The relevant department was established under the name “Archaeology of the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic (Eneolithic) Periods” based on the decision of the Presidium of ANAS dated November 24, 2021 No. 20/4. According to the decision of the Presidium of ANAS dated April 23, 2024, the name was changed to the “Archaeology of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods” department.
The process of archaeological study of the early sedentary agricultural and pastoral cultures of Azerbaijan, which began in the 50s of the 20th century, continues successfully today. During the previous research process, archaeological cultures such as Shomutepe and Leylatepe were identified, and based on archaeological research conducted in the Nakhchivan, Mughan and Karabakh regions and in separate monuments, substantial facts were obtained proving the existence of local cultures that existed in these areas in the 7th-4th millennia BC.
Due to the fact that the department has operated under different names to this day, research on the problems has been carried out by separate researchers without a common direction or a single program. Of course, over the past time, achievements have been achieved in the direction of studying the problems of this period. Thus, archaeological research of a number of Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlements in the Mughan territory has been completed, and in general, well-founded ideas have been put forward about the ethnic-cultural, socio-economic issues that occurred in this region in the VI-IV millennia BC. Clarifications have been made based on the results of comparative analysis and laboratory analysis of the relative and absolute chronology of the monuments. The study of the archaeological monuments of the Mughan region is still ongoing, and the results of these studies will undoubtedly create conditions for obtaining new facts about the local early sedentary agricultural and pastoral cultures that existed in this region.
The results of new archaeological research conducted on the monuments of the early sedentary agricultural-herdsmen and Leylatepe culture located on the Karabakh plain allow us to say that this region was a center that carried an impelling nuclear function in the formation of local Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures in the Caucasus in the 6th-4th millennia BC. During the mentioned period, progressive traditions transmitted from south to north or vice versa undoubtedly gained new shades and impulse in the territory of Karabakh, which performed the function of the main transit region in the transmission of these traditions, and left their traces in local local cultures. Large-scale archaeological research of monuments of Leylatepe culture is important in terms of solving still controversial problems such as the local cultures that emerged in the Caucasus in the context of ethnic-political, cultural-economic relations that took place between the Transcaucasia-Anatolia-Caucasus in the 4th millennium BC, the directions of spread of these relations that were new for the Caucasus, and the chronological stages. Because, it is impossible to restore a complete picture of the problem without studying the monuments of this period existing in the Karabakh plain, which plays the role of a bridge between the Ikichayarası, Anatolia and the Caucasus. The study of the “Leylatepe cultural phenomenon” in accordance with the requirements of modern science will determine its clearer understanding.
In accordance with the planned action plan, the main tasks set before the department are to conduct research in the following areas:
- Conduct archaeological exploration works by dividing the territory of Azerbaijan into conditional sectors:
– Conduct archaeological exploration works in accordance with the requirements of modern science, discover new monuments of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, electronically register and map them, and create a “Database” of Neolithic and Chalcolithic monuments based on the collected materials:
- Conduct regional geomorphological studies related to the monuments of the studied period in parallel with the above-mentioned works, investigate raw material sources:
– Promote complex research that will solve social and anthropological questions through archaeological searches, quantitative assessment and the application of constantly calibrated reflexive methodology in the surrounding areas that have the potential to make a decisive difference in the study of the problem;
- Identification of the main research monuments for the study of the problem in the conditional regions and conducting large-scale, stationary archaeological excavations in them based on international scientific requirements:
-Determination of the relative and absolute chronology of the monuments of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods of Azerbaijan based on the comparative analysis of material and cultural samples discovered as a result of archaeological excavations and the information collected as a result of radiocarbon analyses;
-To expand research towards solving the problem of “Silence” or “Empty”, which is one of the most urgent issues of South Caucasus archaeology, almost entirely covering the 5th millennium BC (in some regions more), and to investigate the causes of this difficult-to-explain “anomaly”;
As a result of the solution of the above-mentioned issues, it is possible to study important problems such as the conditions and chronology of the settlement of the early sedentary population in the 7th-4th millennia BC in relation to the climate, geomorphological and natural processes of the territory of Azerbaijan, the directions of the spread of this settlement, ethnic-cultural relations with neighboring territories, and socio-spiritual development in the form of a single concept.
Department of “Neolithic and Chalcolithic Archaeology”
- Khagani Imran oglu Almammedov – Head of Department, Doctor of Philosophy in History, Associate Professor
- Vafa Azbar gizi Mahmudova – Senior Researcher, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor
- Idris Nurzali oglu Aliyev – Leading Researcher, Doctor of Philosophy in History
- Hasanagha Khanhasan oglu Ramazanov – Senior Researcher, Doctor of Philosophy in History
- Khanim Saleh gizi Hasanli – Senior Laboratory Assistant
- Zumrud Kerem gizi Imanova – Senior Laboratory Assistant
- Farrukh Azer oglu Alasgarov – Artist
- Mirjavid Agalarov – Junior Researcher