Dr. Ruben Badalyan is a doctor of Historical Sciences and the head of the Department of Early Archaeology of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography at the National Academy of Sciences, Armenia. He is also a corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute. His work concerns the Neolithic and the Bronze Age in the Southern Caucasus, the chronology of the Kura-Araxes culture, and the exploitation of obsidian. He has directed or co-directed field investigations at archaeological sites in Armenia, including Aknashen, Aratashen, Gegharot, Horom, Karnut, Tsaghkahovit, and Voskeblur.
