Archaeological relics related to the Kingdom of Urartu (860 BC – 590 BC) has recently been found in Anaqizli mount, Chaypareh county, northwest Iran, Tehran Times reports.

A local official revealed that a team of Iranian and foreign archaeologists discovered some architectural and other remains, which are associated with the Kingdom of Urartu in a trench they had dug on Anaqizli mount of Chaypareh, CHTN said.

The official added that pieces of potteries and bones have also been discovered during the survey.

“The excavated layers have been carefully documented,” he said, adding that the surface of excavated trench was fully covered with plastic [shields] for further protection.”

The kingdom rose to power in the mid-9th century BC, but it went into gradual decline and was eventually conquered by the Iranian Medes in the early 6th century BC.

Urartu, an ancient country in southwest Asia centred in the mountainous region southeast of the Black Sea and southwest of the Caspian Sea. Today the region is divided among Armenia, eastern Turkey, and northwestern Iran. Mentioned in Assyrian sources from the early 13th century BC, Urartu enjoyed considerable political power in the Middle East in the 9th and 8th centuries BC.