The Tuspa Mound Columned Hall

Abstract

Tuspa, the capital city of the Urartian kingdom, today identified with the Van Fortress, rises on a conglomerate rock and extends approximately 1,250 meters long in the east-west direction, 70-80 meters wide in the north-south and rises approximately 100 meters high on the eastern shores of Lake Van. The Tuspa Mound, which has been continuously settled since the Bronze Age, was the lower settlement of the city during the Urartian period and extends along the north of the citadel. The excavations carried out between 2010-2019 at the Tuspa Citadel and Mound revealed important chronological and stratigraphic data. The Tuspa Mound excavations in particular unearthed structure layers, as well as the architectural and material culture, related to the Urartian period. The identification of building levels belonging to the Middle and Modern Ages, Post-Urartian/Late Iron Age, Urartian, Early Iron, and Bronze Ages has provided important contributions to understanding the settlement history of the Lake Van Basin. In this article, the structure and archaeological data of the columned hall belonging to the Early Urartian Building Level, which was unearthed as a result of 10 years of excavation at Tuspa Mound are evaluated and the results are interpreted.