2,900-year-old Urartu archeological park to be opened to public
Three sarcophagi containing the sole specimens from the Urartu Kingdom were found at the site.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFAN AMPHITHEATER at the archaeological ruins of the Ionian city of Ephesus, in western Turkey. (photo credit: NATI SHOHAT/FLASH90)Turkey will open the ruins of Altintepe Fortress to tourists and visitors, according to Turkish news outlet Anadolu Agency.The 2,900-year-old fortress is located in the Erzincan province on the Silk Road. It was a center of the Byzantine Empire and an important Urartu settlement built between 850 and 890 BC.Turkey's Culture and Tourism Ministry began archeological excavations at the site in 2003, according to Anadolu Agency. The dig was completed in 2019, meaning that the site can now be opened to the public as an archeological park.The site has hundreds of historical artifacts and ruins of structures. Three sarcophagi containing the sole specimens from the Urartu Kingdom were found at the site, Mehmet Karaosmanoglu, head of the Archeology Department at Ataturk University, told Anadolu Agency."The reception hall in the castle, belonging to the Urartu period, is the largest and only example of those found in Anatolia so far," Karaosmanoglu said of other points of interest at the site.
