The thesis analyses the extension of the Urartian Empire and focuses on its northern provinces and frontier regions. It demonstrates how far the Urartian state extended to north in Transcaucasia...Show moreThe thesis analyses the extension of the Urartian Empire and focuses on its northern provinces and frontier regions. It demonstrates how far the Urartian state extended to north in Transcaucasia and shows the different degrees of political control exercised by the central imperial authority over the conquered regions. Urartu, like other ancient empires and states, was not a monolithic, contiguous political and territorial formation, and its boundaries were rather fluid and loosely defined than static like the borders of modern nation states. To achieve a better understanding of the archaeology of political control of the Urartian Empire, four categories and further subcategories of the Urartian cultural assemblage are defined that best represent the Urartian political/administrative landscape: architecture (subdivided by major administrative centres, fortresses and tombs), the display inscriptions, metalwork and pottery. By analysing the distribution of Urartian cultural assemblage, different zones are defined within the Urartian political/administrative landscape such as core, province and frontier, in which the central authority exercised its power and control to varying degrees.Show less
