ICEVO studies mainly Eastern Mediterranean (Greece, Turkey, Syria) and
Near Eastern (Armenia, Iran) countries. Among the research carried on in
these nations the Urartu Project stands out because of its
multidisciplinary character and of the number of international
collaborations. In our days the territory of the ancient kingdom of
Urartu, a mighty state rival of the Assyrian empire, is divided among
Turkey, Armenia, Iran and Iraq. Political difficulties notwithstanding
this Institute organises archaeological expeditions based on co-operation
agreements with local research institutions.
This Institute contributes significantly to the study of this little-known
civilisation, both in the archaeological and the philological-historical
fields of research. The co-operation with the Izmir University for
excavations at Ayanis, an ancient fortress on the eastern coast of the Van
Lake, began 13 years ago. The remarkable results of the excavation, which
gave very important results for architecture, sculpture, inscriptions and
bronze objects, were published in 2001 in a volume of our series Documenta
Asiana, with contribution of authors of various countries. Also the
restoration of the bronze objects, scarcity of funds notwithstanding, is
organised by this Institute. The collaboration with the Academy of
Sciences of Armenia allows us to study organisation and territorial
control of the northeastern frontier of the Urartian kingdom. Research
showed that Urartian settlement and organisational patterns, based not on
cities but on fortresses that had both military and economical,
administrational, political and religious functions, derived directly from
the Caucasian tradition. The results are published by Italian and Armenian
scholars in volume VII of Documenta Asiana.
Gathering and interpretation of the Urartian cuneiform inscriptions, now
in an advanced state of preparation, is the highlight of the project. The
corpus is mainly composed by rock inscriptions or stele connected with
military expeditions, which give a significant contribution to historical
geography, by inscriptions connected with building of fortresses, temples,
canals, storerooms etc., by dedications to deities and religious rituals,
short texts on bronze objects; clay tablets and bullae for administrative
purposes. Two types of writing exist, the scholarly one (cuneiform) and
the popular one (so called "hieroglyphic"), with a very simple structure
and locally invented.
The Urartu project includes other programmes, among them an archaeological
survey in northwestern Iran, which studies the eastern border of the
kingdom, and a research on the site of Tushpa, the Urartian capital,
presently Van in eastern Turkey. In co-operation with German institution
the publication of the plan of the monumental site, where mediaeval
remains overlap and join the Urartian ones, is being prepared.
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