width- 1,97 m and  height- 2,15 m.   

The tomb was rich in materials.  In each of the three niches of the western wall there was an urn filled with pulverized bones of men, animals and birds, in the eastern niche a big clay pot decorated with the statues of ox-heads, a chalice with a stamp with the drawing of rabbit on its floor were found.   In the northern part of the tomb a pot with a faucet like a head of a lion, a jug, a lamp, several big and little chalices were discovered. 

The first cache out of the three was discovered under the flagstones near the western wall of the tomb. There were pieces of bronze quiver, agate beads, a stamp made of a stone named ‘gisher’, which was decorated with the drawings of griffin and crescent. The second cache was discovered under the flagstones of the floor of the eastern wall of the tomb. Only several snakehead bracelets were found there. The third was built under the floor of the big eastern niche, where 3 various bronze belts and parts of harness, snakehead bracelets, an iron sword, a knife, daggers, bronze nails, handles of bronze pots and other materials were found. A remarkable find is a bronze pin decorated with the sculptures of the heads of four rams, also three bronze belts. One of these belts is of 19 cm width and 120 cm length. The outer surface is totally engraved with the drawings of separate chariots, riders/ horsemen, oxen, horses and lions, and also with the scenes of hunting. There are also splendid scenes of lions attacking the chariots and the horsemen tracing them.  

On the other belt various mythical animals are drawn - impetuously running winged oxen, winged horses with lion paws, winged lions with the beaks of birds or fishtails and with the faces of women. There are also scenes of hunting, hunters fighting with the lions and oxen (horsemen or warriors standing on the body of the chariot), also scenes of fights between a horse and an ox, a lion and an ox, a horse and a lion. This tomb has really rich materials and relatively few parallels in its form and composition. In this case it is similar to the Altıntepe tomb and dates back to the 8th century B.C.  

Source — The Archaeology of Urartu (Fortress-Settlements and Complexes of Tombs),  YSU Publishing House, Yerevan, 2008.