Research Information System
Ancient Near Eastern Studies, vol.60, pp.149-165, 2023 (ESCI)
This study investigates water management systems at fortresses and cities built by the Urartian King¬dom, focusing on questions such as how water was supplied to settlements and where it was stored. The Urartians often preferred to build their settlements close to freshwater sources in the plains and at the intersections of main roads along the rocky ridges and on top of high rocky outcrops in the mountainous terrain. Although Urartian royal inscriptions state that canals and fountains were built to meet the water needs of the newly established settlements, texts do not provide sufficient information on water supply and storage systems at the settlements. Considering the locations where Urartian fortresses and lower city settlements are founded' we would expect to see cisterns and similar water storage facilities at these habitation centers. However, with a few exceptions, no such structure has been documented by archaeological investigations at Urartian sites. Despite the absence of cisterns, on the other hand, multiple storage rooms with sunken pithoi have been unearthed at almost every excavated Urartian settlement. In Urartian studies, storage buildings with pithoi are generally regarded as storage units dedicated to the storage of wine and other liquid commodities. In this study，we suggest that the storage rooms with pithoi were also used for storing drinking water for the communities inhabiting Urartian fortresses and lower towns.