Archaeologist, professor
Kalantar was born on February 11, 1884, in the village of Ardvi, Lori. In 1905, he graduated from the Nersisyan School in Tbilisi and in 1911, from the Department of Armenian-Georgian Philology and History of the Faculty of Oriental Languages of Saint Petersburg University. After graduating from the university, he returned to Armenia and devoted himself to the study of the material culture of the homeland.
During his studies, he participated in the excavations of Ani as part of the expedition led by Nikoghayos Mar. In 1914, N. Mar entrusted him with the leadership of the 13th archaeological expedition to Ani during his absence.
In 1915, A. Kalantar participated in military operations as part of the volunteer regiment of General Andranik, becoming the secretary of the general.
In 1917, he continued excavations in Ani and, in 1918, was forced to leave, saving the part of the archaeological collections that is now preserved in the History Museum of the Republic of Armenia.
In 1917, A. Kalantar participated in the works of the second archaeological expedition to Van with Nikoghayos Adonts. He collected and deciphered about 50 Urartian inscriptions. In 1918, returning from Van to Tbilisi, he worked as a lecturer at the Transcaucasian University. In the summer of 1919, he came to Yerevan, and on the instructions of the Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Aghbalyan, he undertook the creation of the Department of Monument Preservation, becoming the founding head of that institution. In 1920, Kalantar led the last scientific expedition to Ani and Tekor, making measurements and photographs and copying numerous inscriptions.
A. Kalantar was invited to the university in 1919, becoming one of the seven founding lecturers of Yerevan State University. In 1922, he founded the Department of Oriental History and Archaeology at the university and created an archaeological workshop. The experienced pedagogue brought to life the first student archaeological group, making his students participate in the works of archaeological expeditions operating in Armenia. In 1923, he published the first textbook on archaeology in Armenian.
In 1929, he became a professor.
A. Kalantar's further scientific and administrative activities were concentrated in the Committee for the Preservation of Antiquities (chair: A. Tamanyan), where he worked as a scientific secretary.
The archaeologist's long-term hard work resulted in the discovery and study of the ancient water distribution system of the Aragats and Geghama mountains. The monograph "An Ancient Water Distribution System in Armenia" (Yerevan, 1933) is dedicated to this system. A. Kalantar is the first archaeologist in Armenia to systematize and study the monuments of prehistoric art, petroglyphs of the 7th-3rd millennia BC. In the 1930s, the implementation of archaeological excavations in the territory of ancient Vagharshapat was a unique feat, the results of which are summarized in the book "Excavations of Ancient Vagharshapat" (Yerevan, 1935). In 2007, his collection of works "Armenia from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages" was published. The three-volume set of his works was published in English in Paris in 1994, 1999, and 2002, receiving high praise from reviewers.
Along with many prominent Armenian intellectuals, A. Kalantar also fell victim to Stalin's repressions. In March 1938, he was arrested in the so-called "professors' case" and charged with treason. The death sentence was commuted to eight years in prison. He was exiled to Siberia, where he died in June 1942. He was exonerated posthumously.
