Sandra Heinsch - Associate Professor Department of Near Eastern Archaeology at the Institute of Ancient History and Near Eastern Studies
Walter Kuntner - University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
Ali Darvish-Zadeh - University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
Gholam Shirzadeh - Research Center for Iranian Cultural Heritage Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, Bastam Camp, Iran
Keomars Haji Mohamadi - Islamic Azad University of Abhar Branch, Abhar, Iran

The Qara Zia-eddin plain is considered a prime example of land use in Southeastern Urartu in the Khoy region of West Azerbaijan. Since ۲۰۱۶, archaeological investigations have been carried out in the Bastam hinterland through the Iranian-Austrian cooperation with the aim of investigating the interaction of settlements with local hilltop fortresses and the use of landscape use in the time of the Urartian Kingdom. The starting point of the project work was in the south of the Qara Zia-eddin plain, with the special focus on the range of hills near the village of Chors. The Urartian fortified settlement of Anaqizly Tappeh was explored using both geomagnetic and archaeological surveys.

urartu, NW-Iran, Bastam, landscape archaeology, geomagnetic prospection, Iron Age III