Azerbaijan National Academy of Science

The Karabakh archaeological expedition of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography  of ANAS continued its field research in the summer of this year in Agdam region.

Head of the expedition, Professor Hidayat Jafarov noted that during the reconnaissance and prospecting works that lasted one month and started in 2009, one earth grave was discovered and studied on the territory of 30 square meters of Palidli necropolis consisting of earth graves belonging to the XII -XI centuries. On the basis of bones subjected to a strong change, a curved burial is determined, on the left side. In the grave were found broken fragments of artifacts of two black jugs.

The study also indicated the location of the settlements in the necropolis of Palidli. One of them is 500 meters to the south of the necropolis, the settlement of Palydly-2, located on the left bank of a deep river in its time. The lower layer of this place is rich in ceramics like Leilatapa. In the upper layer of the late bronze period, there are materials of the same type as the Palidli necropolis.

Excavations which carried out in the village of Shomulutapa, one kilometer north of the Palydly-2 settlement, were identified during several periods - the Eneolithic, Bronze, early Iron Age and Middle Ages. Studies show that after leaving people here, after 3000 years in the late period of bronze, here again there were settlements. By reducing the area to build dwellings, people began to colonize neighboring empty territories. Residents buried in the necropolis of New Palidli lived in Shomulutapa and Palidli -2. This is clearly demonstrated by the identity of the numerous ceramic products obtained from all three monuments. Studies suggest that the foothills and plains of Karabakh are intensely inhabited by people since the times of the Eneolithic.

I.Jafarov noted that, in the summer of this year the expedition were carried out verification excavations in the settlement of the early Bronze Age of Goshatapa, on the western bank of the Karalar ravine, the ancient riverbed originating in the Karabakh mountains, between the villages of Safarli Agdam district and Karakhanli Agabadi district.

During the field research, the state of protection of archaeological monuments in the Agdam region was checked. Among these monuments, there was a sufficient protection of the settlements of the four hills of Valibay, Sarichalitayi, Goshatapa, Chardakhlitapa, Kablahuseintapa, Nazdikhantapa, Namazalitapa, Duyutapa, Ahadtapa, Janavartapa, multi-layered settlement of the bronze period Uchoglan, Dayirmanyeri, Gartapa, the famous Sultanbud barrow, destruction of some Sarichoban mounds, burial mounds the period of the Eneolithic Banovshalar, Lalatepe, Guzanli.

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