Taghlar cave
Taghlar cave is an archaeological site that was inhabited by prehistoric humans of the Mousterian culture during the Paleolithic. The cave is located in Azerbaijan, in the southern part of Böyük Tağlar village, on the left banks of the Guruchay River.Ancient people lived here 64-24 thousand years ago.
The cave
was discovered during the Paleolithic archaeological expedition of Academy of
Science of Azerbaijan under the leadership of M.Huseynov in
1960. Excavations in the Taghlar cave can be divided into two stages:
Cleansing of the existing sections was carried out to study stratigraphy and
lithology of sediments and the occurrence of cultural residues in 1976-1982.Vahid Hajiyev and Mammadali
Huseynov gave the first information about the stratigraphy of the cave as a
result of 1963-1964 excavations. R. Sultanova published an article on the
geological features of the cave in 1973.
Bone
remains of animals found starting from the first year of excavations in the
cave, and they were carefully classified in 1977-78.
Within the
framework of the International INTAS-2000 program, European scholars including
Professor Henri de
Lumley conducted scientific research of archaeological, paleontological and paleoanthropological findings of
multilayer Taglar and other Paleolithic caves in Azerbaijan in September-October 2002.
Material
and cultural artefacts found at the Taglar cave were exhibited in 1981 in Musée de
l'Homme in Paris.
Beginning
in 1963, archaeological excavations were carried out in the cave and more than
7,000 stone tools and over 2,000 faunal fossilized bones
were discovered and six cultural sediment layers were identified at the site.
Pottery shards of the Middle Ages, the Bronze Age and Copper Age were found right
underneath the top layer. Indices of the Mousterian culture were found in
between the 2nd and 6th layer. Numerous work-pieces of tool making, red, black,
brown, grey, white and other colors have also been discovered in the inventory
of the cave.
The remains of large mammals such as horse, noble deer, bull were found in the 5th layer. From the 5th layer, remains of bones of small mammals were also released in 1977 by M.B.Suleymanov. This collection was investigated by A.K.Markova in the 1980s and in 2009. The collection includes fragments of the lower and upper jaws of rodents with molars and incisors, as well as individual samples of incisors and molars. Those bone residues belong to six species: Microtus obscurus, Ellobius lutescens, Cricetulus migratorius
Allactaga williamsi. Based on the
ecological features of fauna relics of the cave, it is assumed that arid-steppe
and semi-desert landscapes dominated around Taghlar cave during the period of
ancient people lived here. There were also detected pieces of some species of
rodents which are not believed that they have inhabited in this cave.
Now this beautiful place is ours.This is a part of our history.We should always save our history,culture,territory and dignity.
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