Gamigaya rock carvings ( az, Gəmiqaya petroqlifləri) - are dated to the 4th-1st millennia BC including the

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...

and Early

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

s in the territory of

Ordubad Rayon Ordubad District ( az, Ordubad rayonu) is one of the 7 districts of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan. The district borders the district of Julfa, as well as the Syunik Province of Armenia, and the East Azerbaijan Province of Iran. ...

, not far from Nəsirvaz village's border and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

’s border with

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

''Gamigaya'' (stone ship) – is the name of Gapyjiq summit (3906) - one of the summits of the Lesser Caucasus, where according to a local legend during a

flood myth A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the prima ...

Noah's Ark Noah's Ark ( he, תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in ...

pulled in to and turned to a stone in due course. There have been found about 1500 punched out and carved rock images of

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

s, dogs,

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s, fantastic beings, and also people, carriages and various symbols. Chaotically drawn images of dancing people can be also met among the images. Many of these images were fixed not far from springs, in the territory of Garangush plateau. Images of people were carved schematically. Single, pair and group images can also be found there. A person's image near a horse is considered one of the unique ones. Images of goats pointing to that, goats took a main place in cattle-breeding life of local population. On one of the rocks a painter portrayed a stressed leopard. Realistic drawings of deer are also very interesting. Beside the Garangush flat, there are rock carvings in Nabiyurdy and Jamishoglan territories.

Petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s drawn on black and gray stones have a pink appearance. Stone chipping, carving, and scrapping techniques were used while drawing images on Gamigaya. Images illustrate the rituals and spiritual life of ancient people in Nakhchivan as well as their economic life, lifestyle, craftsmanship skills. Petroglyphs cover the ancient history of many centuries from primitive

communal society An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religio ...

to feudalism. Topographical positions of drawings are complicated. Drawings that are in group shape are mainly located near the water resources. Such drawings are observed in the northeast of Dali bulag. Far from these sources, drawings are observed less. A collection of Gamigaya petroglyphs, especially the ones nearby Bibgatal worship place, proves that they do not only illustrate people's semi-nomadic lifestyle, but also the beliefs of ancient humans. For instance, there are pictures of a person and moon and sun above him shows the astrological beliefs and religious-ideological views of ancient people. Those pictures date back to IV-I millenniums B.C.Khalilov, Togrul (2017).
GAMİKAYA ÇEVRESİNDEN BULUNMUŞ YENİ KAYAÜSTÜ RESİMLERİN BAZILARI HAKKINDA.
'' (in Turkish) AVRASYA Uluslararası Araştırmalar Dergisi. Beside the pictures of animals, dancing people, and hunting people, there were found pictographic signs such as

circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is cons ...

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- colline ...

rectangle In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90°); or a parallelogram contain ...

s, and fortune symbols. Those sings were found in I Kultapa, on the surface of clay plaque, which belongs to

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

.Bunyadov, Teymur (2005). ''Naxçıvan ensiklopediyası: I cild'' (in Azerbaijani). Nakhchivan. .

History

Due to tough climate and heavy rains, approximately 150 settlements were buried under water in Kura-Aras lowlands. For that reason, people who lived in that territory moved to the mountains in west, where they put the foundation of Gamigaya rock art culture.

Expeditions

The investigation of Gamigaya petroglyphs started in 1968. During 1970–1987, 2001–2002, and afterwards, A. Seyidov, N. Museyibli, V. Aliyev, and V. Bakhshaliyev conducted archaeological expeditions. On 26 April 2001, Supreme Council of

Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic ( az, Naxçıvan Muxtar Respublikası, ), is a landlocked exclave of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The region covers Official portal of Nakhchivan Autonomous RepublicNakhchivan Autonomous Republic with a populat ...

passed an order on “Research of Gamigaya monument in Ordubad district”. After the order, the number of archaeological expeditions increased. New Gamigaya petroglyphs were found in 2008.

Gallery

File:Gemigaya 2.JPG File:Gemigaya 5.JPG File:Gemigaya 1.JPG

References

External links

Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan
{{Nakhchivan Prehistoric art Rock art in Asia Bronze Age Asia Iron Age Asia Prehistoric sites in Azerbaijan Archaeological sites in Azerbaijan

History

Expeditions

Gallery

See also

References

External links