Archaeologists have discovered Urartian king’s temple in Van excavations, Daily Sabah reports.
This year’s excavations at the Urartian castle’s site in Van’s Muradiye revealed the second temple of King Menua as well as a chamber tomb.
The excavations were carried out by the Van Museum with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
The archaeological excavations, supported by the Muradiye District Governorship and Municipality and led under the scientific consultancy of Sabahattin Erdogan, associate professor at the Department of Archeology of Van Yüzüncü Yıl University’s (YYÜ) Faculty of Letters, had started two months ago. During the excavations, a second temple without rizalite, or corner protrusions, the remains of a masonry chamber tomb built with the technique of corbelling, as well as pottery fragments and metal artifacts were discovered.
Excavations have finished for the time being with the weather conditions becoming unyielding, but will continue next year.
Urartu, also known as Kingdom of Van, centered around Lake Van in the historic Armenian Highlands. The kingdom rose to power in the mid-9th century BC, but went into gradual decline and was eventually conquered by the Iranian Medes in the early 6th century BC.
