New archaeological site unearthed in Azerbaijan [PHOTO]
By Vugar Khalilov
A new archaeological site has been found in Azerbaijan’s Dashkasan region, the AzerGold CJSC has reported on its website.
The company said that new fragments of ancient culture were discovered during the construction and installation works carried out in the fourth block of the Chovdar Integrated Regional Processing Area in Dashkasan region.
The work in the area was immediately stopped and the Institute of Archaeology, Ethnography and Anthropology of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) was invited to organize an archaeological expedition to study the discovered archaeological monument, the report added.
Under the agreement signed between AzerGold CJSC and the Archaeology, Ethnography and Anthropology Institute on September 3, 2021, field research was carried out in the area.
During archaeological excavations, 58 stone box graves dating back to the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age (late 2nd-early 1st millennium BC) were identified in the site.
Along with human bones, daggers, spears and mace, bracelets, earrings, belts, beads, as well as other weapons and household items were found in the graves, which belong to Khojaly-Gadabay culture.
Among the items, numerous pottery jugs, cups, pots, bowls, as well as blue beads imported from Egypt and kauris, typical for the Indian Ocean were discovered.
All the graves found in the area were cleaned, photos and graphics of them were taken and relevant notes were made under the archaeological research principles. Samples of material culture were taken from the area, packed and presented to the archaeological fund of the institute for in-house research.
According to archaeologists, the new archaeological monument is part of the necropolis explored in 2019 in the area of the 3rd block of the Chovdar gold mine. During the excavations in the Chovdar necropolis, 156 graves and more than 6,000 exhibits were found and studied.
Currently, on the basis of the discovered samples, analyses are carried out in prestigious international laboratories in cooperation with local and foreign experts.
As a result of the analysis, genetic information will be obtained about the kinship of ancient tribes with other peoples of the region. Moreover, the history of ancient tribes’ settlement in the region, as well as gender, age, diseases, cause of death, the diet of the buried people will be studied.
Thus, the life, lifestyle, employment of ancient people, and the epidemic diseases that were characteristic for the region during the mentioned period will be determined. Also, spectral analysis of metal objects found in the necropolis will allow studying their composition.
Earlier, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) reported that archaeologists had discovered a new Neolithic human settlement near the Horadiz city of the liberated Fuzuli region.
The historical monument is located in the Lalatapa area, which was liberated from Armenian occupation during the April battles of 2016.
The archaeological research was conducted by the "Karabakh Neolithic-Eneolithic Expedition" led by the researcher of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of ANAS, Khagani Almammedov.
The archaeologists identified three remnants of raw brick buildings and a yard wall in a shape of oval, circular and rectangular during the excavations in four sites, which are 16 square meters large for each and date to the first half of the sixth millennium BC, the Academy reported.
According to the archaeologists, the most distinguishing feature of the Lalatapa monument is its tomb. Although many Neolithic monuments in the South Caucasus have been found to contain human graves and mass burials in one grave (Menteshtapa, Tovuz region), this is the first time that people have been buried in a cemetery where certain rituals have been performed, ANAS commented.
---
Here we are to serve you with news right now. It does not cost much, but worth your attention.
Choose to support open, independent, quality journalism and subscribe on a monthly basis.
By subscribing to our online newspaper, you can have full digital access to all news, analysis, and much more.
You can also follow AzerNEWS on Twitter @AzerNewsAz or Facebook @AzerNewsNewspaper
Thank you!