Bastam (Azerbaijan-e-gharbi)
Bastam بسطام one of the principal fortresses urartéennes, is named Rusa-i Uru Tur in élamite, dating from seventh century BC and is located in current the province of Western Azerbaijan, in the North-West of the Iran. It is the second larger fortress urartéenne after that of Tushpa.
Geographical position
Bastam is located at the top of a hill escarpée at the edge of the river Aq Çay, ordering a plain located on a major transportation route between the capital urartéenne Tushpa, the Arménie and the Azerbaïdjan.The plain around was irrigated in Antiquity by channels.
History
The first traces of settlement go back to the OJ, beside the modern village of Bastam, with the foot of the hill. The plain was integrated into Urartu into, with the construction of a first small fortress on the hill. The city gained in importance in first half of the 7th century, benefitting from the reorganization of the kingdom by Rusa II (685-655 av. J. - C.). Bastam was most powerful of the fortresses built for this king, but its power was of short duration, since it was conquered towards the end of the reign of Rusa II, possibly by Scythes. Human bones were not found, which indicates that the city was evacuated before being plundered and entirely burnt.
Bastam was not concerned its destruction; some traces of occupation remain, and under the Mèdes or the Achéménides a small portion of the city was rebuilt and inhabited for a short period, then still under the Parthes and the Sassanides. The last occupation goes back to the Middle Ages, when Arménie NS there settled and raised the fortifications. With the Mongolian invasion at the 13th century, Bastam was definitively given up and fell into the lapse of memory, the populations settling with the foot of the hill in the village from which the citadel draws its modern name.
The existence of Bastam was revealed by with an inscription of foundation which one went up the trace to the village of Bastam, in 1910. However, the fortress itself was found only in 1967 by Wolfram Kleiss of the German archaeological Institute of Teheran. Kleiss and Stephan Kroll directed an international team of archeologists during the excavations of 1969 to 1978, until the excavations are stopped by the revolution. They were taken again in 1999 by ICHO under the direction of Hamid Khatib Shahidi.
Description
In the plain contrary to the Fortress, a strengthened complex was found, dependant on the breeding of the horses. To the foot of the hill, to north, a center of population extends, where were accommodated the official ones and the merchants.The fortress measures approximately 800m on 400m; it is staged on three levels. The material of constuction is the brick dried, on stone foundations. The fortress is protected by ramparts comprising from the rectangular turns and the buttresses.
The entry in the low part is done by a single door in the south, flanked by a Tour. In this part of the Citadel, one finds the huts of the garrison, the cattle sheds being able to contain an about sixty horses, a mill, kitchens and small stores.
In the average part, the cereals, the wine and oil were stored in broad stores. One also found the bones flarings of several hundreds of animal carcasses. At side a Plateforme is on which the temple-turn mentioned was drawn up in the inscriptions of foundation, dedicated to the Haldi god.
The high part is the royal residence, where painted plaster fragments were found.
The city having been carefully plundered before its destruction, the excavations made it possible to find only few objects; one can however note:
- of the royal letters in Wedge-shaped on clay shelves and other inscriptions on stones;
- 1240 bubbles of clays with seals representing the king, of the princes and the notable ones;
- of the iron weapons;
- of the Scythian arrowheads ;
- of the elements of pieces of furniture in Bronze;
- of the cylinder seals;
- a Rhyton.