A collection of ancient gold, silver and bronze artifacts has become the focus of a rare public dispute between the self-declared Nagorno Karabakh Republic and its patron, Armenia, which is appraising the treasure trove. By right, de facto Karabakh officials say, the items belong to Karabakh. But, so far, the History Museum of Armenia shows no sign of giving them back.
Villager Andranik Kiureghian, a resident of Sonasar village in the disputed region of Lachin, stumbled across the treasure last year while grazing his cattle in a field. The items -- 700 grams of silver jewelry, a candlestick and eating utensil; 200 grams of gold earrings, rings, and a neck collar; and roughly five kilograms of bronze jewelry and household paraphernalia – were lying in a hole connected to a subterranean tomb thought to date back to the 4th – 1st centuries BC.
Hoping for a cash reward, Kiureghian, a father of five, claims that he took the treasure to Yerevan and handed it over to the History Museum of Armenia. The state-run Museum, which allegedly assessed the items’ value at 8 million drams (about $21,336), offered Kiureghian 50 percent of that sum, in accordance with Armenian law. Kiureghian, saying that the sum is “too little for such treasure,” has refused the cash.
The head of Karabakh’s Tourism Development Agency, Sergei Shahverdian, though, tells a slightly different tale. Shahverdian says that he first learned of the items and their location in the History Museum of Armenia when contacted by the Armenian police. Lachin, a strategic district formerly controlled by Azerbaijan, was taken by ethnic Armenian forces in 1992, and is seen as part of the territory of Karabakh itself.
With that in mind, Shahverdian wants the Lachin treasure transferred to Karabakhi officials.
“We contacted the Republic of Armenia’s Ministry of Culture, asking them to examine the artifacts and to return them to Karabakh. However, the answer was that the museum had bought them and that the artifacts have to remain at the History Museum of Armenia, “ Shahverdian said.
Ministry of Culture spokesperson Gayane Durgarian cited the “terrible state” of Karabakh’s geology museum in its capital, Stepanakert, to justify Yerevan’s refusal to return the treasure.
Shahverdian concedes that the museum “cannot provide the best conditions,” but points out that “items even more valuable than those artifacts are preserved there . . . “
“[T]heir presence is of great importance to Karabakh as it would enhance the interest towards the museum,” he said of the artifacts.
Armenian History Museum of Armenia Director Anelka Grigorian, though, briskly dismissed the controversy, calling the outcry “inopportune.”
“I don’t know whether we bought it or not,” Grigorian said in reference to the treasure. “What does it matter whether it’s in Armenia or Karabakh? I do not understand why they have turned it into a problem. For now, we are examining the items. As for what will come next, I have no idea.”
A preliminary examination of the items revealed features that “bear a distinct similarity “ to jewels found in Armenia’s southern Siunik region, which borders Karabakh, she said.
A spokesperson for the police said that he had no information about the discovery of the jewelry or its transfer to the History Museum.
But some Armenian archeologists who have worked in Karabakh argue that the Karabakhi side is right to stand their ground.
Archeologist Hamlet Petrosian, head of Yerevan State University’s Cultural Studies Department, argues that the unrecognized government of Karabakh “is the legal owner of the items.”
“[H]ence, after completing the examination, they have to be returned to where they were found,” Petrosian said. “No matter how valuable an artifact might be, one shouldn’t be tempted [to keep it].”
He cited as precedent the 2005 discovery of artifacts from the ruins of a town believed to have been founded by the ancient Armenian ruler Tigran the Great (140-55 BC) in the northeast of Karabakh. The artifacts were examined in Armenia, Petrosian noted, but taken back to Karabakh and displayed there.
Meanwhile, Pavel Avetisian, head of the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, termed the dispute “regrettable,” but underlined that “one thing is obvious – the most favorable conditions are needed for the preservation of the jewels, which, as far as I know, Karabakh cannot provide yet.”
Misgivings also exist that Azerbaijan, which claims Karabakh as its own territory, might start to seek ownership of the treasure as well. The dispute has registered in the Azerbaijani press, but, as yet, no official comment appears to have been made.
Gayane Abrahamyan is a reporter for ArmeniaNow.com in Yerevan. Gohar Abrahamyan also contributed reporting to this story. Both Gayane Abrahamyan and Gohar Abrahamyan are daughters of a former director of the History Museum of Armenia.
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