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Located in the south-west of Azerbaijan, the region of Garabagh is one of the most
ancient places of human habitation not only in the South Caucasus, but also in the
whole of Eurasia.
Started in 1988, the separatism movement by Armenia resulted in occupation of the
territory of Garabagh. Historical and cultural values considered as world heritage
located in this territory were destroyed by the Armenian occupants.
The earliest archaeological culture in the Caucasus and the Middle East named
Guruchay (2 million to 700 thousand years ago) was discovered in the cave of Azykh.
Excavations in the Lower Paleolithic stratum revealed a jaw of a primeval human
being aged 350-400 thousand years. The first find of its kind in the former Soviet
Union and the third one in the world, this unique discovery provides clear evidence
of the earliest human habitation in the territory of Azerbaijan. Another archaeological
monument found in Garabagh – Taghlar cave from Early Stone age - was also a
settlement for the ancient humans.
The jaw of an Ancheulian man (the Azykh Man or Azykhantropos) who inhabited
this area 350-400 thousand years ago is clear proof of Azerbaijan’s being one of the
earliest places of human habitation. This unique finding put Azerbaijan on the map
of Europe’s Most Ancient Residences.
Mammadali Husseinov, a known Azerbaijani archeologist, discovered lower jaw bone
of an old human together with stone tools and petrified animal bones from average
Ashel layer of Azykh Cave in July, 1968.