According to the construction technology and planning solutions the fortress “Shamiram Berd” is dated to the Bronze-Iron Age( II-I millennia BC).
The complex consists of a fortified enclosure, surrounding the top of the mountain, and structures located in the central part. The enclosure walls stretch to the north-south parallel to each other.
The eastern wall is 140 meters long and about 4.5 meters wide. Adjacent to the southern part of this wall there is a tower (5×6 m.) 12 meters to the north of which the remains of a buttress have been preserved (2 meters wide). 20 meters to the north of this part the 3 meters wide entrance has been preserved, with buttresses on either side.
The western wall is 280 meters long and the main structures of the ancient site are located in its eastern side. The enclosure is built of immense stones. More than 10 rows of the wall have been preserved nearly 3 meters high. Adjacent to the western wall there have been preserved structures among the scattered stones. The territory of the whole ancient site occupies the top of Mount Hatis which is more than 280×100 meters in size (1.65 hectares). Both the enclosure and the structures are built of immense and medium-sized raw basalt stones.
In 2019, in the framework of the exploration program of Kotayk, the territory of the fortress was studied by the Armenian-Italian expedition of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography NAS RA lead by Arthur Petrosyan and Robert Dan. In 2022 the expedition of the “Scientific Research Center for Historical and Cultural Heritage” of the RA Ministry of ESCS with the participation of Anahit Grigoryan, Gevorg Gyulamiryan and Karen Tseretyan.
