Armenia Finds Ancient Settlement Under Future Campus Site

Builders preparing to construct Armenia's largest education project just found something remarkable: one of the oldest known settlements in the Yerevan region, hidden beneath the ground for thousands of years.

Archaeologist Hakob Simonyan and his team uncovered a massive stone complex containing about 34 rooms in Yerevan's Silikyan district. The site also yielded stone-working tools, revealing that ancient craftspeople once thrived where students will soon walk to class.

The settlement dates back several thousand years, though scientists are still working to pin down its exact age. What's already clear is that this community possessed impressive construction skills and a level of social organization that surprises researchers.

The timing couldn't be more symbolic. Academic City is envisioned as Armenia's premier center for higher education, research, and innovation. Now that vision sits directly atop evidence of the region's earliest attempts at organized community life.

Simonyan presented the findings in March 2026 during Armenia's annual archaeological season showcase, where experts gather to share the country's most significant discoveries. His team is now partnering with international laboratories to establish a precise timeline and understand what daily life looked like in this ancient settlement.

The Ripple Effect

Here's where the story gets even better: the developers aren't bulldozing history to make way for progress. The Academic City Foundation visited the excavation site and committed to preserving the archaeological remains as part of the campus itself.

The ancient settlement will become a living classroom, woven into the fabric of the modern education center. Students studying Armenia's past won't just read about ancient civilizations in textbooks. They'll attend classes above the actual rooms where people lived, worked, and built community thousands of years ago.

This approach transforms what could have been a conflict between development and preservation into a partnership. The archaeological site will fuel long-term research while the Academic City project gains profound cultural depth.

Excavations continue as researchers work to map the settlement's full extent and piece together the story of who these people were. Each discovery adds another chapter to Armenia's understanding of its ancient roots, right where its future scholars will learn to write new ones.