Archaeologists have just made an exciting discovery after a lake in Turkey has yielded a hidden 3,000-year-old castle which has been lost to time up until very recently. The castle was found deep in the depths of Lake Van, an enormous lake and the second largest in the Middle East.

Researchers have been hard at work for a decade with a group of divers plumbing the depths of the Turkish lake, and archeologists from Van Yüzüncü Yıl University were very pleased to finally announce that the 3,000-year-old castle they had been seeking had been found in absolutely sparkling condition.

From time immemorial, the idea of hidden kingdoms and lost cities is one which has fascinated people, and Tahsin Ceylan continued searching for the castle and reputed monster of the lake, undaunted by those who didn’t believe they would find anything in Lake Van, as ScienceAlert report.

“There was a rumor that there might be something under the water but most archaeologists and museum officials told us that we won’t find anything.”

The 3,000-year-old castle under the lake in Turkey runs for approximately 1 kilometer and the walls which creep around it currently stand at 3 to 4 meters high. Both have been extremely well-preserved thanks to the high alkaline levels of the water in Lake Van.

Archaeologists and divers had been searching Lake Van in Turkey for a decade before discovering the 3,000-year-old castle in the lake. [Image by Burhan OzbiliciI/AP Images]

Archeologists believe that the sunken castle is a product of the Iron Age and was built by a civilization of people known as the Uratu, or the Kingdom of Van. These people populated the region from the 9th to 6th centuries B.C., although there have been many different civilization and groups of people living in the community around the lake, as Tahsin Ceylan noted.

“Many civilizations and people had settled around Lake Van. They named the lake the ‘upper sea’ and believed it had many mysterious things. With this belief in mind, we are working to reveal the lake’s secrets.”

This massive lake has gone through many changes over time, including its water levels. It is thought that when the Uratu civilization were inhabiting this region the water levels would have been markedly lower than they are now and have risen greatly with time, eventually swallowing the city and 3,000-year-old castle.

Well-preserved 3,000-year-old CASTLE is found at bottom of biggest lake in Turkey https://t.co/id5UbselsX — Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) November 18, 2017

Archaeologists are currently unable to pinpoint just how deeply the castle walls have been buried in Lake Van and fieldwork in this area will continue so that researchers will be able to glean more information about this hidden structure and the people who would have originally built it. Yet this lack of knowledge doesn’t detract from the discovery of the previously hidden structure and, as Ceylan readily acknowledges, the detection of the castle itself could almost be called a miracle.

“It is a miracle to find this castle underwater. Archaeologists will come here to examine the castle’s history and provide information on it. We have detected the castle’s exact location and photographed it and have made progress in our research. We now believe we have discovered a new area for archaeologists and historians to study.”

With so many civilizations having lived around Lake Van in Turkey, the 3,000-year-old castle found within it may be just one of many dazzling discoveries to come.

[Featured Image by Burhan Ozbilici/AP Images]