Urartian Fortress Explored in the South Caucasus

Archaeology Magazine ^ | October 17, 2025 | editors / unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

La Brújula Verde reports that Argishtikhinili, a 2,500-year-old Urartian fortress in western Armenia, is being studied by a team of Armenian and Polish archaeologists. The excavation has yielded living areas, a storage room or pantry, and a one-and-one-half-foot-tall stone carved with human features. Mateusz Iskra of the University of Warsaw said that the well-preserved dwellings were made of earth and have intact floors made of adobe bricks and stone slabs. A room with several large vessels for storing food embedded in the floor was found within one of these large residences. An adjoining room held a stone carved with human features leaning against a stone box. "It was an idol-like figurine, preserved in its original position," Iskra said. The face has eyebrows, closely set eyes, an elongated nose, and thin lips. Similar stones have been found at other sites in the region, suggesting that they may be linked to a local cult, he added. The researchers plan to analyze the contents of the box for clues to how the carving may have been used. A well-preserved cremation necropolis was also found at the fortress site. Bioarchaeologst Hasmik Simonyan of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia explained that cremains had been placed in ceramic containers and were often accompanied by funerary goods. To read about the successor of the Urartian Empire, go to "Rise of the Persian Princes."

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TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: argishtikhinili; armenia; godsgravesglyphs; urartians; urartu

[SunkenCiv]

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The other GGG topics added since the previous digest ping, alpha:

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• Rare Roman Legionary Helmet Looted from Serbia Appears in U.S. Auction [10/25/2025]
• Rethinking Australia's Origins: When Did the First Humans Really Arrive? [10/24/2025]
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• Woman arrested over theft of gold worth $1.7 million from Paris Natural History Museum [10/23/2025]

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[SunkenCiv]

In before #1 vanishes.

[SunkenCiv]

Adrian Chlebowski / CAŚ UW

[BradyLS]

Thanks for the ping!

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure. I’m running the keywords (eight of them I think) and once it’s processed, if the sorted / duplicates out version is short enough, I’ll post that too.

[SunkenCiv]

Ooh, more than 90 links. I’ll wait until page two.

[BradyLS]

It astounds me how archeologists find these places. They were always there, of course, but triangulating any extant documents with local legends and geographic maps can’t be easy.

[SunkenCiv]

Often they’re just located because the local folks had always been aware of them and someone heard about it. With orbital surveys more have been found, which is important in sparsely populated areas. Oh, and just call me Cap’t Obvious. 🎩

[Red Badger]

“The face has eyebrows, closely set eyes, an elongated nose, and thin lips”

Cher?.................

[Alas Babylon!]

You’d know if she could turn back time!

[Red Badger]

She’s 79, will me 80 in May.

Probably has more bondo than a 69 Camaro...............

[BradyLS]

That’s right! I forgot the orbital surveys! I think there are folks whose hobby is to go through things like Google Earth looking for what might turn up in a remote place. I’ve done that once for looking at things like the Nazca Lines.