 Entrance to the cave | |
  Azykh Cave Location inAzerbaijan | |
| Alternative name | Azokh Cave |
|---|---|
| Location | Azykh,Khojavend,Azerbaijan |
| Coordinates | 39°37′9.12″N46°59′18″E / 39.6192000°N 46.98833°E /39.6192000; 46.98833 |
| Type | Archaeological site |
| History | |
| Founded | c. 300,000 years ago |
| Abandoned | c. 250,000 years ago |
| Site notes | |
| Discovered | 1960 |
| Excavation dates | 1960s, mid 1990s, 2002-2009 |
| Archaeologists | Mammadali Huseynov, Tania King |
Azykh Cave (Azerbaijani:Azıx mağarası), also referred to asAzokh Cave (Armenian:Ազոխի քարանձավ,romanized: Azoxi k’aranjav[1]), is a six-cave complex inAzerbaijan, known as a habitation site of prehistoric humans. It is situated near the village ofAzykh in theKhojavend District. The cave is an important prehistoric site which has been occupied by different human groups over time.[2] The ancient layers of theMiddle Paleolithic have yieldedNeanderthal fossil remains that may date from around 300,000 years ago.[3]
The cave was discovered by the "Palaeolithic Archaeological Expedition" of theAzerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) under the leadership ofMammadali Huseynov in 1960 and is considered to be the site of one of the most ancient locations of proto-human presence inEurasia. ANeanderthal-likejaw bone found in 1968 is assumed to be around 250,000 years old and thus one of the oldest proto-human remains found in theCaucasus. Its discovery gave rise to the termAzykh Man. Archaeologists have suggested that the finds from the lowest layers are of a pre-Acheulean culture (730,000 to 1,800,000 years ago), that resembles theOlduwan culture named afterTanzania'sOlduvai Gorge in many respects.[4]
The poor quality of the 1960s excavation, in which notaphonomic data was collected,[5] led to uncertainties over the chronological sequence of the layers.[6] 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.[7] Fossil assemblages recovered from the excavations between 2002 and 2009 foundPleistocene-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 theHolocene, the upper sediments were eroded by water, opening up the cave to renewed human use.[8]
The cave is considered to have housed some of the earliest groups of proto-humans in Eurasia.[9] Using uranium isotopes as aspeleothem dating method, the formation of the cave and thus the earliest hominid deposits have been dated to 1.19 ±0.08 million years ago.[10]
On 24 November 2020, archeological finds in the cave were brought toBaku by the representatives of theAzerbaijani State Security Service and placed in the Archaeological Fund of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of ANAS.[11]
