Ushiberd, Iron Age fortress in Aragatsotn Region, Armenia.

Ushiberd is an Iron Age fortress on a hill just outside Ushi in Aragatsotn Province. Most of it has collapsed; only portions of the surrounding walls remain around the hill's edge before it descends. Inside the former interior lie large piles of stones that once formed the fortification walls and inner structures.

The site began as a settlement during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age, after which it was fortified as a defensive stronghold. This transformation turned the hilltop into a strategic military outpost protecting the surrounding region.

The name Ushiberd combines the village name Ushi with berd, Armenian for fortress. Visitors reach the hilltop from Ushi, passing Saint Sargis Monastery, built between the 7th and 13th centuries, just below the fort. A 10th-century chapel stands along the main road back into the village.

Ushiberd stands on a hill above the village of Ushi, reached on foot; the walls survive only in portions around the hill's edge, and the former interior is covered with large piles of fallen stones, so footing is uneven. Below the hill stands Saint Sargis Monastery, and the 10th-century chapel lies down the main road back into Ushi.

The hill of Ushiberd sits at the far edge of a settlement site occupied from the 3rd to the 1st millennium BC, so the fortress is only the latest layer of a much longer use of the spot. Brady Kiesling's 2005 guide Rediscovering Armenia describes the site and the monastery below it.