Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the Academic City territory. Nikol Pashinyan was accompanied by the Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan, Mayor of Yerevan Tigran Avinyan, and Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan.

During the visit, the activation of works in the territory were presented, in particular, the mapping of unsorted, uncontrolled garbage and buildings in the 275-hectare area of the Academic City, the steps to be taken towards cleaning. The distribution of landscape infrastructure according to the plan, the planned works towards landscaping, etc. were discussed.

Next, the process of excavations carried out in the territory of the “Academic City” was presented. It was reported that within the framework of the “Academic City” program, as a result of excavations carried out since October 15, the archaeological expedition of the Scientific Research Center for Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports of the Republic of Armenia, has discovered one of the oldest settlements in Yerevan, and perhaps in Armenia and the South Caucasus, the Silikyan settlement, with stone-built architecture. It was noted that the architectural compositions, the typology of stone tools, and the complete absence of pottery are grounds for assuming that there was an ancient site of the Pre-Ceramic Neolithic here.

According to experts, this post-glacial settlement occupied an area of more than one hectare. So far, more than 20 rooms with a diameter of 2-4 m, made of massive stones arranged in a circular pattern, and a rich collection of tools made of vanakat and basalt have been excavated. There are no vanakat deposits in the area, so it was imported from the vanakat deposits of Aragats or Arzni. In addition to ready-made tools and weapons, small vanakat flakes have also been found, which testify to the manufacture of tools from vanakat and basalt on site.