Cinematographer Vahagn Ter Hakobian filming at Zorats Karer.

From right to left: Co-producer Alina Tjeknavorian, poet Hovik Hoveyan, cinematographer Vahagn Ter Hakobian, archeologist Grigor Garakhanian, and local guide Gurgen Movsesian during a break filming petroglyphs in the mountains of Syunik.

Mt. Artin: Home to the oldest archeological site in the former USSR, dating back 800,000 years (Lower Paleolithic).

Alina during a break in shooting at Zorats Karer.

A rock carving found in the Gegham Mountains. Photographs and films of rock art remain rare. Until recently they have been known chiefly through the detailed drawings of draughtsmen who accompanied archeologists into the Syunik and Gegham mountains during the late ‘60’s and ‘70’s.

One of 70 holed stones at Zorats Karer. Their function is a matter of heated controversy. By far the most popular interpretation, put forward by astro-physicists, is that they were used for astronomical sightings, while most archeologists reject this. Their solar orientation was probably more symbolic and ritualistic in nature than scientific. Such monoliths can be found as far apart as Ireland and India, where the apertures are known to have more of a magical purpose, used in rites of fertility and oath making. Their connection with the sun seems indisputable.

A cluster of volcanic rocks where petroglyphs are typically found. These massive mounds of boulders litter the landscape surrounding the dormant hulks of Armenia’s 600 plus volcanoes, appearing like an archipelago of crystallized lava. Their silver patina, the result of eons of melting snow and alpine sun, provided an ideal surface for rock artists who laboriously hammered out these images, stone on stone.