The University of Munster in Germany announced on Friday that a team of its archaeologists has uncovered one of the oldest Christian churches in the world in the Ararat Plain of Armenia.
The church, which dates back to the 4th century, was discovered after six years of excavations at the Artaxata dig site. The structure is about a hundred feet in diameter, with a floor of mortar and terracotta tiles. The remains of wooden platforms at the site were carbon-dated to establish their age.
“The find consists of an octagonal building with cruciform extensions. The team excavated parts of the church and studied it using geophysical methods,” said the University of Munster.
Archaeologists from the National Academy of Sciences in Armenia were also involved in the painstaking excavation. Dr. Mkritch H. Zardaryan of the Armenian academy said the octagonal shape of the church, a style favored in the Eastern Mediterranean, was previously “unknown” to Armenia. The terracotta floor also suggests a strong Mediterranean influence and may have been the work of artisans from Greece or Italy. […]
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