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Beylagan (Orangala) ancient settlement
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  • Address:
    Beylagan, AZ1222
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The ruins of the Beylagan city (Orangala) are located in the plain of Mill on the territory of Kebirli village of Beylagan district. Beylagan city was settled on the trade caravan road from Barda to Ardabil; its territory between Araz and Kur rivers were connected with mountain regions. The population was passing to Small Caucasus’s summer pastures in mountains from Mughan and Mul plains. The ruins of the city and square form edged city wall ruins are seen clearly on the height of 6-8 ms of the plain level. The thickness of the civilized layer is 3-5 ms in the area in the inside of the walls. There was Govurarch River which connected the Gargar River with the Araz River in the middle ages. Its tracks are clearly seen in some places today. Govurarch River’s water was used for filling the ditches of the city castle walls and watering the surrounding territories. The city consisted of three parts: the Great City area of 40 hectares; Small City located on its south-east corner with the territory of 14 hectares and the district of craftsmen that was located outside of the castle walls on the south-west part of the Great City. Many faience plate, fired brick, metal, glass, faience etc pieces, also copper money were in these areas. Such findings are met in the territories which surround the city place, especially in the north-west areas, in the areas stretched till the Mil-Minare ruins and plain. There were small archeological digs held in Orangala in 1933 and 1951; and big systematical excavations in 1953-1968 (Q.M.Ehmedov, 1962; 1979). There was a tower part of Great City wall found on the place where the north-east castle wall of Great City and Small City cross. The same tower was cut by the Small City north castle ditch. It has been known that the first castle wall and the towers of the Great City have been built with 49x49x17 sm. air-bricks. Many broken plates with glaze and without glaze, faience, glass pieces, money etc. were found. There were excavations held in 6 areas of Orangala in 1953-1968: north-east (II excavation), north-west (VI excavation) in the castle walls, inside of the Small City, next to its north-west wall (I excavation), the same excavation was prolonged towards north-west and covered the city walls, ditch cut and the area close to the Great City ditch (V excavation) and in the district of craftsmen (III and IV excavations). During I excavation the VI-XIII century layers were discovered, remainders of living buildings where revealed, many examples of material culture have been got. The thickness of the civilized layer and the stratigraphy were defined here; historical changes in the constructions of the city were studied; the period of the things found in layers was defined; the art production of the city and development stages of civilized life have been elucidated. In the result of VI excavations it was made known that like the north-east castle walls, the north-west castle wall of the Great City were built in the same style using the same material. Constructions of living buildings and remainders of Moslem graves have been revealed on this wall. In the ditch inside of the castle wall was found a potter’s ball with sphere - cone plates. Different building periods of the north-west city gate, remainders of brick furnace and a part of the sewer line of the city have been revealed in this excavation. From V excavations it has been clear that the north-west wall of the Small City was built in the Teymur period. In the part of the excavation which continued towards the north-west of Great City the ditch of the same wall was defined; dwelling houses’ reminders constructed in VI-XIII centuries were discovered on the Great City side. In the south-west end of the City place, in the place close to Govurarch, craftsmen quarter of the city had been located. On the hill place (III area) there were 7 potter"s ovens of XIII century, covered water line; a big construction complex reminders with great farm importance in the beginning of XII-XIII centuries. On III area there were found four octahedral tombs with scores of Moslem grave remainders in it; in the IV area - octahedral tomb with four graves inside, designed with mosaic and color pictures. in the inside of the second tomb there were a remainder of writings in the place of the altar and two Moslem graves around the tomb. In the III and IV area excavations discovered the plan structure of the city, a special territory of craftsmen quarter, potter’s business, metal working, glass production and other stages of art areas; the dates of the city destruction and a number of other very important facts that helped to solve many problems. The lowest civilized layer had many big farm wells. The thickness of this layer is 1.52 ms; there are burning tracks and little farm-culture remainders of the first half of middle ages: mainly mostly broken faience plates have been found. In the 2 ms thick layers of IX-X centuries first coins and first broken glazed plates were found. The living, social and economy building reminders, great number of life and culture things that relate to the beginning of XII-XIII centuries reflect the economical and cultural prosperity. The Orangala excavations showed that since the beginning of the middle ages the city life continued and systematically developed here; especially a great revival was here at the beginning of the XII – XIII centuries. In general, the duration of this city’s life was about ten centuries; during this period it played an important role in the economical and cultural life of Azerbaijan and whole South Caucasus (Q.M.Ahmedov,1979).

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