Grave of Urartian Woman Buried with Jewelry Unearthed in Van

A grave belonging to a noble Urartian woman buried with her jewelry was found at the Çavustepe Castle (Haykaberd, meaning Fortress of Hayk) in the province of Van, Daily Sabah reports.

Since 2017, excavation works have been ongoing at the Castle, conducted by a team of academics led by professor Rafet Çavusoglu, head of the archaeology department at Van’s Yüzüncü Yil University.

Over the course of the protracted dig, the team discovered a necropolis believed to mark the burial site of the Urartian ruling class.

Recently, this has led to the unearthing of the skeletal remains of a woman buried with a full set of exquisite jewelry. The team’s anthropologists are now set to examine the skeleton in a lab environment to determine the cause of death and the exact age of the woman.

Urartu also known as the Kingdom of Van, is an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the historic Armenian Highlands. The kingdom rose to power in the mid-9th century BC, but went into gradual decline and was eventually conquered by the Iranian Medes in the early 6th century BC.