Research Projects

Ararat Plain Southeast Archaeological Project

(Funded under Hang Seng Bank Golden Jubilee Education Fund for Research, Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities & Social Sciences)

Principal Investigator

Elvan Cobb, Post-doctoral Fellow, Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences
(Remarks: Dr. Elvan Cobb left the University’s service from June 1, 2019.)

Total Fund Awarded

HKD 19,450

Project Duration

March 5, 2019 – May 31, 2019

Project Description

The Ararat Plain Southeast Archaeological Project (APSAP) aims to utilize surface surveys, architectural documentation, and excavation to illuminate the everyday life of a region affected by heightened mobilities. The Ararat Plain, where it intersects with the Vedi River in southern Armenia, forms an important crossroads between transit routes that connected vast geographies. This region, together with all of Armenia, was also the center of territorial disputes between the Ottomans, various Iranian dynasties as well as Russians. The goal of APSAP is, therefore, to investigate such dynamics of mobility and liminality and their effects on quotidian lifeways. Understanding the wide-ranging effects of infrastructure in this region through a historical perspective is more important than ever as Armenia is again emerging as a player in infrastructural networks through the Belts and Roads Initiative, China’s attempt to revitalize and reformulate the historic Silk Road.