Editing History of Armenia (section)

==Prehistory==
{{Main|Prehistoric Armenia}}
{{See also|Archaeology of Armenia|Archaeological heritage of Armenia}}
Stone tools from 325,000 years ago have been found in Armenia which indicate the presence of early humans at this time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/anthropology/science-stone-tool-discovery-nor-geghi-armenia-human-innovation-02177.html|title=Stone Tool Discovery in Armenia Gives Insight into Human Innovation 325,000 Years Ago|date=27 September 2014 |publisher=sci-news.com}}</ref>

In the 1960s, excavations in the Yerevan 1 Cave uncovered evidence of ancient human habitation, including the remains of a 48,000-year-old heart, and a human cranial fragment and tooth of a similar age.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

The [[Armenian Highland]] shows traces of settlement from the [[Neolithic]] era. Archaeological surveys in 2010 and 2011 have resulted in the discovery of the world's earliest known leather shoe (3,500 BC), straw skirt (3,900 BC), and wine-making facility (4,000 BC) at the [[Areni-1 cave complex]].<ref name="CNNc">{{cite news|publisher=CNN |title=The first leather shoe |url=http://articles.cnn.com/2010-06-09/world/armenia.old.shoe_1_shoe-cave-leather?_s=PM:WORLD |access-date=15 November 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100926092426/http://articles.cnn.com/2010-06-09/world/armenia.old.shoe_1_shoe-cave-leather?_s=PM%3AWORLD |archive-date=26 September 2010 }}</ref><ref name=strawskirt>{{cite web|url=http://news.am/eng/news/73915.html|title=5,900-year-old women's skirt discovered in Armenian cave|work=News Armenia|date=13 September 2011|access-date=14 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010142655/https://news.am/eng/news/73915.html|archive-date=10 October 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="National Geographic">{{cite web|publisher=[[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]]|title=The first wine-making facility in Armenia|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/01/110111-oldest-wine-press-making-winery-armenia-science-ucla|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110112152642/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/01/110111-oldest-wine-press-making-winery-armenia-science-ucla/|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 January 2011|access-date=15 November 2007}}</ref>

[[File:Chalcolithic leather shoe from Areni-1 cave.jpg|left|thumb|A 5500-year-old leather shoe—the oldest shoe in the world—was discovered in the Areni cave in Armenia. See [[Areni-1 shoe]].]]

The [[Shulaveri-Shomu culture]] of the central [[Transcaucasus]] region is one of the earliest known prehistoric cultures in the area, carbon-dated to roughly 6000–4000 BC.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

===Bronze Age===
[[File:Zorats Karer 2008, part of the stone circle.jpg|right|thumb|Bronze Age astronomical observatory [[Zorats Karer]] (also known as [[Carahunge|Karahunj]]).]]
An early Bronze-Age culture in the area is the [[Kura–Araxes culture|Kura-Araxes culture]], assigned to the period between c. 4000 and 2200 BC. The earliest evidence for this culture is found on the [[Ararat Plain|Ararat plain]]; thence it spread to [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] by 3000 BC (but never reaching [[Colchis]]), proceeding westward and to the south-east into an area below the Urmia basin and [[Lake Van]].

From 2200 BC to 1600 BC, the [[Trialeti culture|Trialeti-Vanadzor culture]] flourished in Armenia, southern Georgia, and northeastern Turkey.<ref name="books.google.ca">Joan Aruz, Sarah B. Graff, Yelena Rakic, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0H0EpSm8aioC&pg=PA12 ''Cultures in Contact: From Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean in the Second Millennium B.C.''] The Metropolitan Museum of art symposia. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013 {{ISBN|1588394751}} pp. 12-24</ref><ref>Aynur Özifirat (2008), [http://www.mku.edu.tr/files/1113_dosya_1355509802.pdf ''The Highland Plateau of Eastern Anatolia in the Second Millennium BC: Middle/Late Bronze Ages''] pp.103–106</ref> It has been speculated that this was an Indo-European culture.<ref>John A. C. Greppin and I. M. Diakonoff, ''Some Effects of the Hurro-Urartian People and Their Languages upon the Earliest Armenians'' Journal of the American Oriental Society
Vol. 111, No. 4 (Oct. – Dec. 1991), pp. 721 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/603403?read-now=1&seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents]</ref><ref>Joan Aruz, Kim Benzel, Jean M. Evans, ''Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C.'' Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_gr5BgOwEJicC/page/n179] (2008) pp. 92</ref><ref>{{citation  |url=https://docplayer.net/108120425-The-mushki-problem-reconsidered.html|title=The Mushki Problem Reconsidered |date=1997 |first=Aram V.|last=Kossian}} pp. 254</ref> Other, possibly related, cultures were spread throughout the Armenia Highlands during this time, namely in the [[Mount Aragats|Aragats]] and [[Lake Sevan]] regions.<ref>Daniel T. Potts [https://books.google.com/books?id=7lK6l7oF_ccC&pg=PA681 ''A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East''.] Volume 94 of Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World. John Wiley & Sons, 2012 {{ISBN|1405189886}} p. 681</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Simonyan|first=Hakob Y.|title=New Discoveries at Verin Naver, Armenia|journal=Backdirt|date=2012|issue=The Puzzle of the Mayan Calendar|pages=110–113|publisher=The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA|url=https://www.academia.edu/25380162}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Martirosyan|first=Hrach|title=Origins and Historical Development of the Armenian Language|date=2014|pages=1–23|publisher=Leiden University|url=https://ling.hse.ru/data/2014/09/01/1313574129/Hrach%20Martirosyan%20-%20Handout.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://ling.hse.ru/data/2014/09/01/1313574129/Hrach%20Martirosyan%20-%20Handout.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Early 20th-century scholars suggested that the name "Armenia" may have possibly been recorded for the first time on an inscription which mentions [[Armani (kingdom)|Armanî]] (or Armânum) together with [[Ebla|Ibla]], from territories conquered by [[Naram-Sin of Akkad|Naram-Sin]] (2300 BC) identified with an [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] colony in the current region of [[Diyarbakır|Diyarbekir]]; however, the precise locations of both Armani and Ibla are unclear. Some modern researchers have placed Armani (Armi) in the general area of modern [[Samsat]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Archi|first=Alfonso|title=Egypt or Iran in the Ebla Texts?|journal=Orientalia|date=2016|volume=85|page=3 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34915656}}</ref> and have suggested it was populated, at least partially, by an early Indo-European-speaking people.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kroonen|first=Guus; Gojko Barjamovic; Michaël Peyrot|title=Linguistic supplement to Damgaard et al. 2018: Early Indo-European languages, Anatolian, Tocharian and Indo-Iranian|date=9 May 2018|page=3 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1240524|doi=10.5281/zenodo.1240524 |journal=Zenodo}}</ref> Today, the [[Assyrian people|modern Assyrians]] (who traditionally speak [[Neo-Aramaic languages|Neo-Aramaic]], not [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]]) refer to the Armenians by the name Armani.<ref>Martiros Kavoukjian, "The Genesis of Armenian People", Montreal, 1982.<!-- publisher, ISSN/ISBN, page(s) needed --></ref> It is possible that the name ''Armenia'' originates in ''Armini'', Urartian for "inhabitant of Arme" or "Armean country."<ref>Armen Petrosyan. ''The Indo-European and Ancient Near Eastern Sources of the Armenian Epic''. ''Journal of Indo-European Studies.'' Institute for the Study of Man. 2002. p. 184. [https://www.academia.edu/3656244/The_Indo_European_and_Ancient_Near_Eastern_Sources_of_the_Armenian_Epic_Washington_D_C_2002?auto=download]</ref> The Arme tribe of Urartian texts may have been the Urumu, who in the 12th century BC attempted to invade Assyria from the north with their allies the [[Mushki]] and the [[Kaskians]]. The Urumu apparently settled in the vicinity of [[Sason]], lending their name to the regions of Arme and the nearby land of Urme.<ref>Armen Petrosyan. ''The Indo-European and Ancient Near Eastern Sources of the Armenian Epic''. ''Journal of Indo-European Studies''. Institute for the Study of Man. 2002. pp. 166-167. [https://www.academia.edu/3656244/The_Indo_European_and_Ancient_Near_Eastern_Sources_of_the_Armenian_Epic_Washington_D_C_2002?auto=download]</ref>  [[Thutmose III]] of [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], in the 33rd year of his reign (1446 BC), mentioned as the people of "Ermenen", claiming that in their land "heaven rests upon its four pillars".<ref>International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1915 [http://holycall.com/biblemaps/minni.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120221232731/http://holycall.com/biblemaps/minni.htm|date=21 February 2012}}; Eric H. Cline and David O'Connor (eds.) ''Thutmose III'', University of Michigan, 2006; {{ISBN|978-0-472-11467-2}}.</ref> Armenia is possibly connected to [[Mannaeans|Mannaea]], which may be identical to the region of Minni mentioned in the Bible. However, what all these attestations refer to cannot be determined with certainty, and the earliest certain attestation of the name "Armenia" comes from the [[Behistun Inscription]] (c. 500 BC).

The earliest form of the word "Hayastan", an [[Endonym and exonym|endonym]] for Armenia, might possibly be [[Hayasa-Azzi]], a kingdom in the Armenian Highlands that was recorded in [[Hittites|Hittite]] records dating from 1500 to 1200 BC.

Between 1200 and 800 BC, much of Armenia was united under a confederation of tribes, which Assyrian sources called [[Nairi]] ("Land of Rivers" in Assyrian").<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/longest-rivers-in-armenia.html | title=The Longest Rivers in Armenia| date=21 December 2020}}</ref>

===Iron Age===
{{Main|Urartu}}
[[File:Urartu 743-en.svg|thumb|right|Kingdom of Ararat (Urartu) in the time of [[Sarduri II|Sarduris II]], 743 BC|300px]]
[[File:Armenian plateau 'natural borders' by H.F.B. Lynch, 1901.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The natural borders of the Armenian plateau and its peripheral regions according to [[H. F. B. Lynch]] (1901).]]

The Kingdom of Urartu, also known as the Kingdom of Van, flourished between the 9th century BC<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gis.net/~pldr/anech.html|title=Ancient Near East Chronology|access-date=6 February 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070219073931/http://www.gis.net/~pldr/anech.html|archive-date=19 February 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> and 585 BC<ref name="Urartu/Armenia">{{cite web|url=https://www.livius.org/arl-arz/armenia/armenia.html|title=Urartu/Armenia|access-date=6 February 2007|archive-date=3 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503192356/http://www.livius.org/arl-arz/armenia/armenia.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> in the [[Armenian Highland]]. The founder of the Urartian Kingdom, [[Aramu|Aramé]], united all the principalities of the Armenian Highland and gave himself the title "King of Kings", the traditional title of Urartian Kings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.transanatolie.com/English/Turkey/Anatolia/urartu.htm|title= Transanatolie – Kings of Urartu|access-date=6 February 2007}}</ref> The Urartians established their sovereignty over all of [[Taron (historic Armenia)|Taron]] and [[Vaspurakan]]. The main rival of Urartu was the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://arcimaging.org|title=ArcImaging (Archeological Imaging Research Consortium)|access-date=6 February 2007}}</ref>

During the reign of [[Sarduri I]] (834–828 BC), Urartu had become a strong and organized state, and imposed taxes on neighbouring tribes. Sarduri made [[Tushpa]] (modern [[Van, Turkey|Van]]) the capital of Urartu. His son, [[Ishpuinis of Urartu|Ishpuinis]], extended the borders of the state by conquering what would later be known as the [[Tigranocerta]] area and by reaching [[Urmia]]. [[Menuas of Urartu|Menuas]] (810–785 BC) extended the Urartian territory up north, by spreading towards the Araratian fields. He left more than 90 inscriptions by using the Mesopotamian [[cuneiform]] writing system in the [[Urartian language]]. [[Argishtis I of Urartu|Argishti I of Urartu]] conquered [[Latakia]] from the Hittites, and reached [[Byblos]], and [[Phoenicia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dubov |first=Kalman |url=https://www.google.am/books/edition/Journey_to_the_Republic_of_Armenia/4TNREAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Argishti+I+of+Urartu+conquered+Latakia+from+the+Hittites,&pg=PT13&printsec=frontcover |title=Journey to the Republic of Armenia |date=2021-11-26 |publisher=Kalman Dubov |language=en}}</ref> He built the [[Erebuni Fortress]], located in modern-day [[Yerevan]], in 782 BC by using 6600 prisoners of war.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Piotrovsky |first=Boris |url=https://www.google.am/books/edition/From_the_Lands_of_Scythians/BmJqDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=in+782+BC+by+using+6600+prisoners+of+war.&pg=PA15&printsec=frontcover |title=From the Lands of Scythians: Ancient Treasures from the Museums of the U.S.S.R., 3000 B.C.–100 B.C. |date=1975-01-01 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |pages=15 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lang |first=David Marshall |url=https://www.google.am/books/edition/Armenia_Cradle_of_Civilization/HG4MAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=in+782+BC+by+using+6600+prisoners+of+war.&dq=in+782+BC+by+using+6600+prisoners+of+war.&printsec=frontcover |title=Armenia, Cradle of Civilization |date=1980 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |isbn=978-0-04-956009-3 |pages=100 |language=en}}</ref>

In 714 BC, the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Assyrians]] under [[Sargon II]] defeated the Urartian king [[Rusa I]] at [[Lake Urmia]] and destroyed the holy Urartian temple at [[Musasir]]. At the same time, an [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] tribe called the [[Cimmerians]] attacked Urartu from the north-west region and destroyed the rest of his armies. Under [[Ashurbanipal]] (669–627 BC) the boundaries of the [[Assyrian Empire]] reached as far as Armenia and the Caucasus Mountains. The [[Medes]] under [[Cyaxares]] invaded Assyria later on in 612 BC, and then took over the Urartian capital of [[Van (Turkey)|Van]] towards 585 BC, effectively ending the sovereignty of Urartu.<ref name="Badmoutioun Hayots, Volume I">{{cite book|last=Kurdoghlian|first=Mihran|title=Badmoutioun Hayots, Volume I|publisher=Hradaragoutioun Azkayin Oussoumnagan Khorhourti|year=1994|pages=46–48|language=hy}}<!--ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref> According to the Armenian tradition, the Medes helped the Armenians establish the [[Orontid]] dynasty.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Armenia in brief |url=https://www.etnoarmenia.com/history-of-armenia-in-brief.html |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=EtnoArmenia Tours |language=it-IT}}</ref>