The typology of iron nails discovered from the tomb of the martyr of Tsitsernavank
Keywords:
Artsakh, Tsitsernavank, tomb of a Christian martyr, iron nails, crown of thorns, terracotta statuetteAbstract
During the 1999 archaeological excavations, conducted with the aim of preparation for the restoration of a semi-ruined church, a rock-cut tomb from the Antiquity period was discovered in front of the south-western entrance to Tsitsernavank. The skeleton found here bore signs of torture. It was found in the particularly honorable place for the Armenian church – directly in front of the entrance. The traces of torment exhibited on the bones of the skeleton, as well as the discovery of unique artifacts here provide grounds to suggest that the remains of highly revered deceased person, possibly a Christian martyr, were buried here. Many rare and important artifacts were found in the tomb: a radiant-shaped cross, terracotta statuette of a woman in long garment holding a lamb in her arms (possibly representing a personification of the Virgin Mary holding an allegorical depiction of the infant Jesus), as well as iron nails that studded the skull. From the effects of rusty nails, the skull acquired the reddish hue. The burial itself, as well as the discovered artifacts, provide valuable information about ancient burial rites and the technology of iron nails’ manufacture. The nails found in close proximity to the skull contain traces of organic matter, indicating that they were used to conjoin wooden and leather components of an unknown structure.
References
A-Do 1907. Hay-tʻurkakan əndharumnerǝ Kovkasum 1905–1906 tʻtʻ. (Armenian-Turkish Clashes in the Caucasus in 1905–1906). Yerevan: Publishing House Ayvazeants and Nazareants (in Armenian).
Agathangelos, 1983. Hayocʻ patmutʻyun (History of the Armenians). Yerevan: EPH hratarakč‘ut‘yun/Yerevan State University Press (in Armenian).
Alfayé Villa, S. 2010. Nails for the dead: A polysemic account for an ancient funerary practice, in: Gordon, Marco Simón 2010: 427-456.
Alishan, Gh. 1893. Sisakan. T‘ełagrut‘iwn Siwnyac‘ ašxarhi (Sisakan: Topography of the Province of Syunik). Venice: Mxit‘arean Press (in Armenian).
Ašxarhacʻoycʻ Vardanay vardapeti (Geography by Vardan Vardapet), critical edition by H. Perperyan. Paris: AGBU publications, 1960 (in Armenian).
Ararat, 1879, no. 398 (in Armenian).
Barkhudaryan, S. 1982. Divan hay vimagrutʻyan, hator 5 (Corpus of Armenian Inscriptions, vol. 5). Yerevan: Haykakan SSH GA hratarakč‘ut‘yun/Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR (in Armenian).
Bobokhyan, A., Gilbert, A., Hnila, P. (eds) 2019. Višapə irakanut‘yan ev hek‘iati sahmanin (The Dragon at the Boundary of Reality and Fairy Tale). Yerevan: Publishing House of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography (in Armenian).
Claeys J., Van de Vijver, K., Marinova, E., Cleymans, S., Degryse, P., Poblome, J. 2023 Magical practices? A non-normative Roman imperial cremation at Sagalassos. Antiquity 97(391): 158-175.
Danielyan, E.L. 1984. Hayastanǝ ev parskabyuzandakan hakamartut‘yan verǰin pulǝ (Armenia and the last stage of the Persian-Byzantine confrontation), in: Yeremyan, Arakelyan 1984: 283-302 (in Armenian).
Ghanalanyan, A. 1969. Avandapatum (Tradition). Yerevan: Haykakan SSH GA hratarakč‘ut‘yun/Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR (in Armenian).
Ghaphadaryan, K. 1982. Dvin kʻałakʻǝ ev nra pełumnerǝ, hator 2 (The City of Dvin and Its Excavations, vol. 2). Yerevan: Haykakan SSH GA hratarakč‘ut‘yun/Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR (in Armenian).
Gordon, R.L., Marco Simón, F. (eds) 2010. Magical Practice in the Latin West (Religions in Graeco-Roman World 168). Leiden: Brill.
Grigoryan, G. 1973. Syunikʻi vanakan kalvackʻnerǝ IX–XIII dd. (Monastic Estates of Syunik in the 9th–13th Centuries). Yerevan: Haykakan SSH GA hratarakč‘ut‘yun/Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR (in Armenian).
Hakobyan, A. 2000. Ciceṙnavankʻi ekełecʻu anvanumǝ, nahataki gerezmanǝ ev šinararakan pʻulerǝ (The Name of the Church of Tsitsernavankʻ, the Martyr’s Tomb, and the Construction Phases). HA 1-12: 135-196 (in Armenian).
Hakobyan, A. (ed.) 2015. Hayastanə ev k‘riston‘ya Kovkasə (Armenia and Christian Caucasus, Republican Conference Dedicated to the 1700th Anniversary of the Adoption of Christianity in Caucasian Albania and Georgia). Yerevan: HH GAA ‘Gitut‘yun’ hratarakč‘ut‘yun/Publishing House ‘Gitutyun’, NAS RA (in Armenian).
Hakobyan, H. (ed.) 2017. Aršaluys k‘ristoneut‘yan hayoc‘ (The Dawn of Christianity of the Armenians, Proceedings of an International Conference, including Previously Published Works): 206-230. Yerevan: HH GAA ‘Gitut‘yun’ hratarakč‘ut‘yun/Publishing House ‘Gitutyun’, NAS RA (in Armenian).
Hakobyan, M. 1993. Aštarakʻi Ciranavor ekełecʻin ev nra šinararakan himnakan šrǰannerǝ (The Tsiranavor church of Ashtarak and its main construction periods). Hušarjan (Monument) 2: 22-36 (in Armenian).
Hakobyan, T.Kh., Melik-Bakhshyan, S.T., Barseghyan, H.Kh. 1986. Hayastani ev harakicʻ šrǰanneri tełanunneri baṙaran, hator 1 (Dictionary of Toponyms of Armenia and Adjacent Regions, vol. 1). Yerevan: EPH hratarakč‘ut‘yun/Yerevan State University Press (in Armenian).
Harutyunyan, S., Kalantaryan, A. (eds) 2001. Hayoc‘ srberǝ ev srbavayrerǝ (akunk‘nerǝ, tiperǝ, paštamunk‘ǝ) (Saints and Shrines of the Armenians: Sources, Types, Worship). Yerevan: Hayastan (in Armenian).
Hasratyan, M. 1980. Tsitsernavankʻ. PBH 2(89): 39-57 (in Armenian).
Hasratyan, M. 1985a. Tʻeł gyułi miǰndaryan hušarjannerǝ, Patma-hnagitakan usumnasirutʻyunner (Medieval Monuments of the Village of Tegh, Historical-archaeological investigations), in: Hasratyan 1985b: 241–247 (in Armenian).
Hasratyan, M. 1985b. Cicerṙnavankʻ, Patma-hnagitakan usumnasirutʻyunner (Tsitsernavank‘, Historical- Archaeological Investigations). Yerevan: Haykakan SSH GA hratarakč‘ut‘yun/Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR (in Armenian). Haykakan Sovetakan Soc‘ialistakan Hanrapetut‘yan fizikakan ašxarhagrutʻyun (Physical Geography of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic). Yerevan, 1971 (in Armenian).
Hovhannisyan, K.L. 1996. Urartakan čartarapetut‘yun (Urartian architecture), in: Tiratsyan 1996: 87-199 (in Armenian).
Karapetyan, S. 1999. Hay mšakuytʻi hušarjannerǝ Xorhrdayin Adrbeǰanin bṙnakc‘vac šrǰannernum (Monuments of Armenian Culture in Regions Annexed to Soviet Azerbaijan). Yerevan: HH GAA ‘Gitut‘yun’ hratarakčut‘yun/ Publishing House ‘Gitutyun’, NAS RA (in Armenian). Karta Azerbajdžanskoj SSR (Map of the Azerbaijan SSR). Moscow, 1928 (in Russian).
Khachatryan, H. 1999. Beniamini antik bnakavayri hellenistakan kaṙuyc‘ǝ (The Hellenistic structure of the ancient settlement of Beniamin). Shirak Center of Armenological Studies: Scientific Works 2: 47-55 (in Armenian).
Lalayan, E. 1898. Zangezur. AzgH 2: 7-116 (in Armenian).
Lukyanova, N., Bobashev, S. 2023. Mërtvyx deržat gvozdi. Kapsuly vremeni. Al’manakh Nasledie. https:/nasledie.digital (in Russian).
Madoyan, A. 1993. Matnevankʻ. Mitk 6 (in Armenian).
Marr, N.Ja. 1909. Antiox Stratig. Plenenie Ierusalima persami v 614 godu (Antioch Strategos. The Capture of Jerusalem by the Persians in 614 AD) (Izdanija Fakul’teta vostočnyx jazykov Imperatorskago S.-Peterburgskago Universiteta 5). St. Petersburg: Tipografija Imperatorskoj Akademii nauk (in Russian). Mshak, 1906, no. 56. Nor Dar, 5, no. 72.
Ormanyan, M. archbishop, 2001. Azgapatum, hator 1 (National History, vol. 1). Etchmiadzin: Publishing House of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin (in Armenian).
Sahinyan, A.A. 1971. Haykakan mšakuytʻǝ hellenistakan darašrǰanum: čartarapetut‘yun (The Hellenistic Culture of Armenia), in: Yeremyan et al. 1971: 849-869 (in Armenian).
Simonyan, H. 2017. Ekełec‘ašinut‘yunə Hayastanum naxk‘an k‘ristoneut‘yan paštonakanac‘umə (Church architecture in Armenia before the official adoption of Christianity), in: Hakobyan 2017: 206-230 (in Armenian).
Simonyan, H. 2019. Višapak‘ot‘oxner ev dambaranner (Dragon-stelae and tombs), in: Bobokhyan 2019: 552-571 (in Armenian).
Simonyan, H., Sanamyan, H. 2001. Ciceṙnavank‘, in: Harutyunyan, Kalantaryan 2001: 200-213 (in Armenian).
Simonyan, H., Sanamyan, H. 2015. Verstin Ciceṙnavank‘i t‘vagrman šurǰ (On the Dating of Tsitsernavank‘ Once Again), in: Hakobyan 2015: 173-186 (in Armenian).
Small, A., Small, C.M. 2007. Excavation in the Roman cemetery at Vagnari, in the territory of Gravina in
Puglia, 2002. Papers of the British School at Rome 75: 123-229.
Stephannos Orbelyan 1986. Siwnik‘i patmut‘yunə (The History of Syunik). Yerevan: Sovetakan groł (in Armenian).
Theissen, G. 1983. The Miracle Stories of Early Christian Tradition. Philadelphia, Penn.: Fortress Press.
Tiratsyan, G.A. (ed.) 1996. Haykakan čartarapetutʻyan patmutʻyun (History of the Armenian Architecture). Yerevan: HH GAA ‘Gitut‘yun’ hratarakčut‘yun/Publishing House ‘Gitutyun’, NAS RA (in Armenian).
Tokarskij, N. 1961. Arxitektura Armenii IV–XIV vv. (Architecture of Armenia in the 4th–14th Centuries). Yerevan: Haykakan SSH GA hratarakč‘ut‘yun/Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR (in Russian).
Yephrikyan, S. 1907. Patkerazard bnašxarhik baṙaran, hator 2, girk‘ A (Illustrated Natural Dictionary, vol. 2, book A). Venice: Mxit‘arean Press (in Armenian).
Yeremyan, S.T., Arakelyan, B.N. (eds) 1984. Hay žołovrdi patmutʻyun, hator 2 (History of the Armenian People, vol. 2). Yerevan: Haykakan SSH GA hratarakč‘ut‘yun/Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR (in Armenian).
Yeremyan, S.T., Martirosyan, H.A., Sargsyan, G.Kh., Tiratsyan, G.A. (eds) 1971. Hay žołovrdi patmutʻyun, hator 1 (History of the Armenian People, vol. 1). Yerevan: Haykakan SSH GA hratarakč‘ut‘yun/Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR (in Armenian).
Zardarian, M.H., Hakopian, H.P. 1994. Archaeological excavations of ancient monuments in Armenia, 1985-1990. ACSS 1/2: 169-195.
