According to various genetic researches Armenians originate from Armenian Hihgland

Armenian Highland, Russian Armyanskoye Nagorye, also spelled Arm’anskoje Nagor’e, mountainous region of Transcaucasia. It lies mainly in Turkey, occupies all of Armenia, and includes southern Georgia, western Azerbaijan, and northwestern Iran

1) University of Tartu Faculty of biology and geography Institute of molecular and cell biology Department of evolutionary biology Urmas Roostalu M Sc. Rva-Liis Loogvali Prof Dr. Richard Villems Tartu 2004 “In our study the ancestry of the Armenians was traced back to different parts of Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, illustrating the fact that historic Armenia was a much larger territory than that of the present Republic of Armenia”.

2) –Banoei, Chaleshtori, Sanati, Shariati, Houshmand,Majidizadeh, Soltani & Golalipour (2007) Variation of DAT1 VNTR Alleles and Genotypes Among Old Ethnic Groups in Mesopotamia to the Oxus Region. “The Armenians are a nation and an ethnic group originating from the Caucasus and eastern Anatolia, where a large concentration of this community has remained, especially in Armenia.”

3) (Movsesian and Kochar, 2000) “Cranial similarities between modern Armenians and the Armenians of Armenia 1600 – 700 BC indicate the continuity of the genetic connection to the ancient people ”

4) ALU INSERTION POLYMORPHISMS IN POPULATIONS OF THE SOUTH CAUCASUS “Armenians are a separate ethnic group, which originated from Neolithic tribes of the Armenian Uplands” Litvinov S*, Kutuev I, Yunusbayev B, Khusainova R, Valiev R, Khusnutdinova E

5) 40% of Armenian genes dates back to Paleolithic era. Levon Yepiskoposyan

6) Result of the over 300 individuals that have already been tested revealed that the Armenian branches of DNA are at the root of many branches in Europe. Armenians belong to 13 distinct genetic groups that go back tens of thousands of years, while at the same time there is no trace of invaders in their DNA in the last 4000 years, making them “homogeneous in their diversity. Armenian DNA Project at Family Tree DNA

7) “Modern Armenians and Armenian inhabitants around that time [Neolithic era] have cranial similarities, indicating a genetic continuity with ancient populations. Spread to Indian subcontinent and Europe.” –Luigi Cavalli-Sforza (1922-), world renowned population geneticist, Princeton University. Author of many books including: Cavalli-Sforza, L. L., & P. Menozzi, A. Piazza. (1994). The History and Geography of Human Genes. Princeton University Press, Princeton. Cavalli-Sforza, L. (2000). Genes, Peoples, and Languages, tr. Mark Seielstad, North Point Press.

Different peoples throughout different times used to refer to Armenia by different names. The Sumerians in around 2,800 BCE called Armenia – Aratta, while the Akkadians that succeeded them in the second half of Third Millennium BCE called Armenia – Armani or Armanum. The Hittites who rose in the Second Millennium BCE called Armenia – Hayasa, while the Assyrians who arose in the second half of Second Millennium BCE called Armenia – Uruatri or Urartu (Ararat of the Bible).

With their disappearance from the historical arena, the different names that they used to refer to Armenia and the Armenian people disappeared with them. However, Armenia and the Armenian people, always found the strength for renewal throughout the long millennia of their epic history and continued to fight on for both preservation and progress.

Aratta is considered the first recorded Armenian state. It is mentioned in the oldest Sumerian texts that we have found about the Epic of Gilgamesh. Although it is mentioned in the earliest inscriptions, about 4.800 years ago that does not mean Aratta did not exist before that.

Quentin Atkinson and Russell Gray have proved that Armenian language already split from the Mother Tongue in the Indo-European Homeland in Armenian Highland some 8,500 years ago. When ancient Armenians built Portasar about 12,000 years ago there was already some kind of level of sophisticated organization which was surely required to accomplish such a massive undertaken for its time period.