(ORDO NEWS) — In the Gurpinar district of the city of Van, located in eastern Turkey, on a mountain at an altitude of 3,300 above sea level, the ruins of a fortress were discovered, which are believed to have been used by the Urartian ruling class.
A team of archaeologists led by Prof. Rafet Cavusoglu, Head of the Department of Archeology, Faculty of Literature, Van Üzünçu Yil University (YYÜ), initiated a project to study the archaeological surface to identify historical structures in the area and use them for tourism purposes.
As part of a project supported by the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, a group of researchers went to the Ermeli region, located 40 kilometers from the region, and climbed Kara Dag (Black Mountain) to a height of 3,300.
A team of archaeologists, anthropologists and art historians, who reached the summit after a 4-hour climb led by professional climber Mustafa Bingöl, discovered the remains of an ancient road and a fortress from the Urartian period during their research in the region.
A large cistern with a diameter of 7 meters, walls and many ceramic remains were found in the ruins near an ancient road about one kilometer long of stones and sandstone and a fortress 70 meters long and 30 meters wide.
It has been found that the fortress, believed to have been used by the Urartian rulers, was home to various civilizations during the Iron Age.
Professor Cavusoglu told the Anadolu Agency (AA) that in Van, which the Urartians considered the capital, various finds are found every year.
According to Cavusoglu, it was interesting to discover the fortress at such a height for the first time during the exploration: “During the ascent, we first came across an ancient road leading to the fortress. The ancient road is delightful.
You can reach the top by walking along this ancient road about 3 meters wide and one kilometer long. We see that the Urartians built a huge fortress at an altitude of 3,300 meters. We found that this fortress was also used in the periods after the Urartians,” he said.
Declaring that ceramic finds belonging to various civilizations, in particular the Urartians, were found in the fortress, Cavusoglu reported the following information:
“There is a cistern here, dug into the rock to meet the need for water during the summer months. In the Middle Ages, it was refilled with Khorasan mortar. It retains traces of the classic features of the Urartians.
We noticed that they carved the rock to form the walls. In this “There are a lot of ceramics of the Urartian, iron and medieval periods in the area. The fortress is located on the top with a cliff on all four sides.
It is almost impossible to conquer this place. This is the administrative center. The ruling class lived here. A little lower are the areas where those who served the administrative center lived” .
We have been exploring this land for 30 years. Urartu has always surprised us: “This is the first time we come across a fortress of such a height. I can say that this is the most important fortress we have found so far.”
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