Tomb Raiders: Military Stumbles Upon Buried Necropolis in Nagorno-Karabakh

Two ancient burial sites were discovered by military personnel in the disputed, ethnically Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.

The discovery was made by Armenian military engineers who were constructing fortifications in the area.

The artifacts recovered from the tombs included a chalice, a vase bearing a trefoil design and several pottery shards, Zvezda TV reports, citing local media sources.

The items were submitted to the Tourism Department of the Nagorno-Karabakh Ministry of Economy. After the ministry experts finish studying the artifacts, they will be then transported to a museum.

Violence escalated in Nagorno-Karabakh on April 2. Baku and Yerevan have accused each other of provoking hostilities that have led to multiple deaths on each side. The sides agreed to a ceasefire on April 5, but clashes have continued.

The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988, when the autonomous region sought to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, before proclaiming independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The warring sides agreed to a cessation of hostilities in 1994.