The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic, also called the Old Stone Age, is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehistoric technology. It extends from the earliest known use of stone tools by hominins, c. 3.3 million years ago, to the end of the Pleistocene, c. 11,650 cal BP.
The Lower Paleolithic is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3.3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears in the current archaeological record, until around 300,000 years ago, spanning the Oldowan and Acheulean lithics industries.
Lerik District is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the southeast of the country and belongs to the Lankaran-Astara Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Yardimli, Masally, Lankaran, Astara and the Ardabil Province of Iran. Its capital and largest city is Lerik. As of 2022, the district had a population of 87,000. It is located between the Talysh Mountains and the agricultural plain of the Lankaran Lowland.
Qazax District is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. Located in the northwest of the country, it belongs to the Gazakh-Tovuz Economic Region. The district borders the district of Aghstafa, and the Tavush Province of Armenia. Its capital and largest city is Gazakh. As of 2020, the district had a population of 98,400.
The year 1968 in archaeology involved some significant events.
Azykh Cave, also referred to as Azokh Cave, is a six-cave complex in Azerbaijan, known as a habitation site of prehistoric humans. It is situated near the village of Azykh in the Khojavend District. 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 have yielded Neanderthal fossil remains that may date from around 300,000 years ago.
The Caucasus region, on the gateway between Southwest Asia, Europe and Central Asia, plays a pivotal role in the peopling of Eurasia, possibly as early as during the Homo erectus expansion to Eurasia, in the Upper Paleolithic peopling of Europe, and again in the re-peopling Mesolithic Europe following the Last Glacial Maximum, and in the expansion associated with the Neolithic Revolution.
Azykh or Azokh is a village in the Khojavend District of Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The village is situated on the river of Ishkhanchay or Ishkhanaget, near the Azykh Cave. The village had an ethnic Armenian-majority population prior to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, and also had an Armenian majority in 1989. The village was part of the Hadrut Province of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh between 1992 and 2020.
The National Museum of History of Azerbaijan is the largest museum in Azerbaijan. It is located in Baku, in the former residential house of Azerbaijani oil magnate and philanthropist Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev. The museum was founded in 1920, following the Russian takeover of Baku, and opened to visitors in 1921.
Archeological sites in Azerbaijan first gained public interest in the mid-19th century and were reported by European travellers.
Damjili – is a half-circular shaped cave site in Azerbaijan, where evidence of prehistoric human presence during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic was discovered.
The 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 disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, in the southern part of Boyuk Taghlar village, on the left banks of the Guruchay River.
The Azykhantrop, or Azykh Man, is the lower jaw of a presumably female Homo heidelbergensis pre-Neanderthal.
Buzeyir cave – is an archaeological site and Paleolithic place of human habitation. The cave is located on the left bank of the Zuvandchay River, at the top of Delikli-Dash Mountain, 3 km (1.9 mi) at an altitude of 1,640 m (5,380 ft) above sea level and to the east of Büzeyir village in Lerik Rayon, Azerbaijan.
The Institute of History and Ethnology named after Abbasgulu Bakikhanov of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences is a scientific research institute affiliated with ANAS.
Stone Age in Azerbaijan is divided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods. It was studied in Karabakh, Gazakh, Lerik, Gobustan, and Nakhchivan. Stone materials belonging to the Stone Age were found by Mammadali Huseynov in the Shorsu gorge located near the village of Gyrag Kasaman in Qazakh region. According to his research, people have first settled in the territory of Azerbaijan 2 million years ago. The Stone Age era involved two different human species: Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens.
Bronze Age in Azerbaijan began in the second half of the 4th millennium BC and ended in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, while the Iron Age commenced in approximately 7-6th centuries BC. The Bronze Age in the territory of today's Azerbaijan is divided into the early Bronze Age, the middle Bronze Age and the late Bronze Age. Bronze Age was studied in Nakhchivan, Ganja, Dashkasan, Mingachevir, Gobustan, Qazakh and Karabakh.
Asadulla Qudrat oghlu Jafarov is an Azerbaijani archaeologist and paleontologist, head of the "Stone Age Archeology" Department of the Institute of Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of ANAS, Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor.
