Lake Van Basin Urartian Period Road Routes Survey: First Preliminary Report (2017-2018): Muradiye and Tuşba Districts

For about two-hundred-fifty years between the mid-9th - early 6th centuries BC, the Urartian Kingdom established its hegemony in Eastern Anatolia and the neighboring regions of Northwestern Iran, Nakhchivan, and Armenia, as the most influential political, military, and economic power of its time. Despite the rugged geography and rough climatic conditions of this mountainous terrain, the Urartu thrived by developing a centralized administrative state apparatus. Urartu excelled in many areas of state-building, including road networks. Particularly textual sources and supporting archaeological evidence demonstrate the importance of road networks for the Urartian state. Surveys in Tushba and Muradiye districts have allowed us to identify the main route of the northern capital road, which continues north and reaches Muradiye Plain, and an alternative northern route that follows the Karasu Stream valley towards Muradiye Plain. An eastern route, which enabled the kingdom to exert control in Northwestern Iran, goes through Özalp district of Van province across the modern border to Iran and reaches Hoy and Salmas. These alternative and auxiliary routes along deep canyons that developed over time suggest that the Urartian state had established an intricate security web in its dominion.