The Taghlar cave ( az, Tağlar mağarası; hy, Մեծ Թաղերի Քարայր, Mets Tagheri Karayr) is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...

that was inhabited by prehistoric humans of the

Mousterian The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an archaeological industry of stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and to the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and West Asia. The Mousterian largely defines the l ...

culture during the Paleolithic. The cave is located in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

, in the disputed region of

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik, and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains. The region is m ...

, in the southern part of Boyuk Taghlar (Mets Tagher) village, on the left banks of the Guruchay River. Ancient people lived here 64-24 thousand years ago.

History

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: 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. Cleansing of the existing sections was carried out to study stratigraphy and lithology of sediments and the occurrence of cultural residues in 1976-1982. 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 Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of foss ...

and paleoanthropological findings of multilayer Taglar and other Paleolithic caves in

in September-October 2002. Material and cultural artefacts found at the Taglar cave were exhibited in 1981 in

Musée de l'Homme The Musée de l'Homme (French, "Museum of Mankind" or "Museum of Humanity") is an anthropology museum in Paris, France. It was established in 1937 by Paul Rivet for the 1937 ''Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne ...

in Paris.

Findings

Beginning in 1963, archaeological excavations were carried out in the cave and more than 7,000 stone tools and over 2,000 faunal

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

ized bones were discovered and six cultural sediment layers were identified at the site. Pottery shards of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

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 colours have also been discovered in the inventory of the cave. The remains of large mammals such as

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

, noble

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

were found in the 5th layer. From the 5th layer, remains of bones of small mammals (

Rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...

ia) 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 ''Microtus'' is a genus of voles found in North America, Europe and northern Asia. The genus name refers to the small ears of these animals. About 62 species are placed in the genus. They are stout rodents with short ears, legs and tails. They ea ...

(Microtus) obscurus,

Ellobius ''Ellobius'' is a genus of rodents in the family Cricetidae. It is the only member of the tribe Ellobiusini. It contains two ('' E. lutescens'' and '' E. tancrei'') of the handful of examples of mammal species that have lost the Y chromosome. Th ...

lutescens, Cricetulus migratorius, Arvicola terrestris, Meriones libycus and 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.

Classification

Only the largest cavity of the cave with an area of 120 square meters belongs to the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

era. Other parts are linked to the

period. The first layer belongs to the late

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

while the rest belong to late Pleistocene.

References

Literature

* Azərbaycan Tarixi (7 cilddə). Bakı: Elm, 1998, 1-ci cild * А. К. Джафаров. Мустьерская культура Азербайджана: по материалам Тагларской пещеры. — «Элм», 1983. — 96 с. {{DEFAULTSORT:Taghlar Cave 1960 archaeological discoveries Caves of Azerbaijan Paleoanthropological sites Prehistoric sites in Azerbaijan Archaeological sites in Azerbaijan Mousterian