A team of archaeologists works on the excavation of the 2,700-year-old street

YEREVAN (Panarmenan.net)—A team of Armenian, French and Iranian archaeologists have unearthed what is believed to be the oldest street in Yerevan dating back 2,700 years in the territory of what once the Urartian city in Erebuni, the leader of the Armenian team Mikayel Badalyan told reporters Thursday.

“This year, a 30-meter-long street with beautiful tiles has been found near the temple of Khaldi in Erebuni museum-reserve. It is 2700 years old,” Novosti Armenia cited Badalyan as saying.

He said that this is a unique and unprecedented discovery, which completely changes the essence of the Urartian civilization.

Archaeologists work to unearth ancient street in Yerevan

“There are new assumptions about why there was a need for the construction of the Teishebaini fortress. It turned out that an earthquake hit the area in the middle of the 7th century BC,” Badalyan said.

“In recent years, foundations of buildings have been found, hinting on the presence of not two, but three temples in Erebuni,” the head of the French team Stefan Duchamp said, emphasizing the importance of the excavations.

According to him, the excavations led to discoveries that are important for understanding the development of the civilization in the region in post-Urartian period.

Last year, walls of a castle dating back to the Urartian period were discovered in the outskirts of Van in Western Armenia. http://asbarez.com/138264/urartu-castles-walls-unearthed-after-2700-years/ Archaeologists there dated the wall back to 2,700 years.