Teishebaini Archaeological Site

Teishebaini is the ruined site of an Iron Age fortified settlement associated with the ancient kingdom of Urartu, located on the tell known as Karmir Blur near modern Yerevan. The site represents a planned administrative and military center from the first millennium BCE and is named in modern scholarship after the Urartian storm god Teisheba.

Excavations have revealed fortification walls, building foundations and a large assemblage of pottery and small finds that illustrate urban and administrative functions rather than isolated temples. The mound preserves multiple occupation layers typical of a tell site and yields material important for understanding Urartian state organization.

Archaeological work in the early 20th century uncovered much of the site’s layout and collected artifacts now held in regional museums. Over time the site fell out of use and survived as a raised archaeological mound; it is now primarily an archaeological locality rather than a reconstructed tourist complex.

Teishebaini sits on the outskirts of Yerevan in Armenia, occupying a raised tell (Karmir Blur) within the broader Ararat plain landscape and within easy reach of the city’s archaeological institutions.

• Site form: Located at the archaeological mound locally known as Karmir Blur (Red Hill) on the outskirts of Yerevan, visible as a tell rather than a standing complex.