Gabala archaeological area - Being mentioned in the written sources of the 1st century A. D., Gabala was the first capital city of Albania. Beginning from the 4th century B. C., it played an important role in the economic, political and cultural life of the country. Archaeological explorations have been carried out in Gabala since 1926. And, since 1959, a hospital expedition has been working there. These facts helped to gather very rich archaeological data about history of Gabala. The collected data during explorations of wide scale in the last 80 years is of unexampled importance for a comprehensive study of the history of city civilization in Azerbaijan. Gabala consists of three parts - Gala, Salbir, and Chaggally. Explorations in Chaggally (50 hectares area), which is between Garachay and Qochalan rivers, have confirmed an intensive city life beginning from the 4th century B. C. till the 1st century A. D. Rich cultural layers of a few meters depth have been discovered in Salbir (13 hectares area) belonging to the 1st - 10th centuries and in Gala (12 hectares area) belonging to the 1st - 17th centuries. As seen from the layers, after the decline of the city life in Chaggally, new city civilization emerged in Salbir and Gala. After the 10th century, city life has continued only in Gala part of the city. Castle walls of Gabala differ from the other medieval fortifications in Azerbaijan with its grandiose defense system. The walls have been built from air-bricks and shaved river stones peculiar to the Sasanid time architecture. Archaeologist S.Gaziyev carried out explorations here to figure out the age and character of the walls in 1967. A tower in the north walls was explored for this purpose. The semicircular tower was built from mohra and chaffy air-bricks. Inside diameter of the tower is 3 m. The tower and its extension walls were masked by air-bricks from the outside. There are remnants of a supporting wall built from river stones, burnt bricks and lime solution inside the castle walls. This 6 m long supporting wall was built later for restoration purposes. During explorations by the archaeologist F. Gadirov in the south-west of Salbir in 1974-78 another tower built from river stones was discovered as well. The right-angled tower is 14 m high. It has been built from shaved river stones and lime and masked by tuf stone. Built in the 1st century B. C., this tower has played a crucial role in the defense system of the city for centuries. Remnants of walls of 35 m length, 1 m height, and 2.4 m width were discovered in the north of this tower. This wall was also built from shaved tuf stones and lime solution. Castle walls in the south and south-east part of Salbir were explored by the experienced archaeologist G. Ahmadov in the mid-80s. These explorations revealed remnants of another semicircular tower. F. Gadirov attempted another exploration in the south part of city castle walls in the mid-80s. As a result, lots of graves were found out in the excavations near the city gate. There have been discovered numerous buildings and construction parts in the ruins of Gabala. For instance, a few medieval buildings were found out by O.Ismizadeh on the shore of Govurlu River in the east part of Gala in 1960. Large building was revealed by the archeologist S. Gaziyev in the central part of Gala in 1961. Foundation of the building was built from shaved lime, while the upper parts were built from square shaped burnt bricks. Both of these buildings discovered by Gaziyev and Ismizade are considered to be built in the 9th century. Several water arks revealed by S. Gaziyev in Salbir territory gives data about water supply of the city. One of these water arks has 40 cm width and depth. There are earthenware water pipes connected each other within the ark built with square shaped burnt bricks. Pipes are 42 cm long and of 10-16 cm diameter each. Remnants of another water ark were discovered in the east part of Salbir. Crossing the city in the west, this ark stretches to the direction of Govurluchay River. Remnants of the main waterline system supplying the city with drinkable water were found out while road construction works in the 80s. In the Middle Ages, as in the ancient time, Gabala still was an important handicraft center. Examples of archaeological findings from the territory inform us that stoneware, metalwork, bone ware, woodwork as well as pottery, glass production, jeweler’s art, dying, tanning and weaving were highly developed here. Taking into account archeological evidences, it can be claimed that scale of cultural-economic relations of Gabala has considerably expanded after losing its capital status in the 5th century. Among the findings in the city ruins, the existence of numerous coins and products imported from China, Iran and Roman Empire affirm this fact. Several treasures have been discovered in Gabala and surrounding territories. The treasures mainly belong to the Sassanid times (226-551). For instance, while farming a unique treasure was discovered with silver drachmas belonging to a Sassanid ruler - II Bahram (276-293) in 2-3 km south-west of the ruins of Gabala city in 1964. Along with Sassanid coins there were coins and deaneries belonging to Parthian ruler Gotars (41-51) Roman emperors Oto (69), Vaspasian (69-79), Traya (98-117) and Adrian (117-138) in the treasure consisting of 200 coins. The above mentioned coins were minted by Sassanid rulers in the 6th century. There were four working expeditions in Gabala in 70-80s. Activities of these expeditions were stopped in 1990. After 18 years, with the support of Azerbaijan-Korea Cultural Exchange, ANAS"s (Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences) Institute of Archeology and Ethnography sent Gabala archaeological expedition consisting of two groups to carry out explorations in Gabala in 2008. The group led by the corresponding member of ANAS I. Babayev carried explorations in the ancient Gabala, while the "medieval" group led by Gafar Jabiyev explored Gala part. These explorations assume vital importance in learning the 16-17th century history of Gabala. Archeological evidences open wide opportunities for investigating the architectural development and town-building traditions in the Middle Ages in Gabala, and in other medieval cities of Azerbaijan. New archaeological evidences give detailed information about different aspects of the city life and civilization. Coins, faience, pharphour and celadon materials indicate trade relations with other states, including China and Iran in the 16-17th centuries. Excavations in north-west of Gala were of success in 2008. Here one of the small doors of Gala and a guard post was explored for the first time. Numerous precious findings were discovered here. Among them were the key of the castle gate, remnants of an earthenware water pipe system. The glazed cup found here read "With the name of Allah" in Arabic. It was probably used for ritual purposes.

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