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Before Croesus, 2,600-Year-Old Sardis Stepped Terraces Shaped Lydia’s Royal Capital
Sardis stepped terraces are giving archaeologists a new way to read one of the ancient world’s most powerful capitals: not only as a city of wealth, but as a city deliberately engineered into authority. A new study by Güzin Eren, published in Arkeoloji Dergisi, examines a group of 2,600-year-old stepped terraces built during the reign…
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Urartian Bronze Shield Reveals the Name of a Previously Unknown Ancient Country
A bronze shield belonging to the Urartian king Argišti I has produced a rare historical surprise: the name of a land never before recorded in Urartian sources. The shield, now part of the collection of the Rezan Has Museum, carries a cuneiform inscription that identifies a country called Qarini—a name absent from known royal annals,…
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76 Cuneiform-Inscribed Pithoi Unearthed at Kevenli Fortress: The Largest Ancient Storage Complex of the Urartian Kingdom
Archaeologists excavating Kevenli Fortress, located on the lower slopes of Mount Erek in eastern Turkey’s Van province, have uncovered 76 massive storage jars (pithoi) bearing cuneiform markings. The discovery represents the largest known ancient storage facility in the region and provides unprecedented insight into Urartian agricultural and administrative systems. The Urartian Kingdom, which flourished from…