Urartu settlement archeology in Eastern Anatolia Region

As the famous geographer Yi-Fu Tuan states, 'Geography is the key to understanding man's relationship with the universe'. The Urartians, the first political power in Eastern Anatolia, which has the most challenging geography among the 7 regions of Turkey, continued their existence between the 9th and 7th century BC. The key to being permanent in this rugged geography separated from each other by high mountain ranges is to dominate the geography. The Urartu Kingdom, which succeeded in this quite well, left behind many unique materials and cultural remains as well as unique architectural artefacts. As a result of the geography of the region, the castles, cities and settlements, which were built earthquake-resistant as a result of the rational use of stones in architecture, also give us clues about the Urartu Kingdom's perspective on nature. Until now, most of the studies on the Urartu Kingdom have been related to the evaluation of these important architectural artefacts in terms of both the use of raw materials and construction techniques. These architectural remains were generally evaluated as provincial centres, local administration centres, garrisons and/or temporary permanent residences according to their size, purpose of use and location. Few studies have analysed the relationship between these remains and geography. However, the Urartu Kingdom, as the first political power of the region, has taken geography into consideration in the settlement practices it has developed as a state policy since its emergence on the stage of history. It planned the locations of the fortresses, the lower cities planned together with these fortresses, the suitable environments for agriculture and animal husbandry and the irrigation systems that would provide this suitable environment according to the possibilities of geography as a whole, and ensured the improvement of the deficient aspects. In the 200 years of its existence, the kingdom left more than three hundred castles, nearly two hundred mounds and about a hundred flat settlements in Eastern Anatolia, which have been registered by excavations, surveys and Cultural Heritage Protection Boards. Eightynine irrigation systems and numerous mining and stone quarries associated with these settlements form a holistic settlement system. What prompted us to carry out this study is to examine the relationship between this holistic settlement policy and geography with the method of induction. The aim of the study is to revitalise the relationship of the Urartian Kingdom with the geography it lived in and the reflections of this relationship on the settlements. In order to reveal this relationship, support was received from Geographical Information Systems infrastructure. The study helped to reveal the connection between geography and settlements through various analyses carried out with the help of Geographical Information Systems. In this way, Urartian settlements in the Eastern Anatolia Region were examined according to criteria such as geological and climatic characteristics of the geography where they were established; proximity to water resources and road networks; and accessibility to raw material resources. In the study supported by maps prepared in ArcGIS programme, all settlements of the Urartian Kingdom identified so far were evaluated as a whole. At the end of the study, the purposes of use of the settlements were conveyed to the scientific world with their justifications. Key Words : Urartu Kingdom, Settlement Archaeology, Urban Archaeology, Geographical Information Systems, Urartu architecture. Quantity of Page: xxiv+500 Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Rafet ÇAVUŞOĞLU, 2nd Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ayşegül KELEŞ ERİÇOK