Genetics of the Highland Another important tool we have at our disposal to asses population dynamics (both ancient and modern) is the study of genetics. When looking at the Armenian genetics the first and foremost evidence comes to us from the mere fact that Armenians are quite uniquely considered to be proper representatives of...
Who were the Urartians? – The language – [Part 4]
What about the language? Before we dive into the similarities between the Urartian and the Armenian languages, it is important to stress that an ethnicity is never defined by language alone. One of the most common mistakes that I often hear (and read) regarding the Urartian identity is this overemphasis on the poorly defined...
Who were the Urartians? – Hayk and Haldi – [Part 3]
Yet another possibility, and perhaps complimentary to some of the previously-mentioned theories, is that the Armenian patriarch Hayk himself represents none other than the Urartian principal deity Haldi. The relation between the two has been argued convincingly before by Kavoukjian, Hacikyan, Basmajian, Franchuk, Ouzounian, Nourhan (2000–2005) yet the most striking similarities, in my opinion,...
Who were the Urartians? – Land of the forefather – [Part 2]
What’s in a name? If we want to better understand the Urartian identity we have to consider other exonyms as well as the native names (endonyms) of the country. We have to look at how others viewed the Urartians but also how both the Urartians and the Armenians self-identified. Did they consider themselves as...
Who were the Urartians? – Introduction – [Part 1]
Dear reader, it has been a while since I’ve made a post on this blog. The long delay was partially caused by the latest situation in Artsakh, after which, like many of us, I’ve lost some emotional energy for writing, and partially because I was, as much as I possibly could, researching the kingdom...
Does Nagorno-Karabakh have the legal right to independence?
For those who still haven’t heard the news, a brutal conflict was recently reignited between Azerbaijan and the ethnic Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Hostilities between Christian Armenians and Muslim (Trukic) Azerbaijanis have a long history, but this specific conflict could be best traced to the early days of the Soviet Union. After the 1st...
[VIDEO] Indo-European Homeland: The Revival of the Armenian Hypothesis
Because of recent developments in linguistics and especially archeaogenetics there has been a renewed interest in the Armenian Hypothesis. More and more credible evidence emerges suggesting that the first Indo-European language was spoken on the Armenian Plateau and spread east, west and north as people migrated from this central region. In this video I...
Are Armenians Caucasians?
This is a subject that will certainly ruffle some feathers and potentially cost me more than a few subscribers. But I’m sitting home in quarantine with nothing better to do, so I thought to myself, it’s time for a good old fashioned digital controversy. All joking aside though, if you thought the “dolma wars”...
The Return and Cosmic Warriors (Posters)
Since the worldwide pandemic forced everyone into lockdown, I’ve decided to pick up one of my favorite hobbies; drawing. I’ve made a few illustrations that I would like to share with you today. The Return The return is my first digital painting. It depicts Hayk (the founding father of the Armenian nation), overlooking the...
The Mushki; a lost Armenian tribe?
Guest entry – Author: Norgrmaya Russian historian Igor M. Diakonoff (in)famously suggested in his oft-cited 1968 work, “The Pre-history of the Armenian People” that the Armenian language was brought to the Armenian Highlands in the early 12th century BCE, following the Bronze Age Collapse (when the Hittite Empire fell, leaving a power vacuum in Asia...
