(MENAFN- AzerNews)
By Sabina Mammadli
The Absheron Peninsula carries traces of history within itself,
parts of which are reflected in ancient mounds belonging to the
Bronze Age discovered in the area.
As local media portal Azerhistory reports, the ancient mounds
have been found almost throughout the entire territory of Absheron,
but they were mostly concentrated in the north and northeast of the
peninsula. In particular, some mounds near the village of Turkan
and Dubandi station have been relatively well studied.
At the beginning of the XXI century, historian and amateur
archaeologist Abbas Islamov discovered numerous low hills near
Turkan. On one of them, large blocks of stone appeared through the
soil. It was decided to start excavations in this very place and in
September 2004, a group of enthusiasts led by a professional
archaeologist, an employee of the National Academy of Sciences of
Azerbaijan, Idris Aliyev, set to work.
The excavations resulted in the discovery of two about two
meters long large blocks. They had an anthropomorphic shape. In the
upper part of one of the figures, a head and chest were clearly
visible. Further, the remains of a ceramic vessel were found near
the southern edge of the mound. Aliyev believed that the ceramics
belonged to the Maikop culture and dated back to the Bronze
Age.
After clearing the soil layer around the figures, a cromlech was
exposed – a perfect circle with a diameter of 9 meters, lined with
hewn and tightly fitted stones. Later, at the southern edge of this
circle, another adjoining cromlech was discovered. The diameter of
this stone circle is about 4 meters. Further, it was observed that
the two cromlechs were laid out in the form of figure eight. The
archeologists estimated that the monuments were similar to the
Maykop mounds and dated back to the 3rd-2nd millennium BC.
Further discoveries in the area include a different type of
mound found in the village of Turkan. It was a stone circle with a
stone chamber in the center. The space between the camera and the
circle was filled with cobblestone. The central chamber measuring
1.2 m by 0.8 m was empty. The mound was built about 5,000 years
ago.
At the end of the 1980s, in the vicinity of Dubandi station,
another group of stone mounds was discovered. They were also
believed to belong to the III-II millennium BC. These mounds are
included in the list of archaeological monuments of Azerbaijan.
One of these mounds, discovered 800 meters northeast of the
Dubandi railway station, was explored in 1987. As a result of
excavations, ceramic vessels, various ornaments in the form of
beads, etc. were found here. The mound dates back to the beginning
of the 2nd millennium BC.
Another mound was investigated in 1988. It is a cromlech laid
out of stone slabs in several rows with a single burial in the
center. Ceramics and bronze, found on the mound, are typical of the
monuments of the Maikop culture.
Not far from the area, the remains of an ancient quarry were
discovered, where, evidently, the stone was mined for the
cromlechs. To do this, wedges were driven into the rocky ground,
with the help of which relatively flat stones were broken off.
After some processing, the stones were used in construction. Such
surface quarries were found both in the immediate vicinity of the
barrows and several hundred meters away from them.
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Sabina Mammadli is AzerNews' staff journalist, follow her on
Twitter: @SabinaMmdl
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
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