Aktaş Fort (Fortress III)

 castle ruins, archaeological site

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The ruined site of the ancient fortress of Aktaş (also referenced as Fortress III of the Bulakbaşi fortified complex), located south of Bulakbaşi and west-northwest of Aktaş. The fortified circuit is well defined, and a number of building foundations are still visible. The site dates from the Urartian period. The largest fortress of the complex, it apparently served as a garrison town. It is suspected that it was established by King Rusa III (traditionally II, son of Argishti II) in the early 7th century BC, several generations after the founding of Minuahinili some 6 km to the northwest.

A. Özfirat, “Eriqua and Minuahinili: An Early Iron Age-Nairi Kingdom and Urartian Province on the Northern Slope of Mt Ağrı (Settlement Complexes at Melekli and Karakoyunlu),” Turkish Academy of Sciences Journal of Archaeology 21 (2017) 63-92.