Urartu

Savat, an important handcraft of the Urartians, was vanishing until recently. But the art is now being revived in an atelier by prisoners in a penitentiary in the eastern province of Van. 

Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient footprint at the Van Castle in eastern Turkey, believed to have belonged to an Urartian teenager who lived in the area some 3,000 years ago. Click through for the story in photos...

The construction of the Urartian Museum in the eastern province of Van has been completed and will soon open to display nearly 100,000 artifacts from various civilizations. The former museum suffered damage from earthquakes in 2011. 

An ancient Urartian settlement, rock tombs and a water tunnel have been unearthed by a researcher in the eastern province of Erzurum

Excavations in a Urartian necropolis in the eastern province of Van's Çavuştepe Castle, which has been plundered by treasure hunters in recent years, provide important details about Urartian burial customs. 

Pieces that have fallen from ornaments carved on big stones 2,700 years ago in the Ayanis Castle, built by the Urartian King Rusa II on a hill overlooking the Lake Van, are being attached to their original places with special materials. 

New findings have been obtained during excavations being carried out in the south of Van Fortress in the city of Van in southeast Turkey. 

An ancient Urartian sewage system, which was first discovered during excavations in 2004 in the Çavuştepe Castle in the eastern province of Van, has been unearthed. 

This year's works in the castle in the Gürpınar district of Van recently came to an end, after unearthing ancient vineyards, walls, cisterns, temples and palace structures. 

The motifs used in the Urartian civilization can now be seen in jewelry painstakingly produced in Van, the former center of the civilization Long-forgotten motifs and figures from the Urartian civilization, which was centered on the eastern province of Van more than 2,000 years ago, are now being used in silver jewelry using a number of ancient techniques.

The Urartian-era Çavu?tepe Castle in the eastern province of Van's Gürp?nar district has had its worst year in terms of visitors compared to the last 53 years. 

The castle, which was visited by nearly 30,000 tourists annually until last year, only received 1,500 visitors this year.