Iron Age Fortress Architecture in Erzurum: New Approaches and Analytical Investigations

Erzurum and its nearby hinterland have exhibited settlement continuity traceable through architectural remains since the Chalcolithic period, and it underwent a significant development in defensive architecture under the influence of the political entities that dominated the region throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages. This study evaluates Iron Age fortress architecture by integrating field data and remote sensing outputs from 22 fortress examples. The research is supported by surface survey observations, UAV-based photogrammetry, DEM/DSM production, and GIS-based spatial analyses, through which the fortresses’ location, elevation, visibility, topographic dominance, and route-control parameters were quantified and compared. Within this framework, cyclopean masonry, curtain wall–bastion arrangements, entrance layouts, rock-cut stairways, rock-cut water tunnels, and cisterns are examined in detail. The relationships between Urartian central architectural traditions and their provincial adaptations are discussed. The findings indicate that these fortresses functioned as multi-purpose centers that, beyond their military fortification character, established a defense and communication network along the frontier and assumed administrative and economic control roles. This integrated approach interprets the fortress pattern in the Erzurum Basin as a regional system of defense and governance, providing new data for understanding the rural architecture of Urartu and Diauehi and the dynamics of center–periphery relations.