VAN-AYANIS EXCAVATIONS
The fortress of Ayanis, 35 km. north of the
modern town of Van, was built on a rocky hill measuring 100 x 400 metres, near
the village of Agartı on the eastern shore of the Lake Van.
The Ayanis Fortress was built by Rusa II, a king of
the Urartian Kingdom who ruled between 680 and 640 B.C. The citadel was
constructed just after 673-672 B.C according to the last dendrochronological
studies made by P. Kuniholm.
The excavations at the Ayanis Fortress began in
1989. The excavation team consists of Prof. Altan Çilingiroğlu, Ass/Prof. Dr.
Zafer Derin, Asso/Prof. Eşref Abay, Ass/Prof. Haluk Sağlamtimur, M.A. Özlem
Çevik, M.A. Aylin Ü. Erdem, M.A. Atilla Batmaz and M.A. Fulya Dedeoğlu from Ege
University, Izmir; Prof. Dr. Mirjo Salvini from Rome, and Dr. Oscar White
Muscarella of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Prof. Elizabeth Stone
of the State University of NewYork, Stony Brook and Prof. Paul Zimansky of
Boston University joined the excavation in 1997. Since then, work has been
conducted in two different areas, designated the "Fortress" and
"Outer Town".
The Fortress
The excavation at the fortress indicate two main
occupation levels, Medieval and Iron Age II. The Medieval occupation is belong
to the 10th or 11th centuries A.D., according to two Byzantine
coins recovered at the site.
The fortification walls of Ayanis on the south
slope are the most monumentally architecture of the fort. The walls were built
with andesite-stone blocks measuring 0.75-0.50 m. The superstructure of this
blocks are mudbrick. More than 110 bronze arrowheads were discovered in front
of the south wall.
The monumentlal gate of the fortress was found on
the south-east corner of the fortification walls (Area V). Its width is more
than 4 metres. The gateway was paved with andesite-stone blocks and there was
found a post-hole of the gate. Additionally, in 1993, there was found a bolt of
door, which is made from iron.
Ayanis Excavations CONTINUE