Archaeological work takes Van's prehistory back to the start of the Chalcolithic, between 5000 and 3000 BC. The first people to found a state here were the Hurrians, around 2000 BC. Local peoples descended from them founded Urartu around 900 BC, with its capital at Tušpa — Van itself — and until 612 BC the Urartians ruled territory reaching south as far as upper Mesopotamia.
Van castle, the long rock above the old city, was built by king Sarduri in the 9th century BC. When the Assyrians, raiding from Mesopotamia into Anatolia at the beginning of the 7th century, took the castle, the Urartians founded a new city, Rusahinili — Toprakkale — near Tušpa and carried on from there. The Medes ended the Urartian kingdom in 612 BC.
