Ovçular Tepesi is an ancient settlement located at the northern end of Dizə, Sharur village in

Sharur District Sharur District ( az, Şərur rayonu) is one of the 7 districts of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan. The district borders the districts of Kangarli, Sadarak, as well as the Vayots Dzor and Ararat provinces of Armenia and the We ...

of Azerbaijan, on the left bank of

Arpa (river) The Arpa ( hy, Արփա, az, Arpaçay) is a river that flows through Armenia and Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave. It originates in the Vayots Dzor province (''marz'') of Armenia and is a left tributary of the Aras. It is long, and has a drain ...

. It dates back to the fifth millennium BC, and continued to the third millenniums BC.

Location

This is a strategic point at the foot of the highlands; the site is at the crossroads of major trade routes linking the Iranian plateau to Anatolia (east to west), and the Caucasus to North Mesopotamia (north to south). The monument is located on a natural hill. The area of the monument is about 10 hectares. The characteristic feature of the site is that the Kura-Araxes layer is not covered by any cultural layers of later periods.

Excavations

First excavation campaigns at the site were conducted by Seyidov in 1980, and then later by Aliyev. Also Ashurov investigated the site in 2001.Ashurov, S.H., 2005: ―An introduction to Bronze Age sites in the Sarur plain‖. In Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan, Band 37 : 89-99. During the period of 2006–2011, a joint Azerbaijani-French expedition conducted a survey of the site. The residents engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, fishing, and other farming activities. In 2010, some

Ubaid period The Ubaid period (c. 6500–3700 BC) is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. The name derives from Tell al-'Ubaid where the earliest large excavation of Ubaid period material was conducted initially in 1919 by Henry Hall and later by Leonard Wool ...

materials were found. Discovered archaeological materials are similar to Kultepe, Azerbaijan, Makhta Kultepe and other

Chalcolithic The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...

era monuments.

Metallurgy

At Ovcular, three large copper axes were found in an infant burial jar, coming from Late Chalcolithic occupation levels (4400–3950 BC). Also, pieces of copper ore, crucible remains, and some small metal artifacts were found. Such large copper tools are not known anywhere else in southwestern Asia. Metallurgy was being practiced here, and at other sites in the area.

Notes

Bibliography

* *Nicolas Gailhard, Michael Bode, Veli Bakhshaliyev and Catherine Marro (2021)
The invisible movements of metallurgy: the interactions between nomads and metal - Some evidence from Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan) during the Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age.
in - ON SALT, COPPER AND GOLD. Catherine Marro, Thomas Stöllner eds.

External links