A new study published in Nature Partner Journals – Heritage Science argues that the builders of the prehistoric Vishap (Dragon) stelae in the Armenian Highlands belonged to a highly organized, unitary society capable of undertaking large-scale ritual and irrigation projects around 4000 BC, the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences informs.
The paper, titled “Vishap epoch unitary society in Armenian Highlands, c. 4000 BC: data analysis consequences,” was authored by physicist and cosmologist Professor Vahagn Gurzadyan of the Center for Cosmology and Astrophysics at the Alikhanyan National Science Laboratory, and archaeologist Professor Arsen Bobokhyan of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography.
The publication builds on the authors’ widely discussed 2025 paper, “Vishap stelae as cult dedicated prehistoric monuments of Armenian Highlands: data analysis and interpretation,” which appeared in the same journal. In that earlier research, statistical analysis of data related to the Vishap stelae suggested that the monuments were closely associated with the prehistoric cult of water. The researchers concluded that the stelae were linked to high-altitude springs and prehistoric irrigation systems, indicating that they served ritual rather than utilitarian purposes.
The new study expands the analysis by incorporating additional statistical methods and placing the monuments within a broader social and historical context. According to the authors, the evidence indicates that the so-called “Vishap epoch” in the Armenian Highlands was characterized by a unitary, organized society capable of mobilizing the substantial human and material resources required both to sustain water-related religious practices and to construct and operate extensive mountain irrigation systems.
The researchers argue that the Vishap stelae—monumental prehistoric stone monuments scattered across the Armenian Highlands—preserve a unique message from antiquity, reflecting the existence of a socially coordinated community that placed water management and its associated cult at the center of its cultural life.
