Prehistoric Armenia

The first human traces are supported by the presence of Acheulean tools, generally close to the obsidian outcrops more than 1 million years ago.

[3] Thousands of 325,000 year-old artifacts may indicate that this stage of human technological innovation occurred intermittently throughout the Old World, rather than spreading from a single point of origin (usually hypothesized to be Africa), as was previously thought.

[5] The Mestamor archaeological site, located to the southwest of Armenian village of Taronik in the Armavir Province, also shows evidence of settlement starting from the Neolithic era.

in the Mesopotamian cuneiform inscrptions in the form 'Armani', while in the text of the same period discoverd in Ebla (Syria) Armenia is called 'Armi'.

The earliest evidence for this culture is found on the Ararat plain; thence it spread to Georgia by 3000 BC (but never reaching Colchis), proceeding westward and to the south-east into an area below the Urmia basin and Lake Van.

[17] Thutmose III of Egypt, in the 33rd year of his reign (1446 BC), mentioned as the people of "Ermenen", claiming that in their land "heaven rests upon its four pillars".