[4] According to the 13th century Armenian historian, Stepanos Orbelian, the town and its respective canton were named after the cold and stormy weather.

The mines may have been exploited as early as the 2nd millennium BC, evidenced by the discovery of pits, funnels covered with grass, underground workings, wooden tools, stone mortars, washing pots, and more.

Materials, cemeteries, weapons, bones, and everyday life objects, belonging to the early Bronze Age, have been found in complexes of settlements around the Sotk mountain pass.

[8] West of Sotk, around the nearby town of modern Vardenis, are some cyclopean fortresses, with corresponding cemeteries from the 2nd and 1st millennium BC, among which is Tsovak, where there is a cuneiform inscription by Urartian king Sarduri II.

Many other such ruins can be found near Sotk such as in Chambarak, indicating the Lake Sevan basin was a significant region, controlled from centers like Ishtikuni (Lchashen) and confederations of chiefdoms, such as the Uduri-Etiuni and Uelikuni (both of which seem to have been Armenian etymologically) mentioned in Urartian sources.

Its location on the mountain pass was at a strategic point on the medieval Dvin-Partav road, connecting the southern and eastern regions of the South Caucasus.