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where you join us as we accept the world's invitation to visit.

Both: Santé!

[All cheer] Rosendo: Today on "Travelscope," I continue my archaeological journey to Armenia, where I explore ancient sites and bustling markets, meet local merchants and traditional artisans, and celebrate the Armenian heart and soul.

Announcer: "Joseph Rosendo's Travelscope" is made possible by...

Different announcer: Emerald Waterways.

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With Emerald Plus, in-depth cultural experiences are included on every European cruise.

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And No-Jet-Lag jet lag prevention.

Rosendo, voice-over: A peaceful morning in Yerevan belies the modern capital's turbulent history, yet its fresh, 21st-century face still reflects periods of change.

In its wide avenues and heroic sculptures, the 7 decades of Soviet dominance is evident, and Republic Square, formerly Lenin Square, marks Armenia's transition since 1991 into an independent, democratic, and optimistic nation.

Yet no matter what the future brings, the country's cultural roots will be forever planted in the historic Armenia of kings and castles.

At a time when Metsamor and Dvin were falling to the Urartians, the Urartian king was building his royal residence in Erebuni, an early manifestation of Yerevan.

It functioned as a royal, religious, and commercial bastion.

This is the birth certificate of the mother capital of Armenia--Yerevan.

Oh, really?

Carved on this stone by the order of the Urartian emperor Argishti I in the eighth century B.C.

It tells us the name of the precursor of Yerevan--Erebuni.

We are walking now through the palace of the citadel of Erebuni, and this is the original wall of Urartian masonry Mm-hmm.

dating back to 780s B.C.

[Laughs] Wow.

This was a palatial temple of which we learn from these cuneiform inscriptions written in Babylonian script but in the Urartian language.

[Speaking native language] Sounds great.

What does it say?

It means "To the God Iwarsha, "this temple Susi, "Emperor Argishti, "son of Menua, built in this city."

And when was this inscribed again?

It's almost 3,000 years ago.

The excavations at Erebuni started in 1950.

Hmm.

This is the excavation from last year.

Rosendo: Yeah, this is kind of the basic question of archaeology.

Why do you dig all these holes?

We are working on reconstructing human past.

We are recreating the knowledge.

So, after you've taken everything out of there, you know what's here, then what's the process?

We must often refill it.

Why?

Because this is the simplest way to preserve it until there are means and capabilities to reopen it, restore it, reconstruct it, to present to the general public.

Rosendo, voice-over: With its roots in Erebuni, Yerevan is one of the world's oldest continuous settlements.

Due to its strategic location, Yerevan was constantly fought over.

During the Turkish-Persian Wars, Yerevan changed hands 14 times from 1513 to 1737.

From 1919 to 1920, it was a refuge for survivors of the Armenian genocide, and the capital of the ultimately annexed First Republic of Armenia.

As part of the Soviet Union, between 1920 and 1991, it expanded into a major artistic and industrial center.

Throughout all of its history, it has been a crossroads between east and west and a marketplace of goods and culture.

Rather than a silk road of more than 4,000 miles between China and Europe, there are many silk routes.

And certainly, Armenia and its present-day capital of Yerevan were on some of them.

Now, in that spirit, here at the Vernissage market, there is a wide variety of things.

But I'm looking for goods that have an historic or cultural connection.

Obsidian--volcanic glass-- is naturally abundant throughout Armenia and has been used here by humans for hundreds of thousands of years, basically as tools.

These days, it's used as jewelry and has other purposes.

[Speaking native language] Now, this is very, very important to Armenians.

Armenia has been called the Pomegranate State, and in fact, ever since the beginning, it's been important to the culture.

Pre-Christian, it represented abundance and fertility, and then after Christianity became the state religion, it was associated with marriage, the same idea.

There's pomegranate wine, there's pomegranate candy.

Pomegranates are very, very important here.

You know, as a matter of fact, there are many things here at this market that have cultural or historic significance, and some of them are obvious and some of them are not.

But you know the great joy of going to markets anywhere in the world is to discover and to meet the people and learn something.

Now, this is wonderful--there's a whole avenue of rugs here, and rug weaving has been a part of Armenian life-- well, ever since the beginning of Armenia.

This stall even has one of the instruments used in the process.

It's to comb out the wool at the beginning.

Now, each of the areas of Armenia has its own particular design.

Some of these older carpets are now from places that are no longer a part of present-day Armenia.

But those designs live on.

This is vodka?

Armenian vodka?

Man: Armenian.

[Speaking native language] Ah.

Strong.

Whoa!

Very strong.

Is benzene.

[Laughs] [Growling] Is benzene... Benzene, yeah.

Wow, is-- is alcohol.

[Speaking native language] Homemade.

Homemade.

So, this is a homebrew.

[Speaking native language] Oh, my gosh, look at this.

Wow.

You drink [indistinct] --no.

First you must drink.

First drink?

Drink, yeah.

[Laughs] [Speaking native language] No.

Oh, yes.

Yes, yes.

Drink.

Yeah?

OK, OK, all right.

[Speaking native language] Opa!

Ahh.

[Speaking native language] Woman: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

[Coughing] [Woman speaking native language] Now, this is a cultural experience.

Rosendo, voice-over: Having discovered that Armenian rugs are a wellspring of pleasure, I follow the thread into the countryside to the source.

There is archaeological evidence of pattern weaving that goes back 6,000 years.

And there is evidence of carpet weaving in the Armenian highlands that goes back 4,000 to 5,000 years.

Now, these days, carpets are mostly machine-made, but there are still pockets where people use traditional methods.

I'm fortunate enough to have found a family that still make their handmade carpets the old-fashioned way.

[Speaking native language] Now, do you see what I mean?

This is a traditional wooden loom, and there's not too many of those left.

Now, here's the process.

The wool is hand-carded, combed, spun, washed, and then dyed using natural dyes.

Then a foundation of the carpet is laid on the loom, and the ladies then begin the Armenian-style knotted rug using this tool here.

Now, let me show you how they do that.

Look how slowly she's doing it.

I think it's harder for her to do it slowly than it is actually for her to do it at the breakneck speed that she does.

Look at that.

After they complete an entire row, they'll pound it into place and then cut off the excess wool.

Now, this'll be about a 4 by 6 carpet, and that'll take them about a month to make and it's about $1,000 wholesale.

Now, in the past, the designs on the carpet represented the place in Armenia that the carpet was made.

Although handmade rug weaving is a dying art, it is still one of those crafts that the Armenian culture really identifies with.

While rug weaving's cultural significance evolved out of Armenia's Silk Road legacy, khachkars are uniquely Armenian icons, symbols of their spiritual birthright.

Armenia is a country of rocks, so, it makes sense that its national art form would be rock carvings.

Hence, the khachkar.

From the ninth century to the present, khachkars have been carved to commemorate an historic event, honor a church donor, ensure entry into Heaven, and in the case of the Noratus cemetery, to mark a gravesite.

Distinguished by carvings that represent the resurrected Christ, the wheel of eternity, the symbol of life, and other symbols, Khachkar carving reached its zenith during medieval times.

The largest concentration of standing khachkars is at the cemetery at Noratus, near Lake Sevan.

While Lake Sevan is an essential Armenian natural resource, almost half of Armenia is mountainous, with its highest mountain, Aragats, standing at more than 13,000 feet.

How the ancient Armenians used the topography to their advantage can be seen in their churches, citadels, and fortress monasteries.

People have inhabited the Armenian highlands for hundreds of thousands of years.

Here at the Amberd Fortress, there is evidence of settlement through the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and medieval times, and still today, people graze their sheep and cattle on these hills and the slopes of Mount Aragats.

Historic Armenia once stretched between the Mediterranean and the Caspian Seas and into present-day Syria, Iraq, Iran, and into eastern Turkey.

Now, this very attractive piece of real estate was desired by many.

In the course of their existence, the Armenians have been threatened, invaded, and conquered by the Persians, the Byzantine, Mongols, the Arabs, and the Ottoman Turks.

Since they were in the business of protection, the Armenians devise a very specific type of fortification to take advantage of their unique mountainous terrain, inaccessible on 3 sides, because of the gorges that surround it, and not very welcoming on the one accessible side up that steep mountain slope.

St. Astvatsatsin.

The church here at the Amberd Fortress is an echo of the fortress itself-- hard to get into and easily defended.

It was built during the 11th century at a time when Armenia and its Christianity were under attack.

Although there have been times when unification with the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches has been considered, the Armenian Apostolic Church has maintained its independence from its formation in the seventh century until present times.

There have been exceptions.

An Akhtala, which is a Greek Orthodox church, is one of them.

Built in the early 13th century as part of the palace of Grand Prince Ivane Zakarian, its frescoes are extraordinary masterpieces of Byzantine art, and, among other subjects, feature Islamic personages in order to protect the church from possible Muslim invaders.

There are hundreds of churches and monasteries throughout Armenia.

Each has its own particular story to tell.

Religion, language, and its troubled history are aspects of Armenian civilization that have identified the Armenian people.

At the Noravank Monastery, founded in the tenth century and consisting of 3 mausoleums and two churches, you see that Armenian architectural attribute of creating a structure that is in harmony with its natural surroundings.

The Haghpatt Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was established in 976 A.D. Its 5 buildings include many traditional Armenian church design features.

It served as a monastery for more than 1,000 years, until the Soviet era in Armenia, which began in 1920 and lasted until 1991.

For the last decade, Christian worship has returned to the monastery.

[Man speaking native language] Nice thing about being in Armenia is that its historic places are not dead places.

Its ancient stones are alive with the rituals, ceremonies, and the lives of everyday people.

[Woman singing in native language] Rosendo, voice-over: Carved into a mountainside and once the repository of the Christian relic of the holy lance of the Crucifixion, the mystical Geghard Monastery was founded in the fourth century by Saint Gregory the Illuminator upon a sacred spring.

Legend holds that its water grants prayers, and if you drop a coin in the pool, you will return to Armenia.

[Singing in native language] [Sighs] "To have been an Armenian in 1923 meant you were either dead or a refugee," writes author Matthew Karanian.

He is referring to the Armenian genocide, which between 1915 and 1922 killed a million and a half people.

Perpetuated by the Ottoman Turks, the genocide was designed to rid the 12 historic Armenian provinces within Turkey of Armenians.

It was the culmination of a policy that had begun with the massacres of the 1890s.

The tragedy created a nation of refugees.

That produced an Armenian diaspora that numbers greater than present-day Armenian population.

Above all else, the Armenian genocide is a defining feature of the Armenian identity.

The genocide memorial in Yerevan stands as a remembrance and a reminder to all.

In order to preserve country and culture, Armenians have made unimaginable sacrifices, and their struggles have forged a resilience that allowed them to persevere.

In the ancient sense of the word, their sacrifice has made their lives and land sacred.

In Aruch, I attend a rite that dates to pre-Christian times and captures the ageless meaning of the word "sacrifice."

Areshian: The skin, it's used for leather.

The fur, they will make either hats, weave threads, and make rugs.

Rosendo: So, every part of the lamb is being used.

Areshian: Yes, yes.

Rosendo: Even though it was done for a ritualistic ceremony for good prosperity for human beings, every part of the lamb is used as it would be used to provide food for the family.

Areshian: Yes, yes, absolutely.

And the more connected people are to the land, uh, they have an experience with it.

I mean, if you're slaughtering a lamb, you have raised it you have-- Areshian: In this environment, respect for food has an enormous importance, because compared to our western world, people don't feel as secure, so, this kind of consumption of animal protein becomes a highly ritualized procedure.

I believe historically, even the gods were part of the-- Yes, absolutely.

The moment when the cross drawn on the sacred stone, it's that the moment when God stopped consuming blood of the animal, and that comes clearly from very, very ancient times, way before Christianity.

[Traditional music playing] [Singing in native language] Now, why do you feel that God wants you to have a sacrifice in order for it to be a sacred occasion?

[Speaking native language] Translator: As a Christian nation, we believe in God, we believe in sanctity, we believe in the importance of our churches, and we want our sins to be forgiven.

That's why we are doing the matagh.

Rosendo: Also a part of the ritualistic celebration that's taking place here and also part of everyday life is the making of bread, and this is the beginnings of lavash.

As you can see, it's a community affair.

The baking of the lavash.

The preparation of the lamb.

Of course, the cooking and eating and the celebrating.

Now, that's called a tonir.

It's a cylinder oven that goes into the ground.

They have a flue over here which they can open and close in order to control the heat of the fire.

Now, look at that.

Look at the technique there.

She whips it around.

That takes many years of practice.

And then, when the temperature is right, she just slaps it against the side of the tonir.

Yeah, she's looking to see if it's right.

Here we go.

Wow.

Voila.

Lavash.

Rosendo: The lamb that was sacrificed at the church, the greatest part of that lamb has been distributed in the community-- 7 large platters of uncooked lamb.

What remained of that lamb has been put into the large pot in the back and that will be shared by the people who participated in the ritual, who created the ritual.

Another lamb has been slaughtered, and this lamb can be barbecued so that the family can eat and so the festivities can continue.

[Traditional music playing] [Indistinct chatter] May this house be filled with prosperity and love.

May God accept your sacrifice.

May the wonderful cultural heart that you have here in Armenia spread all over the world.

[All speaking at once] [Traditional music playing] [Woman singing in native language] Rosendo, voice-over: "To know wisdom and instruction."

The second verse of the Biblical Proverbs is believed to have been the first words translated into Armenian after the creation of the Armenian alphabet.

On my archaeological adventure, every site I visited offered instruction on how the Armenian people of the past, the distant and the near past, lived, and with every encounter with present-day Armenians and every opportunity to share in their ceremonies and celebrations, I became wiser to the ways of this beautiful country and its people.

Archaeology instructs us on the past and makes us wiser about it, and what is discovered serves the present.

It is if we are digging into the future, and the historic gems that are unearthed show us from whence we came so that we may divine what the future may bring.

Until the next time, this is Joseph Rosendo, wishing you good finds.

Announcer: "Joseph Rosendo's Travelscope" is made possible by...

Different announcer: Emerald Waterways.

It's been said that if experience is the best teacher, then travel is the best experience.

River cruising seeks to immerse travelers deep within a culture while moving gently through it.

With Emerald Plus, in-depth cultural experiences are included on every European cruise.

Emerald Waterways.

And No-Jet-Lag-- jet lag prevention.

For a DVD of today's show or any of Joseph's "Travelscope" adventures, call 888-876-3399 or order online at Travelscope.net.

You can also email us at TV@Travelscope.net or write us at the address on your screen.

Rosendo: Now that we've dug into Armenia together, learn more at travelscope.net, where you can follow my worldwide adventures through my e-magazine, blog, podcast, and on Facebook.

Stay in touch--888-876-3399 or TV@Travelscope.net.

[Speaking native language] That's vodka.

Take a look.

Sure.

That makes the day go by.