Qaraçuq (also, Garachug, Garachyg, Garachukh, and Karachukh) is a village and municipality in the Nakhchivan city of

Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (, ) is a landlocked country, landlocked Enclave and exclave, exclave of the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. The region covers Official portal of Nakhchivan Autonomous RepublicNakhchivan Autonomous Republi ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. It is located 3 km in the south from the city center, on the plain. Its population is busy with grain-growing, horticulture, vegetable-growing, fruit-growing and animal husbandry. There are secondary school, club, library, cultural house and a medical center in the village. It has a population of 2,701.

Etymology

The name of the Qaraçuq (Garachug) village mentions in the epic of " The Book of Dede Korkut" (7th century). The protagonist of the epic, ''Qazan Khan'' is called the "tiger of the Garachug". The ''Garachukha'' expression is used by the population of mountain and foothill regions of

. ''Garachukha'' is the prototype of the Garachug shepherd whose name is mentioned in " The Book of Dede Korkut".

History

Based on the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian treaty (1963), in connection of construction of the Araz Water Reservoir, its population was moved to the new territory. In 1969, during the investigations of the "Araz" archaeological and ethnographic expedition of Archeology and Ethnography Institute of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, in the ''Xarabaşəhər'' and ''Muncuqtəpə'' settlements of the

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

, near the Garachug were found the rich artifacts of the cultural materials. The name of the Garachug mentioned in the epic of " The Book of Dede Korkut". Since June 9, 2009, by the decree of the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the Azerbaijan Republic, the Garachug village of the Babek District is included in the scope of the administrative territorial unit of Nakhchivan city.AZƏRBAYCAN RESPUBLİKASININ QANUNU
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Historical and archaeological monuments

Garachug Necropolis I

''Garachug Necropolis I'' - the archaeological monument of the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

, 3 km in the east from the city of Nakhchivan, near the Garachug village. It was discovered by chance in 1985. The area of the necropolis was stuck in the middle of the water in the island form when happened the flood in the Araz River, a part of the graves located on the sandy hill were washed out and destroyed. From Necropolis were found the samples of the painted pottery (mainly bowls, pots etc.), bowl-type ceramic containers made of pink colored clay, the pink colored of vase-type containers made from the hewed tuff stone. The findings were being typical for the middle

, is assumed that it belongs to the 2100–1900 years of BC.

Garachug Necropolis II

''Garachug Necropolis II'' - the archaeological monument of the

, 3 km in the east from the city of Nakhchivan, near the Garachug village. It flooded and destroyed during the construction of the Araz Water Reservoir. According to information, there were the grave monuments consisting from the tomb-type and stones in form of ram in the necropolis. The headstones of these monuments were made mostly from flat stone slabs; the top side of some of them were completed in the form of crown. There is an inscription in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

on a few of them. All of the dead were buried of the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

tradition in the necropolis. It is supposed that the monument belongs to the 12th–19th centuries.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Qaracuq Populated places in Azerbaijan Districts of Azerbaijan Subdivisions of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic Populated places in Babek District