Topraqkala is the site that forms the starting point of Urartu archeology, but the history of previous and destructive excavations has plunged this site into darkness. The presence of items in the antiquities market said to come from the Van region attracted the attention of Austen Henry Layard, which led to brief excavations at the Topraq-Kale site by the British Museum under Hormuzd Rasam in 1877, followed by research A shorter one was made by the British Museum. Unauthorized excavations have also continued. Karl Friedrich Lehmann-Haupt and Waldemar Black excavated here between 1898 and 1899, but research in the archives of the Ottoman Prime Minister's Office shows that their claims to have excavated there were untrue. This paper uses primary sources from the Ottoman archives to examine the history of excavations of one of the most iconic sites for the initiation of Urartian studies, and calls for a re-evaluation of what we think we know about Topraqkala and the provenance of its associated objects.