Urartu

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced that more than 3,000 artifacts were returned to the country in 2023 within the scope of the works.

Archaeological excavations continue in the ancient city of Satala, the only surviving castle on the eastern border of the Roman Empire and the only Roman Legion castle in Anatolia that can be excavated.

A team of scientists has unearthed a Urartian monumental building complex in the eastern province of Van's Tuşba district, located within the historical castle known as Garibin Tepe.

Mehmet Işıklı, heading the excavation, expressed the team's astonishment at the findings, which included "pitos" (large storage containers) and exceptionally well-preserved mudbrick architecture.

Military tombstones, milestones, inscriptions and war equipment that have been found during the excavations in the ancient city of Satala, where the Roman 15th Legion ruled for 600 years and served as a military headquarters in the northern province of Gümüşhane, are on display for the first time.

Mehmet Kuşman, who has been a volunteer guard at a Urartian castle in the eastern province of Van and is one of the few people in the world who speaks the Urartian language, has said that he will quit his voluntary job in November.

Mehmet Kuşman, 82, who is one of only 12 people in the world who can speak, write and read the Urartian language, has said that he wants to keep the language alive with his eight-year-old granddaughter learning it.

Forty-five Urartian-era urns (the vessels in which the ashes of the dead were put) have been unearthed in the necropolis of Çavuştepe Castle, located in the Gürpınar district of the eastern province of Van.

The excavations initiated this year in the Çavuştepe Castle, built by the Urartian King Sarduri II, and the necropolis in its northern part, a tomb of a man, believed to have been belonged to an Urartian ruler and buried with his dog, four horses, cattle and sheep, has been found.

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A team of archaeologists has unearthed a castle dating back to the Urartian era in eastern Turkey.

The remains of the castle dating back 2,800 years ago were discovered during an excavation project sponsored by Van Yüzüncü Yıl University on a mountain at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) in the Gürpinar district of eastern Van province.

The historical area in the eastern province of Erzincan, which is one of the most important Urartian cities and home to the Altıntepe Castle on the historical Silk Road, awaits opening after becoming an archaeology park. (AA Photo)