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Staying
on the N side of the river, a road goes to Vorotan, with 9-14th c.
khachkars
and a
bridge of 1855 built by Melik Tangi.
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The road thence to Shamb,
with hot springs that local Peace Corps volunteers have successfully
bathed in during the winter. Crossing
the automobile bridge, the road reaches (1.1 km) a bend in the river,
with a steep, rocky hill left of the road.
Crowning the summit are the sparse remains of
Vorotnaberd,
a key site in Armenian history since AD
450, when
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it was a
stronghold of
the rebels under Vardan Mamikonian. Border fortress of the kingdom of
Kapan, it was captured by the
Seljuk Turks in 1104, then recaptured by Ivane Zakarian in 1219 and
given to Liparit Orbelian. It
was captured by the troops of Timur Lenk in 1386, but the Orbelian
brothers managed to persuade the Mongols to give it back. Karayusuf took it from Smbat in
1407, but in 1724 Davit Bek took
it back from Melik Baghr. There
are interesting pottery fragments of all periods on the slope, perhaps
crockery dropped on the heads of successive invaders. One of the most
famous sites
of fossil plants of the
region is situated W of the village, represented by unique types
of leave fossils of pliocene-pleistocene periods. |
