5,000 Year Of Urartu History To Be Unearthed İn Historical Van

Excavation works near the ancient Van Castle in eastern Van province, led by Manager of Istanbul University Van Region History and Archeology Research Center, Professor Erkan Konyar, has begun.

A team of 40 scientists from 12 universities across Turkey will conduct researches to unearth the history near 3,000-year-old Van Castle which air view the Urartu capital Tushpa.

The team conducts three different works near the castle - the ancient Van city, the area called the Castle, and the Mould of Van Castle - according to leader of excavation team Konyar.

"An Ottoman texture of 800 years lies beneath. We have unearthed Urartu houses with ovens, constructed in adjoint order and sprawling to a large area. We are working on a field where people had lived in a traditional civilian architecture with floor furnaces, stone penthouses and barnes, while some of inhabitants had worked in the service sector. Thus, the spectrum of excavation findings are highly wide. Last year, we had also unearthed ornaments along with a tablet" added Konyar.

The excavations in Van targets to reveal how the Urartu civilization had been destroyed and who had arrived to the region after Urartus, and what culture they had brought, said Konyar.

(Photo) - Van