The temple dedicated to the God Haldi by Rusa II (685–639 BC), son of Argisti II. The andesite walls of the temple were decorated with motifs using stone-engraving (intaglio) technique. During the religious ceremonies the weapons presented to God Haldi were first left on the podium inside the cella and then hung on the walls of the temple or piers. The weapons accumulated during the ceremonies repeated every year were removed after a certain time and placed in the temple storage rooms. These storage rooms all interconnected with only one entrance, built on the slope to the south of the temple courtyard, are entered by descending from the southwest corner of the temple courtyard. Hundreds of bronze and iron weapons and various finds unearthed during the excavations in the temple courtyard,and in the storage rooms of the temple.
See:
- Omur Harmansah, Event, Place, Performance: Rock Reliefs and Spring Monuments in Anatolia, in: Of Rocks and Water: Towards an Archaeology of Place, Edition: 1, Chapter: 11., Oxbow Books, 2014, pp.140-168
- Tuğba Solmaz, Emel Oybak Dönmez; Archaeobotanical studies at the Urartian site of Ayanis in Van Province, eastern Turkey, Turkish Journal of Botany 2013 - DOI:10.3906/bot-1204-3
- http://www.tayproject.org/TAYages.fm$Retrieve?CagNo=10476&html=ages_detail_e.html&layout=web
