Garghalar tapasi

Garghalar hill— an ancient settlement in Azerbaijan's Aghstafa district.

General information

It is a Neolithic settlement located in the territory of Qırılı village, 4 km east of the Aghstafa railway station in Azerbaijan's Aghstafa district. The hill’s height is 10 metres. Archaeological investigations show that the area was inhabited and that people led a sedentary lifestyle, engaging in animal husbandry and agriculture, as well as producing various objects and ornaments by cold hammering copper. Excavations uncovered remains of circular‑plan residential and utility buildings made of raw brick. The floors of the houses were plastered with gypsum and sometimes painted red. One building was whitewashed with lime. Bone and antler threads, flint tools and obsidian (camel‑eye) sickle blades, large and small animal bones, stone pestles, knives, bone awls, decorative items and simple pottery, as well as the oldest metal object in the Caucasus—a copper spindle—were found here.

The clay female figure discovered here is the oldest example of sculpture in the territory of Azerbaijan. This clay figure, found during archaeological excavations at the Garghalar hill monument by archaeologist Ideal Nərimanov in 1967–1968, is therefore very interesting. Headless and armless, with legs together and in a half‑bent position, the wavy lines on the neck of this small statue resemble hair. According to scholars, this figure, a product of the period’s art, has a religious purpose and represents a woman who has let down her hair and gone out to pray for rain. The figure’s height is 2.3 cm, its width 1 cm, and its length 4.8 cm. Garghalar hill is a characteristic monument of the Shomutepe culture.