Temple of Garni
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian- History Museum of Armenia
http://www.historymuseum.am/expositions/?id=25&lang=eng
Vanessa Kachadurian Armenian Alphabet 1,600+ years old
http://www.aysor.am/en/news/2011/10/08/greri-gyut/
“… And the God, who implements the will of those who have fear from him, hears Mesrop’s prayers and shows him the alphabet in a wonderful vision, and not in a sleeping dream but while being awake. Mesrop can see in that vision that he writes on a stone which was in front of him.” (M. Khorenatsi “History of Armenia”)
Getting the letters Mesrop Mashtots translates the first sentence from the Holy Book from Solomon’s Book of Proverbs “To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding.” This was the first sentence written in Armenian letters by the Armenian Great Teacher.
As priest Yesa Artenyan told during the interview with “Aysor.am” that gift given by God – the newly invented letters – St. Mesrop brings to Armenia and those letters become the weapon of survival for the Armenians through centuries.
The Armenian alphabet was created in 405 AD. Mesrop Mashtots arrives to Samosat city, finds the skilled Greek writer by the name of Hropanos who helps Mashtots with his invention, the newly-created art of writing. Each of the letters had its name: “Ayb, Ben, Gym, Da…”
More on the Armenian Alphabet
http://www.lingvozone.com/Armenian
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian-Armenia where life began
Armenian National Dance
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/110807/Education/ed24.html
Armenia - where life began
What is common between the following famous people: Princess Diana (no need of introduction), Garry Kasparov (Former world chess champion), Kim Kardashian (Socialite, model, sex-symbol) Andre Agassi (former world no.1 tennis player), Ivan Aivazovsky (world famous painter), Charles Aznavour (Singer, Actor), Arthur Abraham (current IBF middle weight-world boxing champion), Hasmik Papian (world famous opera singer)
The question seems to be difficult. But the answer is simple. The common thing among the above celebrities is their roots. They are all Armenians. It is surprising that Armenian connection is so strong and work wonders. Perhaps Armenia is the only country whose diaspora population is more than the resident natives of the country. Armenia has a resident population of 3 million with a world-wide diaspora population of around 7 million.
The beautiful God-blessed country of Armenia is located on the crossroads of Asia and Europe. The region is called Eurasia. The country is as modern as Europe and as historic as Asian civilization. It has the best of both worlds. As a result the people of Armenia are modern as well as very traditional.
Armenian civilization is as old as this world. Armenia is the country from which life started. The biblical story says that God decided to flood the Earth after seeing how corrupt it was. He then told Noah to build an ark and fill it with two of every animal species. After the flood waters receded, the Bible says, the ark came to rest on a mountain. Many believe that Mount Ararat, the highest point in the region, is where the ark and her inhabitants ran aground. The culture of Armenia encompasses many elements that are based on the geography, literature, architecture, dance, and music of the people. The culture is similar to and yet distinct from many of the bordering countries like Russia, Georgia and Iran as well as Mediterranean nations such as Greece and Cyprus . Armenian culture has strong influences from both its Eastern neighbours, as well as an underlying influence from Europe to the West.
Of late Armenia has emerged as a melting pot for east and west where students from Asian countries like India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Iran, Lebanon and Syria are studying in large numbers because of their very competitive tuition fee structure. Students from USA, Russia, Georgia, France, Greece come because of their Armenian connection and peaceful environment for studies.
Haniya Education based in Dehiwala, Colombo has now made dreams of Sri Lankan students come true by forging ties with the state university of Armenia namely Yerevan State Medical University, famously known as YSMU. The university established in 1920 by the newly formed Soviet Union is located at the centre of the beautiful capital city Yerevan. At present there are more than 1300 foreign students studying in Armenia. The Indian students form a majority of this. Students from Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have also followed their Indian brethren. The convenient air connection from Dubai and Moscow, beautiful city coupled with high level of academics make Armenia one of the best destinations for medical, nursing and engineering studies. Apart from studies, students get an opportunity to participate in summer camps, opera events, dance festivals. The enterprising ones travel to mainland Europe and USA for earning extra bucks during summer vacations. During winter vacations, the students rush to beautiful snow clad peaks to try their hand at skiing. The vibrant night life and open culture helps students un-wind themselves after a hard day at university classrooms and practical training sessions at various hospitals of the universities.
After completion of their six year studies in Armenia the students are armed with their medical degree from one of the best universities for medical studies in the region. Since, the university is recognized by World Health Organisation (WHO), among many options are the choice of taking medical licensing exam of United States government and moving there.
Haniya Education is making all efforts to promote awareness about Armenia and Armenian universities in Sri Lanka. They take full responsibility for admission of Sri Lankan students starting from documentation, visa-processing and air-ticket to Armenia
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian, Armenian History and contribution to American Society.
http://www.highlandnews.net/articles/2011/07/28/entertainment/doc4e31f3dae4b26020351217.txt
Words to think about: Armenian history, contributions to American society often overlooked, but deserving of attention
By G.W. Abersold Ph.D
Published: Thursday, July 28, 2011 5:27 PM PDT
The history of the Armenians is worthy of our interest and study.
I became very interested in them and their history a few years ago when I wrote an article about Chuck Demirjyn.
He loved his family, the USA, his faith and Redlands. He was a school teacher for 30 years, a city councilman for 28 years and mayor for eight years. He loved fishing, music (an excellent musician) and hated the Turks with a passion.
The word “genocide” was first used by Rafael Lemkin in 1943. He identified it with the destruction of an ethnic group, the Armenians by the Turks (1915-1917), and the Jews by Hitler (World War II). One million 500 thousand Armenians and six to eight million Jews.
Also, the 19 million Mexican Indians slaughtered by Cortes and disease (between 1522 and 1600), and the murder of thousands of Native Americans by the French and British (1620-1820).
The history of Armenians has been and is an illustrious one. In spite of this, the United States is one of the few countries that has NOT acknowledged the fact of Armenian genocide. Mainly because of its closeness with Turkey.
Turkey has continually denied that genocide ever happened. However, the facts are undeniable. The families of the men, women and children and unbiased historians have accurately recorded the genocide by the Turks.
Armenia is a territory with a land area of 11,506 square miles. It has a population of 2,966,802. For many years it was a part of the USSR, but on Sept. 23, 1991 Armenia proclaimed its independence.
It is a land-locked country, surrounded by Iran, Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
The first Armenian to arrive in California was Ruben Minasian. He settled in Fresno. The largest concentration of Armenians is in Glendale with about 55,000 residents.
On Oct. 6, 2000, Hollywood was named “Little Armenia.” There are over one million in the USA.
Perhaps the best way to grasp the influence of Armenians is to realize their impact on our culture: Richard Deukmejian, former Governor of California; Andre Agassi, tennis player; Cher, famous singer/actress; Mike Connors (Obanian) actor; William Saroyan, writer; Garry Kasporov, world chess champion; and Dr. Jack Kevorkian, physician. To name only a few.
Traces of Armenian settlements go back to about 6000 BCE. It was originally called the “Kingdom of Urartii”, referred to in the Bible as Ararat. (The resting place of Noah’s Ark.) It has been populated since the Stone Age.
Its history has been turbulent. It has been dominated by Persia, Rome, Byzantium, Greece and invaded by the Turks, Seljuks, Mongols and Tartars. It has been ruled by the Ottomans, and the Russians.
Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its state religion in 301 A.D. In 313 A.D., 12 years later, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, making it the dominant religion of the Roman Empire.
According to tradition the Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus preached in Armenia and died there. The great apostle of Armenia was Saint Gregory the Illuminator (257-337).
The early centuries of Armenian Christianity were filled with trauma. The Church was called then and still is, The Armenian Apostolic Church. It is one of the Ancient Eastern Orthodox Churches. Today there are about ten million members worldwide.
Ten percent of Armenians (at home and abroad) are affiliated with Roman Catholics and Protestants.
I have been in communication with Father Shnork Demirjean, the leader of St. Peter’s Armenian Apostolic Church in Van Nuys. He informs me there are 200 churches and parishes in the USA and more than a thousand over the world.
They believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, which in Armenian means “the Breath of God.”
Members also believe in the Sacraments of Baptism, Holy Communion, Chrismation, Ordination, Penance, Holy Matrimony, the Rites/healing. They also believe in salvation through faith in Christ, total immersion and infant baptism.
They support the decisions of the first three Ecumenical Councils (325 A.D., 381 A.D., 431 A.D.) The basic issue dealt with Jesus as equal with God and subservient to Him.
The Armenian Church is ancient and yet modern. It remains a dynamic force on the world stage.
Amen. Selah. So be it.
Words to think about: Armenian history, contributions to American society often overlooked, but deserving of attention
By G.W. Abersold Ph.D
Published: Thursday, July 28, 2011 5:27 PM PDT
The history of the Armenians is worthy of our interest and study.
I became very interested in them and their history a few years ago when I wrote an article about Chuck Demirjyn.
He loved his family, the USA, his faith and Redlands. He was a school teacher for 30 years, a city councilman for 28 years and mayor for eight years. He loved fishing, music (an excellent musician) and hated the Turks with a passion.
The word “genocide” was first used by Rafael Lemkin in 1943. He identified it with the destruction of an ethnic group, the Armenians by the Turks (1915-1917), and the Jews by Hitler (World War II). One million 500 thousand Armenians and six to eight million Jews.
Also, the 19 million Mexican Indians slaughtered by Cortes and disease (between 1522 and 1600), and the murder of thousands of Native Americans by the French and British (1620-1820).
The history of Armenians has been and is an illustrious one. In spite of this, the United States is one of the few countries that has NOT acknowledged the fact of Armenian genocide. Mainly because of its closeness with Turkey.
Turkey has continually denied that genocide ever happened. However, the facts are undeniable. The families of the men, women and children and unbiased historians have accurately recorded the genocide by the Turks.
Armenia is a territory with a land area of 11,506 square miles. It has a population of 2,966,802. For many years it was a part of the USSR, but on Sept. 23, 1991 Armenia proclaimed its independence.
It is a land-locked country, surrounded by Iran, Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
The first Armenian to arrive in California was Ruben Minasian. He settled in Fresno. The largest concentration of Armenians is in Glendale with about 55,000 residents.
On Oct. 6, 2000, Hollywood was named “Little Armenia.” There are over one million in the USA.
Perhaps the best way to grasp the influence of Armenians is to realize their impact on our culture: Richard Deukmejian, former Governor of California; Andre Agassi, tennis player; Cher, famous singer/actress; Mike Connors (Obanian) actor; William Saroyan, writer; Garry Kasporov, world chess champion; and Dr. Jack Kevorkian, physician. To name only a few.
Traces of Armenian settlements go back to about 6000 BCE. It was originally called the “Kingdom of Urartii”, referred to in the Bible as Ararat. (The resting place of Noah’s Ark.) It has been populated since the Stone Age.
Its history has been turbulent. It has been dominated by Persia, Rome, Byzantium, Greece and invaded by the Turks, Seljuks, Mongols and Tartars. It has been ruled by the Ottomans, and the Russians.
Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its state religion in 301 A.D. In 313 A.D., 12 years later, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, making it the dominant religion of the Roman Empire.
According to tradition the Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus preached in Armenia and died there. The great apostle of Armenia was Saint Gregory the Illuminator (257-337).
The early centuries of Armenian Christianity were filled with trauma. The Church was called then and still is, The Armenian Apostolic Church. It is one of the Ancient Eastern Orthodox Churches. Today there are about ten million members worldwide.
Ten percent of Armenians (at home and abroad) are affiliated with Roman Catholics and Protestants.
I have been in communication with Father Shnork Demirjean, the leader of St. Peter’s Armenian Apostolic Church in Van Nuys. He informs me there are 200 churches and parishes in the USA and more than a thousand over the world.
They believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, which in Armenian means “the Breath of God.”
Members also believe in the Sacraments of Baptism, Holy Communion, Chrismation, Ordination, Penance, Holy Matrimony, the Rites/healing. They also believe in salvation through faith in Christ, total immersion and infant baptism.
They support the decisions of the first three Ecumenical Councils (325 A.D., 381 A.D., 431 A.D.) The basic issue dealt with Jesus as equal with God and subservient to Him.
The Armenian Church is ancient and yet modern. It remains a dynamic force on the world stage.
Amen. Selah. So be it.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian-Argentina Armenian Flashmob Kochari (Armenian Dance)
The Fantastic Armenians of Argentina.
muy bien mi hermanos y hermanas!
Monday, July 4, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian-Armenian settlers in Yettem (Eden), California
St. Mary's Armenian Apostolic Church design from early Byzantium Armenian influence
I am so glad that HETQ decided to do an article on this hidden jewel of Central California. Yettem is very close to the Sierra Mountains and the grounds, weather are similar to Armenia. The early Armenian Immigrants named the town "Yettem" meaning Eden or Garden of Eden, because it was to them. The place where they could work,enjoy their religion and community free from persecution, taxation and massacres.
This is a serene beautiful town, that is mostly inhabited by farm migrant workers who respect the church (St. Mary's Apostolic Church) and have worked hard to make it in America like the early Armenians they work for have.
http://hetq.am/eng/articles/2626/
Seda Gbranian-Melkonian
The year was 1890. Reverends Haroutioun Jenanyan, Nazareth Spenchian and Gebriel Baghdoyan set foot in California's San Joaquin Valley. They had left their beautiful homeland Armenia behind. They gazed at the Sierra Nevada mountains and the memory of their homeland filled their souls. The three men were in search of a new home. It took them almost eleven years to understand that the one place in all America that came closest to resembling their homeland in Armenia was the San Joaquin Valley.
In 1901 Reverend Jenanyan purchased land there and named the place Yettem, which means Eden. New comers from the old country purchased small lots from Jenanyan and made it their new home. With new Armenians arriving from the region of Cilicia, a community of farmers was formed, who belonged to the Armenian Presbyterian and the Armenian Apostolic churches. The Armenian Presbyterians had their worship in small school building.
In 1903 the Armenian Apostolic church had its first worship service on Pentecost Sunday at the same school building. After the worship of the Presbyterians, in the afternoon, the Apostolic liturgy took place.
Also in 1903 the name Yettem was officially adopted. This was going to be the only place in the United States of America with a pure Armenian name. The new settlers, most of them villagers from the old country, cultivated the land growing fruits and vegetables.
From 1904 to 1909 church services were held in the Yettem school building. In 1909 the first Parish Council Choir and Building Committees were organized and in May of that year, the cornerstones of a new church were blessed. In January 1911 construction had begun. The church was a modest wooden building with arched windows and a bell tower in front. It was built mainly by volunteers.
Bishop Moushegh Seropian of Fresno travelled to Yettem and consecrated the new church in the name of St. Mary on July 3. One year later the Armenian school and Sunday school were established. In 1914 the first Ladies Society was founded in what was to become the Western Diocese and a year later a library was created. In 1922 the first parish priest arrived and since then there have been nine priests who have served at St. Mary's Armenian church.
In 1920 the Yettem community numbered about five hundred people. However, the Great Depression forced many to leave their homes. Young people moved to Fresno and Los Angeles never to return.
n June 12, 1945 the original church was destroyed by fire. In September, 1946 the foundation stones of a new church were blessed. It was built from red bricks using traditional Armenian church design with a dome and a bell tower. The architect was Laurence K. Cone (Condrajian). The new church was consecrated by Bishop Vartan Kasparian on November 16, 1947.
In July, 1960 His Holiness Vazken I Supreme Patriach-Catholicos of All Armenians visited St. Mary parish of Yettem. Later His Holiness Karekin I and His Holliness Karekin II also visited St. Mary parish. Several other high ranking clergy and VIPs from Armenia and the Diaspora also have been the guests of St. Mary parish.
Among these was the unique visitation of General Antranig, who participated in a fund raising event at Yettem in 1920. In mid seventies, with the help of the parish priest Father Vartan Kasparian, the future National Hero of Armenia Monte Melkonian frequently attended the Sunday school at St. Mary’s Church of Yettem.
Currently there is only one Armenian family that has remained in Yettem since its creation. Every Sunday and during holidays parishioners from nearby towns, mostly from Visalia, come to the church, keeping their religion and Armenian traditions alive. Through youth programs the torch is carried from generation to generation, passing on the Armenian heritage. St. Mary's Armenian Apostolic Church gathers its children around it in a warm and loving embrace, like a caring and affectionate family.
Vanessa Kachadurian- Armenians in India (History and Art)
This post combines Armenian History and Armenian Artists, one of the top Bollywood actresses in India is the daughter of one of the last surviving members of the Armenian Church of Mumbai, India. Tulip Joshi is a favorite among the Bollywood genre, my Indian male friends think she is beautiful AND talented!!!
Zabel Joshi (nee Hayakian), now Mumbai’s last surviving Armenian, was raised as a Lebanese Armenian in Beirut. She met her husband, a Mumbai-based cloth merchant, on one of his numerous business trips to that city. She married at 23 and moved to Mumbai in 1972 and now speaks fluent Armenian, Arabic, Turkish, English, Gujarati, Hindi and Marathi.
The Armenians have a large diaspora spread around the world. The Indian Armenians, though a small community, have been influential merchants and jewellery traders who have set up churches, clubs and educational institutions in port cities such as Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai. In Mumbai, however, Joshi is now the sole trustee of the 215-year-old St Peter’s Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church in Fort, where her three daughters were baptised.
“The Archbishop of Australia came to baptise me, and my pictures had come in the papers,” said Joshi’s youngest daughter, actor Tulip Joshi, who is not a practicing Armenian Christian but has fond memories of get-togethers with Mumbai’s close-knit Armenian community at the church.
Today, though the church is being renovated with funds from the Armenian community in Kolkata, it has no priest and no Armenian prayer services. A few years ago, Joshi opened up the premises to the city’s Syrian Orthodox Christians.
“Their beliefs are similar to ours, and it is important that the church not go empty,” said Joshi. Besides Joshi’s daughters, Mumbai still houses a few people of Indo-Armenian ancestry, descendents of Armenians who fled to India at the time of World War I. “Like the Jews, Armenians were also persecuted by the Turkish and were thus always on the run,” said Marion Arathoon, a journalist whose paternal grandfather was an Armenian who settled in Lahore.
While retaining their ethnic language and culture, most Armenian migrants have adopted India as warmly as India has adopted them. “I have been to Armenia several times and travel to Beirut every year, but today I consider myself truly Indian,” said Joshi.
Vanessa Kachadurian Armenian History - List of Armenian History Books
http://www.thehistorybuffshop.info/armenian-history/
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian- Another great website - FindArmenia.com
http://www.findarmenia.com/eng/hin_findarmenia/history/40/125
Friday, June 24, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian Armenian History from BC 2247 to the year of Christ
http://armeniabookreviews.co.cc/history-of-armenia-from-b-c-2247-to-the-year-of-christ-1780-or-1229-of-the-armenian-era/
History of Armenia; From B.c. 2247 to the Year of Christ 1780, or 1229 of the Armenian Era
Jun 18, 2011
Product Description
General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1827 Original Publisher: H. Townsend Subjects: Armenia History / Asia / General History / Europe / Former Soviet Republics History / Middle East / General History / Europe / Russia… Best Offer Today! >>
Read More >>
History of Armenia; From B.c. 2247 to the Year of Christ 1780, or 1229 of the Armenian Era
Jun 18, 2011
Product Description
General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1827 Original Publisher: H. Townsend Subjects: Armenia History / Asia / General History / Europe / Former Soviet Republics History / Middle East / General History / Europe / Russia… Best Offer Today! >>
Read More >>
Vanessa Kachadurian, Armenian Khachkars and UNESCO
http://armenianow.com/arts_and_culture/30579/armenian_khachkars_unesco
Armenian khachkars (cross-stones) seem to be turning into a unique test on adherence to principles, maturity and consistency of such an authoritative organization as UNESCO.
A scandal broke out at the opening of the exhibition devoted to the 20th anniversary of Armenia's independence held on June 15 in Paris at the UNESCO office there. Guests gathered for the opening ceremony of the photo-exhibition titled “The Art of Khachkars: Armenian Cross-Stone” were shocked to discovered that the captions to each picture of “cross-stones” citing their sources had been removed without a prior notice.
As it became known later, UNESCO administration had made a decision a few hours before the opening to remove the captions grounding their decision by the fact that some of the stones are not in Armenia, but on the territories of Turkey and Azerbaijan, “consequently, keeping the captions would be a diplomatic mistake”. Moreover, the same administration had given instructions to also take away the big map of historic Armenia with marked areas of installment of Armenian tomb-stones on it.
As a result, visitors were looking at the displays without any idea where and how the monuments were erected. The UNESCO leadership refused to come out and give any explanation to their decision. Armenian Ambassador to France expressed his discontent with the incident and a prominent expert of medieval Armenian culture Patrik Tonapetyan criticized sharply UNESCO's move and was outraged with that kind of censure of the Armenian culture.
Khachkars are remarkable examples of medieval Armenian architecture. Carved on rocks or separate monoliths for centuries they were called “holy symbols”.
It is noteworthy that initially and for a long time these symbols were just fragments of other memorial structures, however, later they turned into an ideologically complete composition the axes of which is the canonized symbol of the “Tree of Life”. The stone cross in Garni carved in 879 in memory of Queen Katranideh (at her shrine) is the oldest surviving example. In the 19th century foreign scientists named monuments of this unique group “khachkars” – the Armenian word for cross-stones.
Researchers always refer to khachkars as “the architectural endemic of Armenia” with unmistakable ethnic properties. Hundreds of thousands of such monuments define regions of formerly Armenian settlements and draw the borders of its historic motherland.
That is exactly what defines the political “markedness” of khachkars that “predetermined” the inevitable systematic liquidation of the “Armenian trace” by Turks and Azeris on the territories of historic Armenia under their control.
It is noteworthy that between 2001 and 2006 thousands of Armenian tomb stones were destroyed in the historic cemetery of Jugha – a medieval city of merchants and craftsmen. These were remarkable monuments of Christian memorial art dating to 13th-18th centuries. The mission aimed at complete annihilation of the Armenian stratum in Nakhijevan was not prevented by UNESCO despite the protraction of the process that took several years.
This organization's standpoint has never boasted persistency. Yet in 2003 the then Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian said during his speech at the 32nd Assembly of UNESCO: “Azeri authorities are wiping Armenian tombstones off the face of the earth to be able to deny the Armenian presence in Nakhijevan. With complete confidence and a strong conscience let me once more appeal to UNESCO to send observers to the region in order to record where and how the destructions have been implemented. The obliteration of such historical and cultural values in defiance of the tenacious efforts of the world to preserve universal values, demonstrates a short-sighted isolationist mentality. Azerbaijan is a country living with fear for its past.”
However, Yerevan's appeal to delegate a mission to the region of destruction was rejected. Moreover, the Azeri foreign ministry called all the accusations against them a “shameless lie”: “The claim that the architectural monuments in question are of Armenian origin is ridiculous. As for the khachars in Jugha, they are of Albanian origin.”
In any event UNESCO did not delegate its representatives to the zone of destruction even then.
German human rights advocate Tessa Hoffman used a term “ethnocide” to describe the character of liquidation of the Armenian khachkars. (Various writers use that concept differently; some even say it's an equivalent of “genocide”.) And nonetheless, there is a difference between the two terms: if the crime of genocide is in depriving this or that nation of its national, racial or religious commonality of development perspectives, ethnocide is deprivation of the same national, racial and religious commonality of its retrospection, its past, and its history.
Unfortunately, an organization like UNESCO – a major advocate of preservation of world heritage – is also involved in that process.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian Armenian History translated from Classical Armenian
Aristakes Lastivertc'i's
History
Translated from Classical Armenian
by Robert Bedrosian
To the memory of my aunt Sahakanush (Mary) Der Bedrosian
http://rbedrosian.com/altoc.html
History
Translated from Classical Armenian
by Robert Bedrosian
To the memory of my aunt Sahakanush (Mary) Der Bedrosian
http://rbedrosian.com/altoc.html
Friday, June 17, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian Armenian History -Khachkars under constraint of Azerbaijan and Turkey
http://www.panorama.am/en/culture/2011/06/17/ministry-of-culture/
Ministry of Culture: UNESCO censured Armenian khachkars under constraint of Azerbaijan and Turkey
Armenian Minister of Culture released a statement to make remarks on UNESCO censoring the origin of Armenian Khachkars.
UNESCO Paris headquarters hosted on June 15 the official opening ceremony of “Art of Khachkars” photo exhibition. The initiative group is Armenian permanent representation office in UNESCO and Armenian Ministry of Culture in cooperation with UNESCO.
Culture Ministry press service informs UNESCO also hosts committee sessions on different Conventions, which serves as a chance to perform the masterpieces of Armenian culture – khachkars to the representatives of more than 100 countries.
Special booklets, recordings have been made beforehand and sent to Paris to share among the visitors. Artist-sculptor Robert Minasyan departed for Paris to represent the history of khachkars.
Though UNESCO has been beforehand introduced to the materials of the exhibition, Azerbaijan and Turkey used all the available means to convince UNESCO to remove from the exhibition those displays which are located out of Armenia.
READ MORE ON THE DESTRUCTION OF ARMENIAN CEMETERIES AND KHACHKARS
http://www.novascotiascott.com/2008/12/16/destruction-of-armenian-cemetery-commemorated/
http://www.khachkar.am/en/typology/Jugha.php
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian-Armenian Independence Day May 28th
We had a great day today, not only was it over 90 years ago that Armenia declared itself independant of it's Ottoman rulers of 600 years but our school had a flag raising ceremony. It was a project we had worked on for 1 year and are very proud of it, we have a monument with 3 flag poles - 1 for the USA flag, 1 for the California flag and the other for the flag of the Republic of Armenia.
"A Red stripe born from the blood,
A piece of Blue carved from the sky,
Orange shine of ripe stacks in the fields
and over six centuries of darkness
a Tricolor flag..."
Antranig Tzarougian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Armenia
http://www.jdemirdjian.com/Armenians/independence.htm
May 28, 1918
Armenians, Rejoice and celebrate
For whatever is your opinion,
You were not there
nor did you live that moment
Independent Armenia was born by the blood of his children, it was not given to us, we earned it
Independence
After the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia, in a period of month and a half, half a million Russian soldiers leave their position and retreat disorderly, leaving the battle front to a small Armenian military group. Encouraged by this, the Turkish army starts concentrating its forces on the Western borders of Armenia. The leaders of Dashnag party, recognizing the problem under the slogan of "The fatherland is in danger" started creating an Armenian army.
The Armenian-Turkish war starts in January of 1918.
Events leading to May 28, 1918
Non stop lines of refugees, from Alexantrapol to Tbilisi, Northern Caucasus and Russia. Also on the roads leading from Ikdir to Etchmiadzine, Yerevan, Ashdarag and Nor Bayazed.
Turkish armies on the fields of Shirag, the valleys of Lori, at the base of Mount Arakatz and on the shores of the river Arax, all directed towards Yerevan.
Internal enemies, Tatars and Kurds, like wolfs packs, interrupting the flow of the soldiers to the front.
External enemies, politicians sitting in Tbilisi, Bakou, Batoum, Moscow and Constantinople. All trying to dismember and tear apart the surviving pieces of Armenia.
Tired, defeated and hopeless Armenian troops retreating for months now.
Total carnage and devastation prevailed everywhere.
All the roads are closed, completely cut off from the world, left to its own fate, a helpless Armenia, without a government or help. Surviving Armenians on their last breath.
This is the Armenian May in 1918 and just like the murderous April of 1915. Only a miracle can save Armenia and its people.
The Miracle
At that critical hour, alarms start blasting from Araradian fields. "Everything and Everyone to the Battle front" - the announcement of the governing council of city of Yerevan, chaired by Aram Manoogian, starts spreading among the people as a challenge. "Everything" changes, retreat transforms into attack, defeat becomes victory, and the miracle happens.
The Battlefront
The Turkish army starts attacking, hoping to finish the Armenian issue once and for all with one last stroke. By May 23rd they take Hamamlou, Gharakilise, Pash Abaran, Sartarabad and Sourmalou on the banks of the river Arax.
The Armenian response
On may 21, ignoring the retreat, colonel Daniel Beg Piroumian gets behind the Turkish army in Sartarabad and starts hitting them from the sides. The surprised Turkish army gets disorganized and scared.
This heroic act encourages the Commander of the Araradian front, General Movses Siligian on may 23rd to order the attack on Sartarabad. People and army, rush the enemy.
On the Arakats front, General Tro's army counter attacks and after fierce battles Armenians take back Pash Abaran and start advancing towards the fields of Shirag.
The Armenian soldiers, gathered in Tilichan, go on the offensive on May 26 under the command of General Thomas Nazarbegian on the Gharakilise front, stop the enemy and take control of the war.
On May 28, Armenian forces are victorious everywhere and the Turkish army is in defeated retreat.
Encouraged from these victories, General Siligian orders "towards guns, towards Alexantrapol." Upon this famous challenge, "Everybody" gets ready to take back the lands from the Turks.
The Victories of May end unfinished.
In Tbilisi, The Armenian National Committee unaware of the victories and trying to save what is left signs an armistice with the Turkish representatives and orders General Nazarpegian to cease all military action, stopping the Armenian army on its tracks. Instead of the soldiers marching into Alexantrapol, it is the politicians that go there to sign the ceasefire agreement.
The new Armenia is established on may 30th 1918 when the Armenian national committee in Tbilisi declares Armenia independent. Socialist Republic was the form of Government. Hovannes Kachazouni is assigned as prime minister, who creates the first Armenian government.
The Armenian government and the legislature are transferred from Tbilisi to Yerevan in July 1918. Quoting the Prime Minister "Under Rain, Chaos and catastrophic conditions" the new government starts its work.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian- Project to recreate western Armenia
Ancient town of Palu
http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2011-05-20-project-seeks-to-recreate-western-armenia-online
Berlin, Germany - The Houshamadyan website, whose aim is to reconstruct and preserve the memory, daily life and social environment of the Ottoman Armenians through research, has now been operating for several months.
The owner and operator of the website is the Houshamadyan Association, founded and officially registered in Berlin, Germany, in 2010.
The association's research encompasses all aspects of the history of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, including social history, the history of daily life, local microhistory, dialects, music, literature, material culture and so on.
For this, the following are of special importance: the collection and preservation of culturally valuable artefacts of all kinds produced by the Ottoman Armenians such as musical recordings of historical value, old photographs, pictures, old film footage and so on. Similarly important are documents bearing on Ottoman Armenian history such as printed books, periodical publications and archival material, or papers in individual collections such as correspondence, unpublished notes, official documents, autobiographical details etc. The project is also documenting oral history by recording interviews and related materials.
The association is convinced that the internet is the most practical, influential and immediate means of carrying out the wide scope of work required to reconstruct the Ottoman Armenian memory. More than this, it is the project's aim to create a collaborative website to which each individual visitor will have the ability to make comments or input the things that are in his possession - photographs, books, memoirs, information etc - so that it's pages may be enriched collaboratively.
The first place chosen by Houshamadyan was the district of Palu, with its town and surrounding villages. Various articles may be seen on the website about Palu's local history, interethnic relations, geography, agricultural activities, social structure, local songs and dances and so forth.
The pages of the website are in the process of being gradually enriched. In the next few weeks articles about other Armenian-populated places in the Ottoman Empire will be put in the public domain.
The website address is: www.houshamadyan.org
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian Jerusalem Armenian story finally being told
Writer Haig Krikorian
Jerusalem Armenian story finally being told
by Arthur Hagopian
Published: Saturday May 14, 2011
Jerusalem - It is a crying shame that a truly comprehensive and scholarly gratifying history of the annals of the Armenians of Jerusalem has yet to be penned.
Armenians have been living in Jerusalem continuously for over two thousand years, even before their conversion to Christianity.
That's a lot of history, by any reckoning.
Not that this demonstrably vital colony of artists, craftsmen, and other creative spirits - the list is endless but runs the whole gamut of human experience - lacks the necessary skill or expertise to do it, scattered though most of its members may be around the four corners of the world.
The reasons behind this omission are not mere inertia on the part of Armenian scribes. The lamentable fact is that the ancestors of Jerusalem's Armenians gave record-keeping a pedestrian glance, leaving their progeny with precious little reliable records or resources to tap.
And let us not forget that the whole Middle East region has been so enmeshed in periodic patches of political upheaval over the centuries, the foremost preoccupation of the city's Armenian denizens has always been to win the struggle for survival.
But all is not lost.
As we look through the glass of history, darkly, though we perceive dark clouds of unknowing, we can also sporadically discern some bright lights of promise, personified in a minuscule pride of historians, like Ormanian and Savalaniantz.
Their books have almost become objects of veneration, preserving for posterity as they do segments of the story of the Armenians of Jerusalem.
Several years ago, Jerusalem-born scholar Kevork Hintlian attempted to fill part of the gap in the history of his people with a well-researched, slim but titillating volume, "The History of the Armenians in the Holy Land."
It is unfortunate that this book remains generally undervalued and unappreciated - it deserves better. Hintlian has been urged repeatedly to expand it, extend its range. Hopefully, he will get around to it sometime soon.
In sharp contrast to Hintlian's 80-page tome, US-based Haig Krikorian has just celebrated the culmination of a ten-year labor of love with a massive 800-page endeavor, entitled "Lives and Times of the Armenian Patriarchs of Jerusalem."
Krikorian's book is a timely treasure, foraging into the profound, almost inaccessible niches and caves of disparate archives to encapsulate for perpetuity the vicissitudes of the Armenian church in Jerusalem.
The Armenian nation owns this patient plodder an incalculable debt of gratitude for rescuing from obscurity the epic tale of the panoply of Armenian church leaders, with a detailed chronicle that covers over a millennium and a half of the lives of the Armenian patriarchs of Jerusalem.
Krikorian has the good fortune of being a close friend of the current incumbent, Patriarch Torkom Manoogian, and that, coupled with his unflinching support for the Armenian Patriarchate, opened several doors for him and accorded him unprecedented access to existing records and private papers.
Despite the heavy lifting, I could not put the book down. Krikorian's fluid writing style, his meticulous choice of diction and paraphrase and the lack of any literary mannerism of ostentation makes reading his book a delight.
And there is plenty to tell his readers. Some of the facts he has uncovered have probably never been revealed before. How many Armenians are aware that Abraham (638-669), regarded by many as the first Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, had trekked all the way to Mecca, to plead with the Prophet Mohammed for protection for his flock?
[While it is almost impossible to determine the exact number of Armenian Patriarchs in Jerusalem, various sources place the number between 75 to 100].
Krikorian has taken great pains to trace the origins of the Armenian presence in the Holy Land, and in particular in Jerusalem, and as you read you come to realize that the story of the Armenians of Jerusalem is actually the story of their church, embodied in the Patriarchate of St James, with its grand cathedral, and that their history is linked inevitably to their entity as Christians.
While recapping his chronicle, with a great eye for detail, the writer also delves into the deeds and misdeeds of priestly members of the Brotherhood of St James, an interlude that no doubt is bound to raise eyebrows: not many Armenians will be happy to see the dirty wash of their spiritual leaders aired in public.
Krikorian is not interested in a whitewash. He emphasizes that the Armenian church survived the ravages of time despite the relentless threat of internal strife and corruption at the hands of unconscionable clergymen who pitted their ambitions ahead that of the good of the church.
Inevitably, there is the sorry episode of the 25 manuscripts purloined in the late 1940's and the battle to get them back. Not all 25 were retrieved. Three still remain unaccounted for, languishing perhaps in the safe of some millionaire collector. Whether he or she would know or appreciate half the value of so precious a possession, nobody will know.
Nor does Krikorian shy away from pointing the finger at the attempts by other Christian denominations, particularly the Greeks and Latins, to expropriate Armenian properties and subjugate the Armenian church.
At some point down the timeline of history, Armenians are said to have built over 500 monasteries in and around Jerusalem. Many of these have been lost now - either destroyed or taken over, either through wars or subterfuge, and sometimes by sheer chicanery or incompetence.
Ironically, while fellow Christians persecuted the Armenians, their non-Christian overlords, particularly the Moslems, seem to have viewed them with special favor, granting them rights and privileges they enjoy to this day. Krikorian points out that this was no doubt politically motivated, as a counter to their enemies with their Byzantine sympathies and loyalties.
Krikorian, a former student at the theological seminary of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, takes us through a travelogue that spans the Byzantine, Arab, Crusader, Maneluke, Turk, British and Jordanian administrations, and down to the present era of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict.
Throughout this epoch, pockmarked by frequent violence and endemic corruption, the Armenians continued to survive and thrive, honing their skills at diplomatic and politician maneuvering, alongside the arts and crafts.
It is their presence that gives Jerusalem its unique flavor and contributes to the city's claim to be the center of the world.
(c) 2011 Armenian Reporter
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Thursday, May 5, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian - Turkish Government to restore ancient Armenian church
http://www.sfexaminer.com/news/2011/05/turkey-conserve-armenian-cathedral-church?category=18
Turkey has launched a project to conserve an ancient Armenian cathedral and a church in what is seen as a gesture of reconciliation toward neighboring Armenia.
Turkey and Armenia have been locked in a bitter dispute for decades over the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey in the last years of the Ottoman Empire, and efforts to normalize relations have been dealt a setback by the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan is a close Muslim ally of Turkey's government in Ankara.
Turkey, however, says it is committed to improving ties with Armenia, and has already restored the 10th century Akdamar church, perched on a rocky island in Lake Van in eastern Turkey. It has also allowed once-yearly worship at the site as a gesture to Armenia and its own ethnic Armenian minority.
Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay said Tuesday the new project was being launched in partnership with the World Monuments Fund to conserve the remains of the cathedral and the Church of the Holy Savior in Ani, 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the eastern city of Kars.
Ani was one of the world's great cities in the 10th century, according to the New-York based fund. Today it stands abandoned, and the remnants of its celebrated buildings are in a precarious state. The site, in an earthquake-prone area, has been listed on the World Monuments Watch, beginning in 1996.
"Ani, which is of global significance, presents particularly complicated challenges," Gunay said. "We hope that giving new life to the remains of once-splendid buildings, such as the Ani Cathedral and church, will bring new economic opportunities to the region."
Gunay did not say whether Turkey would also allow prayers at Ani once the restoration is complete.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, which they call the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey disputes this, saying the death toll has been inflated and those killed were victims of civil war and unrest as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian-Author of Armenian History books dies Dr. Chalabian
DETROIT — Dr. Antranig Chalabian, the author of several volumes of Armenian history, died on April 12, at his home in Southfield. He was 89.
Born in Kessab, Syria, he was predeceased by his wife, Siran.
He leaves his children, Annie (and Tom) Hoglind, Dr. Jack and Gayle Chelebian and Karine and Hovsep Koundakjian, as well as eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Chalabian wrote several volumes on Armenian history and historical figures, which went on to sell well. He is best known for his biography of General Antranik.
After graduating from the local Armenian Evangelical School, he studied at Aleppo College and graduated in 1944. He taught in his former school in Kessab for one year. Then he returned to Aleppo College where he taught English and arithmetic to the middle school classes from 1944 to 1949.
In the summer of 1949, Chalabian moved to Beirut, where his family had settled in 1945. He taught English for one year at the AGBU Hovagimian-Manoogian High School. Then he took a position in the physiology department of the American University of Beirut, where he remained for 27 years. During his last 14 years there, he worked as a free-lance medical illustrator, illustrating almost entirely three medical books and thousands of research papers. Meanwhile he contributed articles to the city’s Djanasser, Spiurk and Nayiri papers.
In 1977, Chalabian and his family immigrated to the United States and settled in Detroit. At that time he became public relations director at the AGBU Alex Manoogian School.
In 1984 he published his first bi-lingual book General Antranik and the Armenian Revolutionary Movement. The book became an instant best seller and was printed in more than 75,000 copies in Armenia. He donated the proceeds from that print to the Karabagh freedom fighters. In 1989 the History Department of the University of Armenia invited him to defend his exhaustive historical study. Upon a successful defense he was awarded a doctorate in history.
The book was later translated into Turkish and Spanish.
In 1991 he published his second book in Armenian titled, Revolutionary Figures. Dr. Arra Avakian translated the book in English. In 1999 he published his third book, Armenia After the Coming of Islam in English. The book became very popular and had two printings. In 2003, he published his fourth book in Armenian titled Dro. His son translated the book into English. In 2009 Indo-European Publishers printed the book.
Chalabian was also an invited contributor to Military History magazine, where he published articles dealing with Armenian history. Chalabian collaborated with Dr. Stanley Kerr after discovering the latter’s personal notes in the attic of the Physiology Department. Kerr had moved to New Jersey after retiring in 1965 from his career as the chairman of the Biochemistry Department of the American University of Beirut. However, he had left his notes behind assuming that the notes were long lost through the years. Kerr had kept his notes and taken hitherto unpublished pictures while serving in Near East Relief. In 1919, he was transferred to Marash, where he headed the American relief operations. The outcome of their collaborative work was the publication of Kerr’s The Lions of Marash in 1973.
While collaborating with Kerr, Henry Wilfrid Glockler, a one-time controller at AUB and a neighbor of the Kerrs in Princenton, entrusted Antranig Chalabian his personal memoirs. Chalabian edited the memoirs and had it published in Beirut in 1969 by Sevan Press. The book is titled Interned in Ourfa.
Chalabian received numerous accolades and recognition. Armenian organizations in various states invited him to lecture. The mayor of Southfield designated in 2005 a day as Dr. Antranig Chelebian Day in recognition of his goodwill ambassadorship of the city through his readers worldwide.
A memorial visitation will be held on Saturday, April 30, 5 to 6 p.m., at the Armenian Congregational Church, Southfield. Memorial donations in his memory may be made to the AGBU Alex & Marie Manoogian School or Armenian Congregational Church or Tekeyan Cultural Association.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian - Armenian Church in Singapore celebrates 175 years
The Armenian community in Singapore celebrated the 175th anniversary of its church on Sunday. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
THE Armenian community in Singapore celebrated the 175th anniversary of its church on Sunday, with more than 160 Armenians from 14 countries flying in to attend the festivities.
The Church of St Gregory the Illuminator in Hill Street is Singapore's oldest Christian church, and was gazetted as a national monument in 1973.
To mark the occasion, the trustees of the church organised a gala dinner on Saturday at the Raffles Hotel - a uniquely Singaporean landmark that was started in 1887 by Armenian brothers Tigran and Aviet Sarkies.
On Sunday, a holy mass at the church was officiated by the Archbishop of Armenia, who flew down for the event.
Speaking to The Straits Times after the event, Foreign Minister George Yeo, who also attended the mass, said the Armenian church and community were an important part of Singapore's heritage.
There are around 80 Armenians living here. Though small in number, the community has doubled over the past five years, mostly due to immigration from Armenia. About 10 Armenians have also been born here in the last two years.
Read the full report in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian-Ancient Jewish Cemetery in Armenia
In the 13th-15th centuries, at least one Jewish community flourished in Armenia. Evidence indicates that the Armenian Jews came from Persia. Many Jews lived in the city of Eghegis, and their gravestones have been found, translated, and analyzed. They were a religiously-observant community. Based on existing evidence, researchers believe that the Jews and Christians in Armenia had good relations.
Given names used among medieval Armenian Jewish men included Michael, Eli, David, Baba, Sharaf al-Din, and Zaki. Armenian Jewish women had names like Esther and Rachel. The names are Hebrew and Persian in origin.
The first trace of the medieval Armenian Jewish community was discovered in 1910. Other remnants of the Jews of Eghegis were discovered by Bishop Abraham Mkrtchyan in 1996, and a great amount of research was conducted during the years 2000 and 2001 at Eghegis by a multi-national archaeological team.
Three distinct and unrelated populations of Jews have lived in Armenia in ancient, medieval, and modern periods. The fate of the earliest Jews arriving in Armenia by the 1st century BCE or 1st century CE is unknown. Much later, Jews arrived in other parts of Armenia, probably from Persia. By the mid-13th century CE, a thriving Jewish community was existed in Eghegis. However, no continuity appears between Armenian Jews of the Middle Ages and the Jews who settled in Armenia in the 19th and 20th centuries. The fate of the medieval Armenian Jews is a mystery.
JewishGen's ShtetlSeeker references border changes to locate a given town. Contemporary Jewish populations of Armenia descend primarily from Ashkenazic Jews with a smaller number of Mizrakhim. In the early 19th century, Jews from Poland and Persia began settling in Armenia's capital, Yerevan. In the 1920s, many European sector Soviet Union Jews resettled in Armenia. Additional Russian Jews arrived during and after World War II, bringing the Jewish population to about 5000 people. Between 1965 and 1972, Jewish population reached about 10,000, peaking in the second half of the 20th century. Today, considerably fewer Jews live in Armenia, perhaps as few as 1000, of whom perhaps about 500 live in Yerevan. Intermarriage between Jews and Armenians is very high. Most 20th-century Armenian Jews immigrated to Israel in the early 1990s when the Soviet Union collapsed.
Yerevan synagogue operates under a Chabad Lubavitch rabbi since 2002. In general, Armenia and Armenians have good relations with Jews and Israel. JewishGen's ShtetlSeeker references border changes to locate a given town.
Source(s):
http://www.khazaria.com/armenia/armenian…
http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.or…
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian- From the Queens Gazette history of Armenia and Genocide
The Armenian Genocide - Next Edition!
By Miljan Peter Ilich
In the 1870s the rulers of the Ottoman Empire embarked on a policy designed to ruthlessly eliminate the bulk of its Armenian population. For over 40 years they and their successors sought with great determination to achieve that goal whenever possible. In doing so, they carried out periodic genocidal killings that dwarfed all ethnically based exterminations up to that time. This was a series of genocides rather than just the one more widely known genocide.
The genocidal policy of Turkish leaders towards Armenians inspired Adolf Hitler to plan his own holocaust. In a 1931 interview only published in 1968, Hitler said:
“Everywhere people are awaiting a new world order. We intend to introduce a great resettlement policy… Think of the biblical deportations and the massacres of the Middle Ages… and remember the exterminations of the Armenians.” Hitler stated that he had to protect “German blood from contamination, not only of the Jewish but also of the Armenian blood.”
In 1939, on the eve of World War II, Adolf Hitler urged his leading generals to be ruthless in the coming conflict just like the Turks were in their Armenian genocides, saying famously, “Who, after all, is today speaking of the destruction of the Armenians?” Hitler believed that the world does not care about the brutality of means used as long as they are successful in the end. This also is a lesson he drew from the Armenian tragedy.
We must remember history to learn a different lesson than Hitler did. We have to ardently work to use history as a learning experience to avoid the mistakes and terrors of the past. If we do not, we will experience unthinkable horrors again and again. Perhaps the Copts of Egypt or other such minorities may then be the Armenian victims of the future.
Of course, historical memory is also needed to honor the victims. Let us memorialize those who suffered rather than those who destroyed the innocent. However, this recollection should not lead us to revenge, but rather to learning and greater understanding.
Who are the Armenians?
Armenians are an ancient people whose history goes back about 3,000 years. Their first rise to historical importance was in the Kingdom of Urartu in the ninth and eighth centuries before Christ. Urartu stretched from the Caucasus to the Euphrates River, covering a vast expanse.
Under King Tigranes from 95 to 55 B.C., Armenia was a huge empire that dominated much of the Middle East from the Caucasus to the borders of Egypt and east to Syria and Persia. It became a center of Hellenistic culture and a major challenger to the Roman Empire.
Though the Romans eventually conquered Armenia, they had such respect for it that for centuries they allowed self-rule under its own kings as a Roman ally. About 300 A.D. Armenia was the first country to officially adopt Christianity. Emperor Constantine, the first Christian ruler of Rome, became its staunch friend.
Armenians became a crucial part of the Byzantine Empire. As such, they contributed greatly to iconography and religious architecture. They also continued to develop a strong literary and poetic tradition.
By the early 1400s, the Ottoman Turks conquered most of Armenia. Armenians were placed in the conquered Christian category subordinate to Muslim rulers. They had religious rights as long as they paid the special infidel tax, but they had no political rights. Despite major discrimination, many of the people prospered in commerce and industry. They held fast to their Christian Armenian identity and would not become Muslim Turks. By the 1870s there were at least three or four million Armenians divided between Russia and Turkey.
In modern times Armenians outside of Turkey have excelled in the arts. Composers like Khachaturian in Russia and Hovhaness in America became famous by using some Armenian traditional musical motifs in their compositions. William Saroyan became one of the greatest American dramatists. Many other Armenians in the Diaspora prospered in a variety of fields. What happened to Armenians in Turkey was very different. It is the subject of these articles.
The Forgotten Genocide - Part I
The first phases of the Armenian genocides took place in the second half of the nineteenth century. Though shockingly brutal in their execution, they have been largely forgotten even by some Armenians. What took place in this period was not only horrifying in itself, but set the stage for the even greater horrors that followed.
The martyrdom of Armenians was largely the result of the policies promoted by a new ruler. In 1876 Sultan Abdul Hamid II ascended the throne of the Ottoman Empire. He was young and energetic, but the empire he ruled was old and collapsing with many of its nationalities like the Greeks, Serbs and others obtaining independence for a large portion of their ethnic groups. The most populous Christian ethnicity left within the Ottoman Empire proper were the Armenians with an estimated population of about 2,000,000. They were an ancient people with a civilization that had flourished for thousands of years. In contrast, the Ottoman Turks had only arrived in what is now Turkey in the thirteenth century.
Sultan Abdul Hamid came to believe that his predecessors had been too generous in allowing the continued existence of major Christian populations in their realm. That is why the Greeks, Serbs and others had been able to gather enough strength to successfully revolt. He was certain that, in due course, Armenians would follow their example. Most Armenians had, until the 1870s desired nothing more than fair treatment as Ottoman citizens. However, that did not dissuade the Sultan from perceiving them as the enemy within. Though there was no evidence of major revolutionary Armenian movements, there were isolated instances of anti-Ottoman violence and several Armenian political groups advocated greater autonomy. The Sultan decided to preempt an Armenian uprising by increasing the hardships of their lives in his realm. Abdul Hamid’s long time friend Arminius Varnberry wrote that the ruler “had decided that the only way to eliminate the Armenian question was to eliminate the Armenians themselves.”
Varnberry’s conclusion was shared by United States Ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau, who was extremely knowledgeable with regard to the Sultan’s policies. He wrote that “Abdul Hamid apparently thought that there was only one way of ridding Turkey of the Armenian problem and that was to rid her of the Armenians. The physical destruction of 2,000,000 men, women and children by massacres organized and directed by the state, seemed to be the one sure way of forestalling the further disruption of the Turkish Empire.” This was by definition a plan for the first modern genocide.
For the first time in the modern age, an entire people were marked for destruction only due to their faith and ethnicity. Once that goal was set, its implementation was not long in coming. The Ottoman state attempted to generally eliminate the Armenian people from Turkey either by persuading them to leave or by an ultimate policy of extermination. The fact that the hard working and commercially inclined Armenians were generally more prosperous than the Turks made it easier for the Sultan to get considerable popular support for his anti-Armenian jihad. Greed and jealously have often motivated ethnic hatreds and they were strongly inflamed by the despotic ruler soon after taking the Turkish throne.
A first step taken to persecute Armenians took place when Abdul Hamid greatly raised the tax burden specifically on them. Those who could or would not pay were savagely punished. More violent measures soon followed. In 1876 and 1877, while Turkey was engaged in war with Russia, the Armenian quarter of Constantinople was burned and looted by the police and imperial soldiers. Many Armenians were slaughtered in the imperial capital.
Large scale killings of Armenians also took place near the city of Erzurum. Massacres spread to other areas. The German newspaper National Zeitung wrote: “It is clear that had the war continued in this fashion under these conditions, the Christian population of Turkish Armenia would have been exterminated in less than a year.” Captain Stokvitch, a Russian officer, reported that “children and adults were being thrown into flames and the cries of these unhappy victims, especially women, were heartrending. The streets of Beyazid were strewn with decapitated and mutilated corpses.” Men were often smeared with wax and naphtha and set on fire.
Western powers, hearing of the atrocities, protested and threatened intervention. Consequently the Sultan, who had both promoted and allowed the atrocities, backed down after many thousands of Armenians had been killed. He promised reforms. The attacks on Armenians decreased dramatically for a number of years. However, harassment and killings did continue at a low intensity.
By the final decade of the nineteenth century, Armenians, encouraged by the liberation of other Ottoman subject nationalities, were more vigorously organizing for greater rights and political protections. Sultan Hamid’s promises for reforms had proven to a large degree illusory and Armenians sought to make them real.
In 1894, the region of Sasun, which had a large Armenian population, but was dominated by Kurds, exploded into extreme violence when the Armenians were forced to pay tribute to local Kurdish chiefs as well as Ottoman taxes. They were unable to pay this double taxation. Turkish troops were called in and together with Kurdish militias engaged in an orgy of massive killings. British historian, Lord Kinross, described what was done to local Armenians: “The soldiers pursued them throughout the length and breadth of the region, hunting them like wild beasts up the valleys and into the mountains, respecting no surrender, bayoneting the men to death, raping the women, dashing their children against the rocks, burning to ashes the villages from which they had fled.”
An 1895 demonstration of Armenians in Istanbul to petition the Sultan for their rights was crushed by police. Many demonstrators were clubbed to death on the spot. Fanatical Muslims were allowed to rampage through the city, slaughtering Armenians like animals. The terror spread though the empire. Armenians were often given the choice of converting to Islam or death and many did choose to become Muslim to save the lives of their families.
British Ambassador Currie reported that due to “forced conversions… there are absolutely no Christians left” in Aleppo province in Ottoman Syria. Many thousands were forcibly converted in other areas. 645 churches and monasteries were destroyed and 328 churches were turned into mosques.
Large numbers of Armenians would not convert but died for their faith. Though the killings spread throughout Armenian populated sections of the empire, the worst massacres took place in the city of Urfa, which had been known as the ancient capital of Edessa. In December, 1895, Armenians made up about one third of the population. Turkish troops and mobs rampaged through the Armenian quarter, plundered their homes, killing all males over a certain age. A large group of young Armenian men were brought before a Sheikh who recited verses from the Koran while he slit the throats of the bound men like sheep. The Turks were not finished however.
Thousands had taken refuge in the local Cathedral. On a Sunday, Islamic mobs stormed the Church. Some cried out to the frightened Armenians to call on Christ to prove that he is greater than Mohammed. Then they set the Cathedral on fire. About 3,000 women and children were burned alive. Lord Kinross wrote that the total of Armenian dead in Urfa was 8,000.
Some Armenians resisted out of utter desperation. At Zeitoun, insurgents killed thousands of Turkish troops in bitter clashes. Though rare and isolated, the armed resistance was used by the Ottomans as an excuse for even greater massacres of innocents.
News of the genocidal slaughter spread to the West and the United States. The New York Times carried headline stories calling this an “Armenian Holocaust.” However, public opinion in America was mainly galvanized by the energy and devotion to the Armenian cause of two women in their seventies. Julia Ward Howe, author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, was perhaps the most eloquent American voice condemning the Turkish atrocities, and trying to obtain help for Armenians. Though seventy six years old, she was full of energy for the Armenian cause. On November 26, 1894 at Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall, the first major American protest meeting regarding the issue took place and she gave an impassioned speech on the victimization of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. In stirring words she declared:
"I throw down the glove which challenges the Turkish Government to its dread account. What have we for us in this contest? The spirit of civilization, the sense of Christendom, the heart of humanity. All of these plead for justice, all cry out against barbarous warfare of which the victims are helpless men, tender women and children. We invoke here the higher power of humanity against the rude instincts in which the brute element survives and rules.”
Julia Ward Howe made many more appearances in the Armenian cause. Being a national icon, her influence was incalculable. She played a critical role in orchestrating American support for Armenians.
Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, was particularly prominent in the effort to help Armenians. At seventy four years of age, she led the relief effort for Armenia and addressed mass meetings protesting the massacres. In January 1896 she personally escorted an American Red Cross aid mission to Istanbul. Clara Barton faced down the Turkish foreign minister Tewfik Pasha to obtain permission for the Red Cross to assist the suffering Armenians. Then she remained there to supervise the start of the relief effort.
Western powers, affected deeply by the horrified public opinion in their countries, were moved to take steps to try to stop the slaughter. Diplomatic measures to persuade the Turkish government to cease and desist were tried first. Former British Prime Minister Gladstone pushed for British military intervention. European and even some American naval forces sailed towards the Ottoman Empire. Intervention by strong military forces was threatening unless Turkey’s rulers stopped the massacres. As U.S. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau wrote, faced with this threat, Istanbul halted the slaughter. Meanwhile, some 200,000 Armenians had been brutally exterminated.
Turkey gave new guarantees for the protection of Armenians. These promises were partly kept at first, but not many years later were shown to be totally worthless. The Armenian national nightmare had only just begun. Even worse horrors were yet to be inflicted on the long suffering Armenian people.
About Miljan Peter Ilich
Historian and filmmaker, Miljan Peter Ilich has eight feature length films, many documentaries and a number of short subjects to his credit as Producer. Among them is the controversial ArtWatch, a collaboration with the late Professor James Beck of Columbia University, Frank Mason of the Art Students League of New York and director James Aviles Martin and TCI: the First Hundred Years commissioned by Technical Career Institutes.
Other documentary film credits include Chios 1822: Martyrdom and Resurrection of a People and Cyprus: the Glory and the Tragedy. Feature film credits include the cult film classic, I Was a Teenage Zombie, Mothers; Unsavory Characters; What Really Frightens You, Soft Money and the New York 3-D sensation, Run For Cover in 3-D.
Peter Ilich has also produced for theater and television in New York, most notably the acclaimed play Struck Down, about the 1994 Baseball season. He is the co-host, writer and co-producer of Orthodox Christian Television's Chios: the Island of Saints; Cyprus: the Glory and the Tragedy; The Sacred Land of Kosovo and frequent panelist on Democracy in Crisis.
Dr. Ilich is a Juris Doctor, New York University and PhD. City University of New York and is a Professor of Law at Technical Career Institutes in New York City.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian - Over 4,000 Armenian monuments in India
Armenian Church in Madras, India
Lusine Vasilyan
“Radiolur”
Representatives of the Research on Armenian Architecture NGO have recently returned from India. During a week-long trip the group traveled in tens pf Indian settlements and documented the history of the monuments of the Indian-Armenian community. This was the first study that tried to search for traces of Armenian architecture in a community that far from Armenia.
The six-member team visited about twenty Indian cities from Delhi to Madras and Kolkata.
“In India we counted 10 standing Armenian churches,” said Samvel Karapetyan, chairman of Research on Armenian Architecture NGO. He added that the number of Armenian monuments of India totals about four thousand.
According to Karapetyan, the most ancient Armenian monument found in India dates back to the early 17th century.
The research has become possible thanks to the support of the Armenian Ministry of Culture. The NGO is provided 60 mln AMD annually to study Armenian monuments.
More information go to this website:
http://www.hyeetch.nareg.com.au/armenians/prominent_p8a.html
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian- Armenians of Jerusalem
Armenians of Jerusalem circa 1940
Reconstructing Armenian Jerusalem
by Arthur Hagopian
Published: Tuesday March 08, 2011
Jerusalem - When the great historians, particularly Ormanian and Savalaniantz, set out to wrest from the obscure pages of the past the history of the Armenians of Jerusalem, one of the main objective they achieved was the establishment of chronologically ascertained points of reference.
But despite the exhaustive tenor of their approach and perspective, their quills inevitably left some gaps in the narratives that have come down to us.
We know when Armenians first trod the dust-blown roads of Jerusalem, back in the days of empire, when Tigranes II led a conquering army to Syria and the borders of Judea (circa 1st-2nd BCE). We know how many Armenians were living in the Old City at the peak of their presence (over 15,000 circa 1945 CE). We have a list of their Patriarchs, bundles of documents embodying 'firman's' establishing their rights and privileges, Daguerreotypes of the first photos they developed and copies of the first books they printed.
But we know nothing about what drove these people, this flotsam of humanity washed ashore at the Holy Land, a tribe afire with the perpetual flame of ingenuity and artistic abandon. We know next to nothing about their ancient culture, their traditions, their dreams and aspirations.
Some of the edifices and institutions they set up, among them the city's first printing press, are still standing. Others, like the first photographic studio and the refectory that fed thousands of refugees during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, have been raked over.
A couple of years ago, an attempt was launched to close this unfortunate gap in the saga of the Armenians of Jerusalem, with the creation of a website family tree project targeting the native Armenians, the Kaghakatzis, a clan that boasts a unique distinction: every single member of the clan is related, either closely or at a distance, to every other Kaghakatzi.
The web site has so far succeeded in creating a database listing genealogical details of past Kaghakatzis, dating back a little less than two centuries, in an intriguing mosaic of interviewing lines that show the unbroken connection that binds all Kaghakatzis to their Jerusalem sojourn.
At the same time, the website has become a repository of the stories and legends of this clan, and a menu of whatever has been salvaged of their traditions and customs.
But despite the participation and contribution of Kaghakatzis all over the world, parts of the mosaic lie in tatters, glaring gaps in its fabric.
But that is not the only anomaly - until now, the project, dubbed the Kaghakatzi Armenians of Jerusalem Family Tree, has shied away from cataloguing the saga of the rest of the Armenians of the city, particularly the Vanketzis, survivors of the Armenian genocide or their descendants who had sought refuge in the Convent of St James.
The reasoning behind this obvious oversight is that there is no common genealogical link binding the Vanketzis together. They belong to various families and hail from different parts of the motherland, Armenia. They have been in Jerusalem for less than a century, unlike the Kaghakatzis who can lay claim to a presence of over two millennia.
However, the organizers feel it is time to remedy the anomaly.
"We plan to expand our horizons and tell the story of all the Armenians of Jerusalem, irrespective, " the organizers say.
The Vanketzis also have a story to tell, though it is mostly a tale of survival, of fighting to stay alive while others perished by the roadside, as they sought to evade the marauding Turkish hordes bent on their annihilation.
In more than one case, these miserable dregs of humanity had to face the utmost horror of having to abandon other members of their families to fates worse than death. They survived on the peels of oranges they picked off the ground, and hid in cemeteries where the Jinn, whom the Moslem marauders feared, protected them against the assassins.
The Kaghakatzis in Jerusalem received their refugee cousins with open arms, guarding and protecting them, and offering them a safe haven. During the first Arab-Israeli confrontation of 1948 it was the Kaghakatzis with their home-made Sten and Bren guns who defended the whole of the Armenian compound in the Old City.
While the Vanketzis would have set up the first printing press and photographic studio, establishing a tradition for innovation and modernity, the Kaghakatzis would have concentrated on the more practical aspects of civil administration, trade and government.
They infiltrated the topmost echelons of politics and government, a cadre of top professionals who passed their skills and expertise to successive generations.
Alas, despite their ponderous accomplishments, neither the Kaghakatzis nor the Vanketzis seem to have given any consideration to chronicling their deeds for posterity. They kept no records, or if they did, it has all perished.
Aside from three official ledgers in the possession of the Armenian Patriarchate that catalogue details of births, marriages and deaths of Armenians in Jerusalem. But these go back only to 1840. There might conceivably be older records buried somewhere in the Patriarchate archives: but trying to locate and exhume them is an option too far away.
No doubt there are also bits of memorabilia scattered here and there, gathering dust in forgotten or unheard-of locations.
Waiting for their day of discovery or deliverance from obscurity.
Which is what happened to the scrap of paper Hagop Terzibashian, erstwhile catering supervisor at the Patriarchate, had secreted in his house inside the convent. The paper was unearthed by his son, Abraham, an internationally renowned expert on Armenian theology and theological literature.
The document Hagop so painstakingly compiled, is a list of leading Kaghakatzi figures who plied their trades in the city, from the early 19th century onwards. It covers almost every aspect of life: there seems to have been no trade or occupation in which the Kaghakatzis were not apprenticed. Barbers rubbed shoulders with blacksmiths, carpenters, builders, shoemakers, goldsmiths, tailors, and bankers, among others.
Perhaps the most noteworthy revelation is the fact that the Kaghakatzis also controlled much of the seat of power in the city: Boghos Effendi Zakarian had risen to the lofty position of deputy to the Mutasarrif (Governor), while Sahag Nercessian became chief of police and Hovhannes Khatchadourian the tax collector.
Because of their diligence and trustworthiness, the Kaghakatzis were also singled out for special honors by power representatives of the foreign powers in the land.
Hagop Pascal was appointed vice-consul for Austria-Hungary, while Prussia singled out Haroutioun Torossian for the post.
Hagop Srabion Mouradian was a US consular officer in Jaffa, and a close relative, Onnig, became the US vice-consul in Jerusalem.
And among the builders, lurks the shadow and memory of Hovsep Hovsepian. Could this have been the vaunted Yousef el Banna (Hovsep the builder), whose name reverberates in the modern annals of Kaghakatzi Armenians?
Is this Hovsep the one from whose loins descended my own family line, along the way, the Hovsepian patronymic morphing into Hagopian?
Alas, there is no one to tell. One of the handful of the remaining elders of the Kaghakatzis, former teacher Arshalooys Zakarian, who might have known, passed away recently, taking her story with her.
Someday, we may yet stumble on another slip of parchment or paper telling us more.
Until such time, or when the time comes to write the remarkable history of the Armenians of Jerusalem, as it should be written, we only have the memories, or what we can salvage of them.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian-Images of Armenians in Turkey 100 years ago.
Images of Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago USA, CA-Central Fresno Thu, 27 Jan 2011 7:30PMJanuary 27, 2011
Organizer: Armenian Studies Program - Contact Organizer. 559-278-2669
Event Type: Lecture / Admission: Free admission
Location: University Business Center, Fresno State 5245 N Backer Ave
The Armenian Studies Program invites the public to attend a presentation by journalist and historian Osman Koker. The lecture is on 'Images of Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago.' All are welcome to attend
FREE SEMINAR.
Organizer: Armenian Studies Program - Contact Organizer. 559-278-2669
Event Type: Lecture / Admission: Free admission
Location: University Business Center, Fresno State 5245 N Backer Ave
The Armenian Studies Program invites the public to attend a presentation by journalist and historian Osman Koker. The lecture is on 'Images of Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago.' All are welcome to attend
FREE SEMINAR.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian Armenian Art and Artists: Vanessa Kachadurian-Last Tightrope Dancer in Armen...
Vanessa Kachadurian Armenian Art and Artists: Vanessa Kachadurian-Last Tightrope Dancer in Armen...: "Awards Special Jury Award Gdansk DocFilm Festival, Poland [2010] Best Cinematography Award Saratov Suffering International Film Festiva..."
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Vanessa Kachadurian-World's oldest leather shoe found in Armenia
This Shoe Had Prada Beat by 5,500 YearsBy PAM BELLUCK
Think of it as a kind of prehistoric Prada: Archaeologists have discovered what they say is the world’s oldest known leather shoe.
Perfectly preserved under layers of sheep dung (who needs cedar closets?), the shoe, made of cowhide and tanned with oil from a plant or vegetable, is about 5,500 years old, older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids, scientists say. Leather laces crisscross through numerous leather eyelets, and it was worn on the right foot; there is no word on the left shoe.
While the shoe more closely resembles an L. L.Bean-type soft-soled walking shoe than anything by Jimmy Choo, “these were probably quite expensive shoes, made of leather, very high quality,” said one of the lead scientists, Gregory Areshian, of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
It could have fit a small man or a teenager, but was most likely worn by a woman with roughly size 7 feet. (According to the Web site www.celebrityshoesize.com, that would be slightly roomy for Sarah Jessica Parker, whose Manolo Blahniks are size 6 ½, and a tad tight for Sarah Palin, who, during the 2008 campaign, wore red Double Dare pumps by Naughty Monkey, size 7 ½.)
The shoe was discovered by scientists excavating in a huge cave in Armenia, part of a treasure trove of artifacts they found that experts say provide unprecedented information about an important and sparsely documented era: the Chalcolithic period or Copper Age, when humans are believed to have invented the wheel, domesticated horses and produced other innovations.
Along with the shoe, the cave, designated Areni-1, has yielded evidence of an ancient winemaking operation, and caches of what may be the oldest known intentionally dried fruits: apricots, grapes, prunes. The scientists, financed by the National Geographic Society and other institutions, also found skulls of three adolescents (“subadults,” in archaeology-speak) in ceramic vessels, suggesting ritualistic or religious practice; one skull, Dr. Areshian said, even contained desiccated brain tissue older than the shoe, about 6,000 years old.
“It’s sort of a Pompeii moment, except without the burning,” said Mitchell Rothman, an anthropologist and Chalcolithic expert at Widener University who is not involved in the expedition. “The shoe is really cool, and it’s certainly something that highlights the unbelievable kinds of discoveries at this site. The larger importance, though, is where the site itself becomes significant. You have the transition really into the modern world, the precursor to the kings and queens and bureaucrats and pretty much the whole nine yards.”
Previously, the oldest known leather shoe belonged to Ötzi the Iceman, a mummy found 19 years ago in the Alps near the Italian-Austrian border. His shoes, about 300 years younger than the Armenian shoe, had bearskin soles, deerskin panels, tree-bark netting and grass socks. Footwear even older than the leather shoe includes examples found in Missouri and Oregon, made mostly from plant fibers.
The Armenian shoe discovery, published Wednesday in PLoS One, an online journal, was made beneath one of several cave chambers, when an Armenian doctoral student, Diana Zardaryan, noticed a small pit of weeds. Reaching down, she touched two sheep horns, then an upside-down broken bowl. Under that was what felt like “an ear of a cow,” she said. “But when I took it out, I thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s a shoe.’ To find a shoe has always been my dream.”
Because the cave was also used by later civilizations, most recently by 14th-century Mongols, “my assumption was the shoe would be 600 to 700 years old,” Dr. Areshian said, adding that “a Mongol shoe would have been really great.” When separate laboratories dated the leather to 3653 to 3627 B.C., he said, “we just couldn’t believe that a shoe could be so ancient.”
The shoe was not tossed devil-may-care, but was, for unclear reasons, placed deliberately in the pit, which was carefully lined with yellow clay. While scientists say the shoe was stuffed with grass, acting like a shoe tree to hold its shape, it had been worn.
“You can see the imprints of the big toe,” said another team leader, Ron Pinhasi, an archaeologist at University College Cork in Ireland, who said the shoe resembled old Irish pampooties, rawhide slippers. “As the person was wearing and lacing it, some of the eyelets had been torn and repaired.”
Dr. Pinhasi said the cave, discovered in 1997, appeared to be mainly used by “high-status people, people who had power,” for storing the Chalcolithic community’s harvest and ritual objects. But some people lived up front, probably caretakers providing, Dr. Areshian said, the Chalcolithic equivalent of valet parking.
Many tools found were of obsidian, whose closest source was a 60-mile trek away. (Perhaps why they needed shoes, Dr. Areshian suggested.)
“It’s an embarrassment of riches because the preservation is so remarkable,” said Adam T. Smith, an anthropologist at the University of Chicago who has visited the cave. He said that distinguishing Chalcolithic objects from later civilizations’ artifacts in the cave had been complicated, and that “we’re still not entirely clear what the chronology is” of every discovery.
“The shoe,” he said, “is in a sense just the tip of the iceberg.” (He probably meant to say wingtip.)
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: June 10, 2010
An earlier version of this article imprecisely described the anthropologist Adam T. Smith's work in the cave.
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