Sarıçoban kurqanı

Sarıçoban mound – an archaeological monument of the late Bronze–Early Iron Age, a earth mound located in the southern and southwestern part of the village of Sarıçoban in the Xındırıstan rural administrative area of Aghdam district. The mound, which belongs to the group of large earth mounds, has a height of 7–8 m and a diameter of 50–80 m. The mound dates to the 12th–11th centuries BC.

The Sarıçoban mounds have a conical covering. In many mounds, the mound covering, at a height of 1–1.5 m above ground level, is surrounded by flat limestone fragments.

The first information about the Sarıçoban mounds was obtained in the summer of 1986 during the work of the Mil-Caucasus archaeological expedition. In July–August of that year, one of the Sarıçoban mounds was examined. The earth covering of the mound was largely destroyed during the construction of a water reservoir. The mound was said to be 7–8 m high and 50–80 m in diameter.

A four‑armed cross‑shaped burial chamber was discovered in the mound, which sharply distinguishes it from burial monuments known so far in the Caucasus and even the Near East. In almost every chamber of the Sarıçoban mound, only 16 horse skeletons have been found. Four were found in the central chamber, three in the eastern chamber, and eight in the southern chamber. The remaining ones were found in other chambers.

One of the mound burials of a wealthy tribal leader, a leader (perhaps a ruler) of Sarıçoban, was buried in a crouched position.

General information

The Sarıçoban monument is the third great tribal leader mound in Azerbaijan after the Borsunlu and Bayimsarov mounds in the Tartar district.

Sarıçoban kurqanı (No. 1) resembles large Borsunlu and Bəyimsarov earth kurqans in its form. It appears that in this region the ordinary members of the community were buried not only in kurqans but also in ordinary earth graves. Therefore, detecting such earth graves that have no surface markers could only be possible through accidental finds.

The observation of certain stone-related features in the kurqans located on the plain, such as Bəyimsarov and Sarıçoban, indicates that stone worship held a certain place among the ancient Karabakh tribes. Thus, in the Bəyimsarov kurqan tomb two coarse, roughly carved large camel‑eye stone pieces were recorded, and in the Sarıçoban kurqan the presence of limestone pieces surrounding it in a single ring was noted.

A tomb chamber with a cross‑shaped layout on four sides has been discovered in the kurqan. The upper part of the tomb chamber has remained very well preserved to date, covered with two or three layers (depending on dimensions) of wooden planks measuring up to 7 m in length and from 20 cm to 40–50 cm in diameter, one layer bound to the other. Between the wooden planks dense reeds were laid, and the top of the planks was covered with a thick layer of wooden branches. Precisely because of this, the soil of the massive kurqan cover could not penetrate into the tomb chamber. Only in one place, in the middle of the eastern chamber, the wooden planks were weak, and there the cover collapsed into the tomb.

Some weapon specimens found in the Sarıçoban complex are represented by single copies. These include a bronze axe head, a sword and a dagger. The axe head has a thick conical shaft (length 8.3 cm) and a short leaf‑shaped blade (length 6.5 cm, width 3.7 cm). The indicated type of axe heads is frequently encountered in the tombs of the Khojaly‑Gadabay culture dating to the 12th–11th centuries BC.

Within the equipment of the Sarıçoban complex, bronze items dominate in number and variety. Excluding some bronze fragments of unknown description and function found in the Sarıçoban complex, the collection ends with umbrella‑shaped heads and bronze nails with forked ends.

The analysis of the elaborate burial ceremony observed in the rich kurkans of Karabakh (Dovşanlı‑Balıqqaya, Xocalı, Qarabulaq, Borsunlu, Bəyimsarov, Sarıçoban) proves that it has deep roots (the tradition of creating magnificent kurkan monuments began with the Bronze Age Üçtəpə kurkan),

and that it further developed in the late Bronze and early Iron Ages.

The Sarıçoban kurkan is the third monument in the studied area where bronze cauldrons have been found, the first two being the Xocalı kurkan No. 1 and No. 2 and the Great Borsunlu kurkans. Outside Karabakh, bronze and early Iron Age monuments have been encountered at Gəncəçay and Çovdar in Azerbaijan.

Structure of the tomb monument

The tomb chamber discovered under a conical earthen kurkan covering, with a height of 5 m and a diameter of 45–50 m, differs completely from any known monuments to date due to its unusual construction. The tomb chamber uncovered in the area beneath the kurkan sharply contrasts with tomb monuments known so far in the Caucasus and even the Near East, being excavated facing the four cardinal directions of the world. In fact, the intersecting chambers create a complex that recalls a “cross” sign. The wall of the tomb is vertical.

There is no structural analogue of the Sarıçoban kurkan’s tomb chamber, which faces the four cardinal directions of the world and has a proper cross shape. There are several interpretations of the tomb’s construction;

here it is possible to see both the succession of the four different seasons of the year, the four directions of the world, as well as the death and revival of nature, etc. In addition, the fact that the tomb is in the shape of a cross, which serves as a symbol of light, heat, the sun, allows one to say that the tribal leader buried here intended to illuminate his path to the "dark world."

the analysis of the elaborate burial ceremony observed in the rich kurgans of Karabakh (Dovşanlı-Balıqqaya, Xocalı, Qarabulaq, Borsunlu, Bəyimsarov, Sarıçoban) proves its deep roots (the tradition of creating magnificent kurgan monuments began with the early Bronze Age Üçtəpə kurgan), and shows that it was further refined in the late Bronze and early Iron Ages.