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the Nakhchivançay valley, show that at the beginning of the fifth millennium
BC ancient people moved closer to river valleys. Apparently, this shift in
settlement locations was promoted by an increasingly drought prone climate.
Research shows that the dry climate continued for an extended period
before it was replaced with a more temperate rainy climate, which caused
flooding. As a result of the flooding, some settlements were buried under silt
and were not visible from the surface. The settlements of Uzun Oba and
Deyirman Yeri were covered by two meters of silt with no surface visibility.
These settlements were found as a result of a bulldozer cut in the
Nakhchivançay valley.
Research at Kültepe and settlements its vicinity show that these sites
appear between the Late Neolithic and the Late Chalcolithic Age allowing us
to fill the gap in our knowledge of this period. We think that the recently
revealed sites from the early Chalcolithic Age will be valuable in studying the
ancient cultures of Azerbaijan, as well as those throughout the South
Caucasus and the Middle East. We introduce the initial results of our research
on these unique sites.
ARCHEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION AT THE SETTLEMENT
KÜLTEPE İN 2013-2016
Excavation at Kültepe was initated in the 1950s by O.A.Abibullayev
(Həbibullayev, 1959: 14). Until recently, the settlement Kültepe I was the
only known site from this period in Nakhchivan territory. Because material
from the earlier period of Kültepe
I were less fully published,
questions on the
origin and genesis of the Neolithic Age of this region are less thoroughly
researched.
Excavation resumed at the Kültepe settlement in 2013. The main
research objective was to reveal Neolithic and Chalcolithic Age material in
good context. Evidence for occupation in the Late Neolithic to Early
Chalcolithic in Nakchivan is only present at this site. The settlement Ovçular
Tepesi only contains material from the Late Chalcolithic Age. Therefore, it
was necessary to find evidence connecting the early and Late Chalcolithic
Age. On the other hand, research on the salt mines of Duzdag showed that
ancient salt mines were connected with the sites of Kültepe I and Kültepe II.
Analogs of stone tools from Duzdag were only found at these sites.