Contributions of the Ayanis Fortress to Iron Age Chronology

This paper deals primarily with the chronological issues of the seventh century BC and post-Urartian period from the perspective ofAyanis Fortress. According to dendrocronological results, Ayanis Fortress was built between 677 and 673 BC. These dates seem reasonable when we consider the Shupria campaign of Assyrian king Esarhaddon in 673-72 BC, and the Ayanis temple inscription which mentions that Rusa deported people from the lands of Assur. Ayanis Fortress must have been collapsed before 653 BC. This view is supported by a text of Asurbanipal that mentions an Urartian King 'Rusa', possibly Rusa III, relating to his conquest ofElam in 653 BC. After the collapse ofAyanis Fortress the local inhabitants continued to live in the Outher Town since Triangle Ware, a new element, was found together with the Urartian ceramics. Thus, it is reasonable to suggest that the local people ofAyanis did not abandon the area, but rather co-habitated with immigrants.