 Smbatiants also found an 8th-century BC Urartian cuneiform left by King Argishti I, referring to the conquest of the "land of Darani" (the pre-Urartian name of modern-day Abovyan area).The excavations led by Smbatiants revealed that the area of modern-day Abovyan was inhabited starting from the end of the 4th century BC.During the ancient Kingdom of Armenia, the western area of modern-day Abovyan was part of the "Kotayk" canton of Ayrarat province while the eastern area was part of "Mazaz" canton of the same province.