Exploring the Southeast Frontier of the Urartian Kingdom. The Qara Zia-eddin-Survey: An Archaeological Prospection of Anaqizly Tappeh

Subject Areas : Archaeology

Sandra Heinsch ¹ , Walter Kuntner ² , Ali Darvish-Zadeh ³ , Gholam Shirzadeh ⁴ , Keomars Haji Mohamadi ⁵

1 - Associate Professor Department of Near Eastern Archaeology at the Institute of Ancient History and Near Eastern Studies
2 - University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
3 - University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
4 - Research Center for Iranian Cultural Heritage Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, Bastam Camp, Iran
5 - Islamic Azad University of Abhar Branch, Abhar, Iran

Received: 2022-03-11 Accepted : 2022-08-16 Published : 2022-08-24

Keywords: urartu, Bastam, landscape archaeology, geomagnetic prospection, Iron Age III, NW-Iran,

Abstract :

The Qara Zia-eddin plain is considered a prime example of land use in Southeastern Urartu in the Khoy region of West Azerbaijan. Since 2016, archaeological investigations have been carried out in the Bastam hinterland through the Iranian-Austrian cooperation with the aim of investigating the interaction of settlements with local hilltop fortresses and the use of landscape use in the time of the Urartian Kingdom. The starting point of the project work was in the south of the Qara Zia-eddin plain, with the special focus on the range of hills near the village of Chors. The Urartian fortified settlement of Anaqizly Tappeh was explored using both geomagnetic and archaeological surveys.