Archaeologists have reported finds from different periods at Metsamor, including gold earrings, a button, a coin of the Roman emperor Augustus and a bronze dagger. In 2026, researchers continued excavations on private land next to the Metsamor Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve. They are studying a tomb built of tuff and basalt, surrounded by a stone circle, or cromlech, about 20 metres in diameter. At the centre of the circle is a burial chamber measuring roughly 6 by 4 metres.
Metsamor lies in the Aras Valley near the village of Taronik, about 35 kilometres southwest of Yerevan. Its citadel stands on a rocky hill, with stone walls following its contours and the lower town lying to the north. Archaeologists had worked at the settlement before the current excavations: a joint project by Armenian and Polish researchers began in 2013.
In previous years, a burial dating to antiquity was found in the tomb’s upper layer, containing gold jewellery, a coin and other objects. The published finds also include gold earrings, a button and a coin of Augustus.
The photographs show substantial open-hoop earrings with raised decoration. The researchers displayed one of the earrings on the palm of a hand, while another image shows the jewellery in finds storage bags.
In the Iron Age layer, archaeologists found the burial of one person and a large quantity of pottery. Beneath it lay the primary burial, provisionally dated to the 14th–13th centuries BC.
The primary burial layer yielded horse bones, a Lchashen-type bronze dagger, belt fragments and pendants. The sequence of these layers indicates that the tomb was reused in different periods.