RUSSIAN EXCAVATIONS IN ARMENIA

The most important contribution to the subject of Urartian archeology is the publication of a preliminary report on the excavations at Karmirblur in 1950. This report (Karmir Blur, I) is short and on 97 pages with 16 illustrations and 64 figures prepared by Piotrovsky (Akademii Nauk Armyanskoy S.S.R., Erivan, 1950). Its importance lies in the fact that, firstly, it is the first scientific and controlled exploration that has been carried out in the Urartian territory, and secondly, the objects and items discovered have been described in terms of their nature. The accuracy considered in the excavation has increased its importance. As other copies of this report outside the "Iron Curtain" must be very rare, we have thought fit to provide an illustrated summary for the benefit of Western scholars. This book may also be a bit compressed.