ՇԻԿԱՀՈՂԻ Ս. ՍՏԵՓԱՆՈՍ ՆԱԽԱՎԿԱ ԵԿԵՂԵՑՈՒ ՊԵՂՈՒՄՆԵՐԻ ԱՐԴՅՈՒՆՔՆԵՐԸ / THE EXCAVATIONS RESULTS OF THE CHURCH OF ST. STEPANOS OF SHIKAHOGH

Abstract

Shikahogh is a village in the Syunik region of RA, in the subarea of Kapan situated on the 22nd km of the Kapan-Meghri highway. The village and its surrounding area are full of archaeological and historical-architectural monuments. The church of St. Stepanos the Nakhavka (Forefather) and its southern cemetery are the first to excel among those monuments. Unfortunately, the church doesn't have a construction record where the construction date would have been mentioned but taking into account its architectural features the church can be dated back to the 17th century the earliest. In 2012 the organization "Land and culture" (president G. Gevonyan) came up with a program according to which it was planned to reconstruct the church of St. Stepanos the Nakhavka of Shikahogh and to improve its surrounding territories. In the same year the church was fully measured, the surrounding area was mapped by architects S. Nalbandyan and A. Badishyan after which a description of the technical condition and seismic conclusion were drawn. Based on the letter-application of the initiative side addressed to "Historical and cultural heritage research center" (director H. Simonyan) an expedition was formed (head of expedition A. Nalbandyan) which gave a start to a new and thorough phase in the research process of the church of Shikahogh. The excavations were carried out in 2013 and the church's base and the floor were found in 1 month. The medieval cultural layer was studied and a lot of discoveries were made. The list of artifacts covered a wide layer of medieval culture: gravestones, glazed and nonglazed pottery, construction pottery, metallic objects, etc. Especially noteworthy are the clay lampshade, the head of a bobbin, the iron dragger and the church bronze musical instrument-"bell". The excavations became the basis for the reconstruction of the church which was carried out by the initiative of the organization "Land and culture" in 2014 – 2016.