AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION FROM 2700 YEARS OLD PITHOS

The pithoi (ceramic jars) recently unearthed during the excavations in Van, the capital of the Urartians, are important in terms of culture and ceramic history. These findings, which show that the Urartians, an agricultural society, stored products such as oil, grain and beverages, shed light on their eating and drinking behavior 2700 years ago.

Van, which was used as the capital of the Urartians who ruled between 900-600 BC, is one of the provinces where the most artifacts from that period have been unearthed. In the city, where there are many castles from the Urartian period, valuable artifacts unearthed in many places, especially Ayanis and Cavustepe castles, during the excavations carried out with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, are exhibited in the Van Museum. Van Museum, which opened to visitors in 2019, is described as the "richest museum in the world" in terms of Urartian artifacts.

Excavations and restoration works at Ayanis Castle, one of the most magnificent structures of the Urartian Kingdom, located in Tusba district, have been continuing for 36 years. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Isikli, a lecturer at the Department of Archeology at Ataturk University and the head of these excavations, says that the region is one of the only points in Urartian archeology where excavations have continued uninterruptedly for 36 years. Nearly 30 thousand works, studied and inventoried, were delivered to the museum.

Lastly, during the archaeological excavations carried out in the castle ruins at the foothills of Erek Mountain in Ipekyolu district, under the scientific consultancy of Assoc. Prof. Rifat Kuvanc, faculty member of the Department of Art History of Igdir University, cuneiform pithoi, where oil, grain and drinks were preserved during the Urartian period, were unearthed. These findings, which reveal the ties between ceramics and gastronomy, are important for cultural history and allow us to have information about the eating and drinking behaviors of past cultures. The recently found pithoi show that the Urartians, an agricultural society, stored their agricultural products. Assoc. Dr. Kuvanç states that the cuneiform inscriptions and different sign groups on the pithoi provide information about the stored products: “It seems that sesame oil and wine were especially preserved. Again, there is information about the measurement units of pithoi in cuneiform writings. With this information, we can learn how much product is kept in the warehouse area. We can say that it is a large center where agricultural products in the Van Plain are stored.”