EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / Mehmet Isikli, head of the Department of Near Eastern Archaeology at Ankara University poses at the fortress of Ayanis near Van, in eastern Turkey, on August 4, 2026. Although it emerged later than the great Mesopotamian kingdoms of Assyria, Sumer, and Babylon, Urartu succeeded in uniting the tribal communities of the Autoru Mountains into a centralized state, building fortresses, provincial capitals, irrigation networks, and vast storage facilities to support an agricultural economy. (Photo by Ali IHSAN OZTURK / AFP via Getty Images)