The Van-Urmia culture was a Bronze Age culture responsible for painted ceramics (also called Urmia Ware) that spread around Lake Urmia (north-west Iran) and Lake Van (eastern Anatolia), extending into the parts of the South Caucasus. In post-Soviet sources, it is known as Karmirvank or Kizylvank culture, based on the name of a site in Nakhichevan. The term âÂÂUrmia styleâ or âÂÂUrmia Wareâ was first applied by archaeologist Michael R. Edwards to pottery found at the site of HaftavÃÂn Tepe (in the Urmia basin) at the VI B level of excavation. Later discovery of similar pottery in the Van region prompted the use of the term âÂÂVan-UrmiaâÂÂ.
Van-Urmia appeared (about 2200âÂÂ1300 BCE) after the Early Bronze Age Kura-Araxes culture went into decline. Scholars debate the reasons for this decline. Some proposed that new migrations were the cause, while others suggested internal reasons. Recent archaeogenetic studies revealed that another post-Kura-Araxes culture, the Trialeti-Vanadzor culture which shares some typological features with Urmia ware, emerged as a result of a migration from the Pontic-Caspian steppe. It is possible that the same migration played a role in the formation of Van-Urmia. However, currently, there is no ancient DNA from Van-Urmia burials and the available data from Hasanlu tepe Iron Age only indirectly hints at the presence of a Steppe-related migration.