Ayar is a village in the Sharur-Daralayaz uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Keshishkend (Yeghegnadzor) district, and currently in the Vayots Dzor province. Although the name of the village is Ayar, it is also indicated as “Aghyar”. The provincial centre lies 3 km to the southeast of the town of Keshishkend, on the bank of the Arpachay. It was under the subordination of the Amaghu temple in the 13th century. It was first referred to in the 12th-13th centuries.

Until 1828 only Azerbaijanis had lived there. Armenians were removed to the village in 1828–1829 from the Iranian provinces of Khoy, Salmas and Maku. The village was inhabited by 30 Azerbaijanis in 1831, 23 in 1887, three Azerbaijanis in 1926. Now only Armenians live there.

The toponym was coined on the basis of the word “ayar” used in the sense of “a stratum of urban poor with their own organization and assisting the poor at the expense of the rich”.

It was renamed “Agarakadzor” by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 10 September 1946. According to the law “On the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Armenia” dated 7 November 1995, it was integrated into the administrative area of the Vayots Dzor province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude: 39°44’ N., longitude: 45°20′ E.