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Archaeologists in Turkey have unearthed the frame of an elite soul who may have met an untimely death during an earthquake in the region 2,700 old age ago .
Wearing jewelry and border by weapons and artifacts , such as a double - sided lettering , and SEAL – little item used for " show signature , secret dimension , ownership and authority , " this soul no doubt lived an opulent living in the 8th century B.C. until they fell to their death within the fortress , with their personal belongings in tow , saidMehmet Işıklı , head of the Ayanis excavations and professor in the Atatürk University Department of Archaeology .
Aerial view of the skeleton found this year at Ayanis Castle.
The fortress was build up in Ayanis , anUrartiancenter in Turkey ’s Van province where the frame was find . The Iron Age land ofUrartureigned from the ninth to sixth hundred B.C.and spanned from what is now Armenia to westerly Iran to eastern Turkey , where Ayanis is located .
scholar have long speculated that an earthquake and subsequent fire have the downfall of Ayanis . Since archeological site began there in the late eighties , there has been a " lack of such evidence to underpin the proposed earthquake scenarios for the end of the city , " Işıklı told Live Science via email . The determination of this skeleton lends vital grounds to the earthquake surmise , Işıklı said .
Anthropological analytic thinking will be conducted on the skeleton to determine the individual ’s age and sex , and to verify if any shadow of the mastermind remain , although there is debate among researchers as to whether any soft tissue remains .
The recently restored Haldi Temple.
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A double - sided inscribed cuneiform pad , find out with the skeleton , will be translate and published soon . reckon on the content of the dedication , it may be possible to fix this someone ’s persona and class in Urartian society , as well as to give worthful context to the social or political activities at Ayanis .
According to Işıklı , not only is the skeleton " super well preserve " but " the skull is in honest term , and accord to the preliminary information we have welcome , " there may be chemically degraded traces of the learning ability remaining .
Aerial view of the temple area.
Erkan Konyar , an associate professor in the Department of Ancient account at Istanbul University who is not involve in the finding but has unearth other Urartian finding , warn that brain tissue paper does not typically survive in the climate of Van , which let in the monumental Lake Van and is over a mile above sea stage ( 5,380 foot , or 1,640 metre ) . Rather , head tissue is probable to endure only in swampyor glacial environments . grounds that first looks like brain tissue are really " traces form by set soil , " Konyar told Live Science in an email . Işıklı tell further anthropological testing is needed to reassert the remains of tissue , along with other machine characteristic of the skeleton .
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After the " magnificent " city of Ayanis was build by King Rusa II in the mid - 7th one C B.C. , " the realm quickly entered the process of collapse and collapse shortly after , " Işıklı said . Therefore , clues to the realm ’s collapse may lie down within the walls of the Ayanis citadel . Ayanis is " the only digging project that has the potential to remove the job of this acme and collapse of the realm , " Işıklı said .
late excavations within the bastion have unearthed the Haldi Temple , which has undergone restoration since 2020 , along with its Edward Durell Stone carving honoring Haldi , the Prime Minister god inUrartian religion . A phone number of suite in the synagogue have been excavate of late , and there are plans to create an open - aura museum for holidaymaker to visit the temple .
