Azykh Cave (), also referred to as Azokh Cave (), is a six-cave complex in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

, known as a habitation site of prehistoric humans. It is situated near the village of Azykh in the

Khojavend District Khojavend District () is one of the 66 Administrative divisions of Azerbaijan, districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the west of the country in the Karabakh Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Lachin District, Lachin, Shush ...

. The cave is an important prehistoric site which has been occupied by different human groups for a long time. The ancient layers of the

Middle Paleolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle P ...

have yielded

Neanderthal Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...

fossil remains that may date from around 300,000 years ago.

Discovery

The cave was discovered by the "Palaeolithic Archaeological Expedition" of the

Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) (, located in Baku, is the main state research organization and the primary body that conducts research and coordinates activities in the fields of science and social sciences in Azerbaijan. It was ...

(ANAS) under the leadership of Mammadali Huseynov in 1960 and is considered to be the site of one of the most ancient locations of proto-human presence in

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

. A

-like

jaw bone The jaws are a pair of opposable articulated structures at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term ''jaws'' is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth ...

found in 1968 is assumed to be around 250,000 years old and thus one of the oldest proto-human remains found in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

. Its discovery gave rise to the term '' Azykh Man''. Archaeologists have suggested that the finds from the lowest layers are of a pre-

Acheulean Acheulean (; also Acheulian and Mode II), from the French after the type site of Saint-Acheul, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by the distinctive oval and pear-shaped "hand axes" associated with ''Homo ...

culture (730,000 to 1,800,000 years ago), that resembles the

Olduwan The Oldowan (or Mode I) was a widespread stone tool archaeological industry during the early Lower Paleolithic spanning the late Pliocene and the first half of the Early Pleistocene. These early tools were simple, usually made by chipping one, ...

culture named after

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Olduvai Gorge The Olduvai Gorge or Oldupai Gorge in Tanzania is one of the most important paleoanthropology, paleoanthropological localities in the world; the many sites exposed by the gorge have proven invaluable in furthering understanding of early human evo ...

in many respects. The poor quality of the 1960s excavation, in which no taphonomic data was collected, led to uncertainties over the chronological sequence of the layers. Excavations resumed in the mid-1990s. In 2002, an international research team headed by Tania King discovered undisturbed entrances to the cave as well as fauna and stone tools. Fossil assemblages recovered from the excavations between 2002 and 2009 found

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

-era remains of bears accumulated as a result of hibernation, but no evidence for simultaneous occupation of the cave by bears and hominins. Other faunal remains, mainly herbivores, had been brought to the cave by hominins, but butchering had taken place somewhere else, not at the rear of the cave where the remains were found. When cave sediments reached close to the cave roof, the cave ceased to be used by hominins. During the

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

, the upper sediments were eroded by water, opening up the cave to renewed human use. Azokh Cave

The cave is considered to have housed some of the earliest groups of proto-humans in Eurasia. Using uranium isotopes as a

speleothem A speleothem (; ) is a geological formation made by mineral deposits that accumulate over time in natural caves. Speleothems most commonly form in calcareous caves due to carbonate dissolution reactions. They can take a variety of forms, depen ...

dating method, the formation of the cave and thus the earliest hominid deposits have been dated to 1.19 ±0.08 million years ago. On 24 November 2020, archeological finds in the cave were brought to

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

by the representatives of the Azerbaijani State Security Service and placed in the Archaeological Fund of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of ANAS.

References

External links

About Azokh Cave
{{Navbox prehistoric caves 1960 in paleontology Caves of Azerbaijan Prehistoric sites in Azerbaijan

Discovery

See also

References

External links