Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The territory of ancient Azerbaijan conceals many secrets and mysteries, as its underground is rich with many historical and cultural artifacts.

Recent findings located 2,000 meters above of sea level in the Great Caucasus Mountains confirm human habitation on the territory of Azerbaijan before our era.

Some 12 ancient stone box graves were found in the Guba region’s Oduj village, according to Report.az. The findings were discovered accidentally by herders, who had been herding their sheep near the graves.

Zahid Aslanov, a 63-year-old herdsman, noted that his sheep had been grazing on the territory for 40 years and had never noticed the graves before.

“The territory is situated 55 meters from the settlement. We always use this area while going to summer and winter pastures. This area is always covered in snow. But, this year, the snow has melted and the graves appeared.” he said.

The graves are called stone box, Senior Research Fellow of the Archeology and Ethnography Institution of the ANAS Gahraman Agayev explains, because they look like boxes and do not have gravestones.

He stressed that the graves are historically invaluable findings, adding that they date back to before our era.

Agayev said that the Archeology and Ethnography Institute of the Azerbaijan National Science Academy should immediately study these important graves.

In comparison with other graves, stone box graves were designed to be buried on the top of the mountains, where the water cannot penetrate into them.

Earlier this summer, the typical graves of Bronze and Iron Ages dating back 3,000 years were discovered in the Lerik region’s Monidigah village.

The excavations were carried out together with French archeologists of the Parisian National Archaeology Museum of Saint-Germain-En-Laye.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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