However, the small area that they have already unearthed amazed many researchers. This structure is considered to be one of the earliest exemplars of the architecture of the Kingdom of Van.
This structure is fairly similar to the buildings discovered in Pasargadae, the capital of the ancient Achaemenid Empire. However, those are built from soft shale, while the Van structure is built from hard basalt. Besides, the Chaush tepe is several centuries older.
At a depth of about one meter around and within the fortress, archaeologists discovered the oldest sewage in the world with 3000 years of age.
The neatness of the fortress’ stone blocks is particularly amazing because scientists aren’t aware of a technology that would be able to produce such stones thousands of years ago. To be more precise, the researchers don’t yet understand how the architects of Van managed to shape such a hard material as basalt. The well-thought-out design of the sewage also amazed the archaeologists.
The excavations in the fortress commenced relatively recently, so archaeologists have much more to discover under the earth.
On October 1, 2026, an armed Azerbaijani soldier entered a family home in Syunik, Armenia.…
A 19th-century Baluch rug beside a 13th-century khachkar from Hovhannavank: a shared design logic, and…
A portrait from the Armenian highlands Two women stand before a painted studio backdrop of…
1. What Was Published on September 25 Aram Navasardyan, head of the Armenian branch of…
Why the topic is back in focus Over the past four months, the gas issue…
It's often assumed that the "Albanization" of Armenian heritage — the policy of declaring medieval…