Votive plaquette from the Urartian bronze hoard of Giyimli. Late Urartian, 7th- early 6th century BC.
A male figure with two quivers crosswise on the back and holding a standard.
The plaquette was cut from a large (and older) belt, and embossed with the new representation afterwards, to be reused as a votive plaquette.

Regarding the Urartian bronze hoard of Giyimli:
In the summer of 1971 in the village of Giyimli (formerly Hirkanis) in the district of Gürpınar (15 km south of Van), during the construction of the village mosque, the villagers found approximately 2000 bronze plaques while destroying an Urartian building for its stone material. These objects consisted of offering plaques, belt fragments, horse frontals, pendants, etc., and were immediately sold to the local antique dealers for very low prices. The majority of the Giyimli bronzes were sold outside Turkey, to private collectors as well as to museums; a small part stayed in Turkish possession, scattered in museums in Ankara, Adana, Van, Istanbul, Gaziantep, Maraş, etc.
In the summer of 1972 the University of Istanbul undertook systematic excavations on the finding spot (called ‘Serdartepe’). Although very few new objects were unearthed, some light was thrown on the global context of this bronze hoard. Consensus was also reached about its dating: the late Urartian period (7th-early 6th century BC) for the reused items, and up to 750 BC for untouched objects.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen
Sources: ‘Urartu, vergeten cultuur uit het bergland Armenië’ – Cataloog Tentoonstelling Gent okt ’82-jan ’83.
& ‘The Urartian Bronze Hoard from Giyimli’ – Orhan Aytuğ Taşyürek.