Surprising discovery in Van: This is how the Urartians buried their dead

In the Gürpınar district of Van, where important findings that shed light on history are unearthed every year, a first has occurred during the excavation works started this year at Çavuştepe Castle, which will shed light on the Urartian burial tradition.

The mysterious secrets of history are being solved with the excavation works started at Çavuştepe Castle, built by the Urartian King Sarduri II, and the necropolis (cemetery) area in its northern part. A first was experienced in the first season of this year in the excavations carried out under the presidency of Prof. Dr. Rafet Çavuşoğlu, Head of the Archaeology Department of the Faculty of Letters at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University (Van YYÜ), with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

In the necropolis, where different burial customs coexist, 4 different burial methods had been encountered before. In the excavations carried out this year, the ashes of a cremated body were found placed directly into a cist grave, in a way never seen before.

Prof. Dr. Rafet Çavuşoğlu, Head of the Archaeology Department of the Faculty of Letters at Van YYÜ, stated that the excavations at Çavuştepe Castle and the necropolis began on July 16, 2024, with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Expressing that the excavation area consists of two parts, Prof. Dr. Çavuşoğlu said, “There are two types of burials in the necropolis. One of these is 'cremation', which we call burying the dead by burning, and the other is the body burial form. After burning the bodies, they bury the ashes in jars. Body burial is in the form of direct burial into the ground. However, we have encountered 4 types. The first of these are burial forms arranged in stone rows, the second is the direct burial of the body into the ground, the third is what we call the cist type, where they arrange all four sides in the shape of a chest, and we have also encountered another urn grave type.”

“A FIRST WITHIN THE BURIAL TRADITION”

Stating that they have reached the most surprising finding in the new term excavations, Çavuşoğlu said, “Previously, a body had been found inside a jar within a grave type called a cist for the first time. However, this time, we encountered the ashes of the deceased being placed inside a grave of the cist type after the body was cremated. This appeared as the first application within this burial tradition. It was an important finding for us as archaeological data.”

“OVAL WALLS RETAIN THEIR MYSTERY”

Stating that they have not yet solved the secret of the wall continuing around the necropolis, Çavuşoğlu continued his words as follows:

“Stone rows in the form of a wall continue around the area. One of our biggest efforts regarding what this contains archaeologically is to solve the secret of this wall. The wall continues in an oval shape. Why was this wall needed in the cemetery area? We are also looking for the answer to this in these excavations. On the other hand, Çavuştepe Castle constitutes the peak point of Urartu. The burials here begin during the kingdom period, which constitutes the peak point. We estimate that the burial in the necropolis continued for 250-300 years. Because it seems that this continued even after the Urartian State collapsed. When the Urartian State collapsed, the people did not disappear; they continued their lives here.”