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The Metsamor archaeological site is located near the village of Taronik, in the Armavir Province of Armenia, where the oldest trace of human settlement dates from the 4th millennium BC during the Copper Age.In the Bronze Age and Early Iron Ages, the site became an important religious and economic centre, developing into a city with many temples and sanctuaries, fortified by a citadel and cyclopean walls, and an advanced economy based on metallurgical production.Recent excavations have uncovered a sunken chamber framed by large stones, containing the remains of a wooden burial and two skeletons who died at the age of...

Last fall, when researchers unearthed the remains of a 3,000-year-old structure in the western Armenian town of Metsamor, they faced two mysteries: First, they didn’t know what purpose the structure had served. Beyond that, a strange powdery substance covering the area left them stumped...The team assumed, at first, the material was simply ash. After all, charred remnants of the building’s reed roof and wooden beams indicated it had met its end in a fire...The powder wasn’t ash, but wheat flour. They had unearthed an ancient bakery.Archaeologists estimate that the structure could have once held as much as 3.5 tons of...