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Impact Factor:
ISRA (India) = 3.117
ISI (Dubai, UAE) = 0.829
GIF (Australia) = 0.564
JIF = 1.500
SIS (USA) = 0.912
РИНЦ (Russia) = 0.156
ESJI (KZ) = 5.015
SJIF (Morocco) = 5.667
ICV (Poland) = 6.630
PIF (India) = 1.940
IBI (India) = 4.260
Philadelphia, USA
277
QR – Issue QR – Article
SOI: 1.1/TAS DOI: 10.15863/TAS
International Scientific Journal
Theoretical & Applied Science
p-ISSN: 2308-4944 (print) e-ISSN: 2409-0085 (online)
Year: 2018 Issue: 12 Volume: 68
Published: 27.12.2018 http://T-Science.org
Elnur Latif oglu Hasanov
Corresponding member of International Academy of
Theoretical and Applied Sciences, Ph.D.,
Institute of Local lore of Ganja Branch
Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences,
Ganja, Azerbaijan
el-hasanov@mail.ru
SECTION 12. Geology. Anthropology.
Archaeology.
HISTORICAL-CULTURAL INVESTIGATION OF ANCIENT HERITAGE
OF MODERN GANJA CITY (BASED ON MATERIALS OF ANCIENT
LOCAL KURGANS AS ETHNOGRAPHIC-ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SOURCES)
Abstract: On the basis of different scientific materials, local craftsmanship samples of modern international
ethnographic and archeological excavations in the territory of Ganja city and around area, also various archive
documents have been researched the basic features of historical-cultural heritage as an innovative academic
approach. The main materials of international ethnographic and archeological excavations in the territory of
ancient Ganja were also investigated based on the local different kurgans in the large territory of Guru Gobu area.
Key words: Azerbaijan, handicraft samples, Ganja, ethnographic research, archeological excavations,
multidisciplinary study, innovative methods.
Language: English
Citation: Hasanov, E. L. (2018). Historical-cultural investigation of ancient heritage of modern Ganja city
(Based on materials of ancient local kurgans as ethnographic-archaeological sources). ISJ Theoretical & Applied
Science, 12 (68), 277-281.
Soi: http://s-o-i.org/1.1/TAS-12-68-40 Doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.15863/TAS.2018.12.68.40
Introduction
Ganja, one of the oldest cities of the East with a
centuries-old history, connecting the north-eastern
slopes of the Lesser Caucasus mountains (ancient
Ganja mountains) with the expanses of the Kura-
Arak lowland, is located in a picturesque corner of
Azerbaijan with a temperate climate, fertile lands
rich in water resources.
Historically, Ganja has always had a favorable
geopolitical location and played an important role in
the cultural and economic life of Azerbaijan. This
city was built on the Great Silk Road, which
connects Asia with Europe. Thus, Ganja was the
spiritual bridge between different civilizations.
Due to centuries-old national and moral values,
this city has been considered as a kind of “indicator”
of the socio-cultural and political-social system for
many centuries.
Since it was Ganja that was the main center of
the main historical reforms, important national
uprisings against the enemy troops advancing on our
homeland.
As known, from the archaeological point of
view, Ganja, being an ancient cultural center of the
South Caucasus, at the same time is considered a
stronghold of Ganja - the Karabakh archaeological
culture. Therefore, relevant surveys were conducted
here in different socio - historical periods. For
example: Resler E. (1892-1903), Schulz B. (1898-
1903), Rozendorf B. (1903-1914), Skinder V. (1905),
Lass F. (1908). Archaeological excavations carried
out in the territories of the city of Ganja and
Ganjabasar, indicate the presence of people here
since the Neolithic times [8, p. 2290].
At that time, on the territory of the copper
mines, they were engaged in the production of
copper, and a stone hoe was found on the territory of
Goygol. Stone products found on the territory of
Goygol and Mingachevir suggest that until the
middle of the second millennium BC. in the area of
Ganjabasar, agriculture was carried out in a hoe
method.
Impact Factor:
ISRA (India) = 3.117
ISI (Dubai, UAE) = 0.829
GIF (Australia) = 0.564
JIF = 1.500
SIS (USA) = 0.912
РИНЦ (Russia) = 0.156
ESJI (KZ) = 5.015
SJIF (Morocco) = 5.667
ICV (Poland) = 6.630
PIF (India) = 1.940
IBI (India) = 4.260
Philadelphia, USA
278
Many monuments of the bronze period are
found in Ganja. This is confirmed both by the
previous history of archaeological research and by
joint field work with Italian specialists.
From this it follows that already, starting from
the bronze period, the territory was densely
populated; the culture of the city and urban-type
settlements was formed. It is also impossible to
exclude that in the Bronze Period, the Obsidian
cleavers, made during the Neolithic period, were
used that belonged to earlier cultures.
Materials and Methods
In recent years, departments of Ganja State
University and Azerbaijan State Agrarian University
have been functioning in the Ganja Branch of the
Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences.
In order to conduct new research and training of
young scientific personnel, important works are
being carried out in the direction of the publication of
scientific papers, articles and monographs, joint
research projects, academic and information
exchange. The department provides both individual
and group practice for bachelor and master students
specialized in chemistry, history, philology, and
biology.
Scientific results obtained by undergraduates in
laboratories, departments and made up in the form of
articles and abstracts are published in various
journals, including foreign journals with a high
impact factor. departments of the institution.
Scientific cooperation is carried out not only
with institutions of higher education, but also with
secondary schools. Various activities are being taken
to increase students' interest in science.
The Ganja Branch of ANAS, with the
organizational support of the Department of
Education of Ganja, and the Department of
Education of the City of Ganja systematically
conducts e-education trainings with teachers teaching
computer science in secondary schools. The Ministry
of Education recommended conducting similar
training in other cities and regions of the republic.
Currently, scientific cooperation is continuing
with the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, the
Institute of Additives Chemistry, the Institute of
Catalysis and Inorganic Chemistry, the Institute of
Polymer Materials and the "Interdisciplinary
Analytical Center" of ANAS.
In accordance with the decision of the
Department of Earth Sciences of ANAS dated March
11, 2016 (Number 2/2), research work was carried
out with the Institute of Geology and Geophysics to
study the characteristics of the thermal waters of the
Western zone and possible areas of their application.
Together with the Geothermal Department of
the Institute of Geology and Geophysics in the
exploration wells of the Western region of
Azerbaijan, modern geometric studies were
conducted and, determining temperature and
geothermal gradients at various depths, a new
database was created and a prospective geothermal
energy plan was prepared.
The Ganja Branch expanded scientific ties with
various institutes of the National Academy of
Sciences of Azerbaijan and signed cooperation
agreements with the Institute of Microbiology and
the Institute of Manuscripts. Mohammed Fizuli for
cooperation in the field of personnel exchange and
research [24, p. 10-11].
Together with the scientific staff of the Institute
of Archeology and Ethnography of ANAS, as a result
of archaeological research, a map of ancient burial
mounds was prepared in the southern zone of the
city, in the Yeni Ganja residential area.
On the basis of a map prepared in 2017,
excavations were carried out on five-ancient barrows,
where material and cultural remains, samples of local
craft, anthropological findings, paleozoological and
paleobotanical samples were found, which proves
their relationship to the early Bronze Age.
Theoretical basis of investigation
The obsidian and flint tools found in the
Gillikdag camp found by I. Jafarzade in the village of
Bakhchukurd stone scoop suggest that they lived in
this territory in the VII-VI millennium BC. e., people
were among the founders of the Neolithic culture.
The way of life of the Neolithic period (V
millennium BC) in the Ganja region continued and
created the prerequisites for a new economic
development in the Eneolithic.
1. Archaeological research shows that during
this period, the local population, having moved to a
sedentary lifestyle, began to engage in farming and
animal husbandry. This is confirmed by osteological
remains found in archaeological excavations, which
are bones cultivated in the Ganja region in the V
millennium BC. e. animals known to us. It is in the
IV-III millennium BC. e. Based on the Eneolithic
culture, Ganja has become one of the centers of the
Early Bronze Age of the Kur - Araz culture.
2. Excavations in burial mounds near Ganja
showed the presence of rounded pits for ordinary
burials and cremation rituals. This is characteristic of
Ganja and Karabakh, as well as other ancient tribes
in the country.
The similarity of the funeral rituals proves the
ethnic affinity of the tribes inhabiting the territory. In
the village of Yeni Ganja in the ancient territory of
Guru Gobu in 2018, during a joint excavation with
Italian archaeologists, a barrow made of volcanic
glass was found in a mound.
3. It can be concluded that burial refers to the
early Bronze period. On the basis of the bones
discovered during the Ganja excavations in the
mound, a religious rite was established: alongside the
Impact Factor:
ISRA (India) = 3.117
ISI (Dubai, UAE) = 0.829
GIF (Australia) = 0.564
JIF = 1.500
SIS (USA) = 0.912
РИНЦ (Russia) = 0.156
ESJI (KZ) = 5.015
SJIF (Morocco) = 5.667
ICV (Poland) = 6.630
PIF (India) = 1.940
IBI (India) = 4.260
Philadelphia, USA
279
deceased there was poultry meat for his food,
according to ancient signs, deer bones were buried.
4. The location of the city in the foothills
contributed to the wide spread of livestock, it pushes
to the idea of the formation of semi-nomadic cattle
breeding in a part of the population. In this regard,
the mounds discovered on the territory of
Khoshbulag can be attributed to the tribes that left
these places. The buildings of the extended houses,
found during research near Ganja, had a number of
additional extensions, and the people living here did
housekeeping.
The ruins of these buildings have survived to
our days. They supposedly lived in families. The
presence of the spears and tips existing here, pottery,
a wooden hammer head, the remnants of ornaments
suggest that the deceased was a warrior. The bones
of the deer indicate the connection of these tribes
with the culture of Northern Eurasia.
Applied significance of research
Including pottery found on the territory of
Ganjabasar with a picture of a camel, camel bones
talk about trade, covering large areas. Much evidence
on flint stone mining in the territory of Ganjabasar in
Chilikdag indicates the development in addition to
agriculture and other types of production.
It is possible to assume that weapons samples
[5, p. 372] were made from the merchandising alloy
of copper and other metals imported from the nearest
commercial areas. The main caravan routes
connecting the Middle East and Western Asia also
ran through Ganja.
In the middle of the century it became more
pronounced. This gives grounds to assert that thanks
to this trade route, Ganja developed and became one
of the important cultural centers of the South
Caucasus. Unfortunately, during the last
archaeological excavations, the looting of the
territory of the mound was discovered. In the I
millennium BC. e. The nomadic tribes of the Saxons
and Scythians who settled here settled near Ganja [4,
p. 61]. In the writings of medieval historians, the
name Ganja is given as Gandzak. It is probably a
modified form of the word Kandsak.
So, the original name of Ganja acquired the
form of Kandsak: “Kand” is a city, “Sak” is a tribe,
that is, in ancient Turkic it means “Sak city” When
the nomads depleted their weapons, they had to make
new ones, mining metal from mines. The easiest way
was to open the burials that remained from the
bronze period and to remelt the excavated weapons
for metal. Presumably, it was the nomads and
plundered these mounds.
During the study of the mound, pieces of planks
were found, which makes it possible to think about
the use of this material in its construction, and later it
was replaced by masonry stone in the form of
elevation. Despite the fact that the mound studied in
2018 did not provide much material for archeological
science, it created the conditions for analyzing what
happened in this area in the 3rd – beginning of the
1st millennium BC. [32, p. 58-59].
So, in the Zanabad part of the ancient territory
of Ganja, during excavations, colored utensils were
found. Painted monochrome paint ceramics from the
mounds near Ganja (Zurnabad) indicates the
association in the III-II millennium BC. e. in single
centers of large tribal unions. The presence in Ganja
of the production of colored ceramic tableware is one
of the hallmarks of urban handicraft in the III-II
millennium BC., and at least, proves the emergence
of early urban centers in the middle of the III
millennium BC.
The tribes of this period were settled in a
number of settlements abandoned during the
Eneolithic period. As an example, in Nakhichevan -
Kultepe, Ovchular tepesi; Kazakh - Babadervish;
Southern Azerbaijan - Geytepe and Yanygtepe.
All of them belong to the settlements of this
type. The remaining settlements of the early bronze
period in Azerbaijan were built in new territories.
You can show Gobustan and Mingechevir; in the city
of Fizuli - Garakepektepe and Guneshtepe; in
Beylagan - Chardakhlytepe; in Jalilabad -
Misharchay; in Khachmaz - Gäflya Tepleri; in Barda
- Shortepe; in Shabran - Sarkartep; in Agjabadi
district - Chuttepe; in Agdam - Garahaji and others.
In Azerbaijan, a number of bronze period
tombstones have been investigated near Khankendi
and Geygel, Mingechevir and the Mil valley; the
cities of Dashkesen and Shamkir in Osmanobuz,
Terter in Borsunlakh, Astara district in Telmankend
[2, p. 19]. The study of monuments creates
prerequisites for the coverage of life and culture,
ideological views, as well as methods of economic
management of the tribes who settled in Azerbaijan
in the early Bronze period.
In the period of the early bronze period in the
territory of Azerbaijan, settlements were mostly
located closer to the mountains, on the banks of
small rivers. Settlements of this period are also found
in the central lowland areas on the coasts of the Araz
and Kura.
In the high-mountainous regions, small number
of burials (Dashkesan) and the ruins of settlements
(Kelbajar) were found [2, p. 69-71].
Conclusion
As noted, the Kura - Araz culture prevailed in
Azerbaijan in the early bronze period. It has spread
to many places in South Ossetia and the North
Caucasus in eastern Georgia and Anatolia; in
southern Azerbaijan, Syria and Iraq. It is interesting
that the cultures in the Caucasus are similar to the
cultures formed in Iran and Turkmenistan, which is
explained by the similarity of the tribes and the
presence of trade relations between them [1, p. 41].
Impact Factor:
ISRA (India) = 3.117
ISI (Dubai, UAE) = 0.829
GIF (Australia) = 0.564
JIF = 1.500
SIS (USA) = 0.912
РИНЦ (Russia) = 0.156
ESJI (KZ) = 5.015
SJIF (Morocco) = 5.667
ICV (Poland) = 6.630
PIF (India) = 1.940
IBI (India) = 4.260
Philadelphia, USA
280
The settlements of Kura-Araz culture occupy an
average of 1-2 hectares of land (Babadervish,
Garakepektepe, Misharchay, Chyutte, etc.). This
ensured the continuation of life in the following
centuries. The formation of a thick cultural stratum is
associated with the duration of the lifestyle.
In the places of settlements of the middle bronze
period a lot of diverse material was found.
Discovered stone clubs were used in different areas.
Perhaps their more refined designs were used as
weapons.
In the graves excavated the remains of domestic
animals, figures of birds and animals, metal objects,
made by hand and on the potter's wheel, ordinary and
colored dishes.
In Kura - Araz district, monuments of the
middle bronze period are identified in the Barda
region - Shortepe, Agdam - Rasultepe, Geytepe,
Chinartape; Agdzhebedinsky - Chaggaltepe and
others [2, p. 19]. On tombstones of the middle bronze
period, some features of early bronze time are
preserved.
The deceased were buried on their sides in a
wrapped state, along with various objects, and
sometimes with their concubines. Marked and the
ritual of kindling in the grave campfire, cremation
was carried out. The ritual of kindling a fire and
cremation spread from the early Bronze period in
Azerbaijan continued until the end of the Bronze
period.
In a word, in our article, having shown the main
milestones of the archaeological excavations in
Ganja itself and Ganjabasar, we tried to create an
integral, generalized picture of the antiquity of this
region of Azerbaijan. Including to demonstrate the
new research of the latest archaeological expeditions,
which was also the author of the article [6, p. 27-32].
Naturally, this is not the limit, because the
archaeological work on our territory and around
Ganja, which is the center of antiquity, has great
prospects in establishing many historical facts.
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Impact Factor:
ISRA (India) = 3.117
ISI (Dubai, UAE) = 0.829
GIF (Australia) = 0.564
JIF = 1.500
SIS (USA) = 0.912
РИНЦ (Russia) = 0.156
ESJI (KZ) = 5.015
SJIF (Morocco) = 5.667
ICV (Poland) = 6.630
PIF (India) = 1.940
IBI (India) = 4.260
Philadelphia, USA
281
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