Settlements and burial sites from the Aeneolithic and Early Bronze Age are the oldest sites being excavated in Shamkir District. In 1975, archaeological excavations of an aeneolithic settlement over an area of 70 square metres near the village of Kechili found the remains of buildings and tools from the Aeneolithic Age and ceramic fragments made from clay mixed with a plant substance. Sites from the Early and Middle Bronze Age are mainly burial mounds. In 1977-1978, 6 burial mounds were excavated at the site known as Osmanbozu, of which three dated to the Early Bronze Age. The mounds were made of stone mixed with soil. The funeral rite of cremation had been performed in all three burial mounds, which were full of river stones. The grave items consist of biconical and spherical pots, cups and copper bowls. Burial mounds in Qarajamirli from the Middle Bronze Age were excavated in 1988-1989. Two of six mounds were excavated by Q.M. Aslanov, one by F.A. Abbasova and three by M.A. Huseynova and I.N. Aliyev. The mounds, built up with stone, were oval in plan view. The square burial chambers were dug 2 m deep out of hard clay earth. The corpse was buried in a bent position. There were many goods in the grave: ceramics, metal tools, animal figures and jewellery. Small flags and metal bridle bits are of special interest. The grave goods include a wealth of ceramics. For example, 41 ceramic artefacts were found in burial mound No 4 and 31 in No 5.

Late Bronze and Early Iron Age

Two excavations have been made in the settlement of Bitdili, which covers more than 2 hectares near the village of Kur in Shamkir District on the right bank of the Shamkir River. The excavations cover an overall area of 210 square metres. The cultural layer was found to be on average 1.6 metres thick. Excavation I found fragments of pots and clay pitchers of various shapes, fragments of deep and shallow cups painted with straight and wavy lines and fragments of barrel-shaped and cubic vessels. Most of the hand-made ceramics were black, grey and red. Other artefacts found were grind stones, a club head, a heavy stone and a model of a wheel.

Large pitchers were found on the south side of Excavation I, a third of which were buried in the ground. The large pitchers were 1.6-1.7 m high. The remains of wine had been preserved at the bottom of one of them. The remains of a hearth, 1 m in diameter, made in virgin soil were found in the east of Excavation I. The area around it was covered in clay plaster./p>

Three potter’s kilns were found and cleaned up in Excavation II. These kilns, made of unfired brick, have a double construction which meant that high temperatures could be reached (1,000-1,200 degrees). Large pitchers and more delicate crockery alike were made in these kilns. The area being excavated by Excavation II has provisionally been called the craftsmen’s area.

Zayamchay necropolis. Major excavations took place at the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age Zayamchay necropolis in connection with the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the South Caucasus gas pipeline across Shamkir District (Refs 1, 2 and 3). The necropolis covers an area of roughly 2 hectares not far from the Zayam River. Archaeological excavations of the necropolis were carried out in the pipeline corridor in a strip 24 m wide and 100 m long, i.e. an area of 2,400 sq.m. The excavations studied 130 burial sites. Eighty-seven were graves with stone mounds, while the remainder were ordinary earth graves or graves covered in earth mixed with the occasional river stone. The graves of stone have a distinctive cover of river stones. The stone mounds are 25 to 100 cm thick. The river stones in the covering are occasionally stuck together with a sticky clay mortar. In some graves the mound is in the form of a crescent.

The skeletons found in the graves show that the dead were buried on their right or left side, bent and sometimes bent double, pointing in different directions. Skeletons were also found positioned on their backs but with bent knees. Skeletons were not found in many graves, even in some that were rich in grave goods.

Despite the variety of graves and burial customs, the grave goods do not differ significantly. The goods consist of ceramics from the Khojali-Gadabay culture, tools and ornaments.

Albanian Period

Chaparli Albanian church (4th-5th centuries). An archaeological complex from the classical period and Early Middle Ages (Ref. 1, pp. 196-206) was studied near the village of Chaparli in Shamkir District in 2005, in connection with the laying of the South Caucasus gas pipeline. The archaeological excavations revealed an Albanian Christian temple and a Christian burial site. Two buildings were found one on top of the other in square 6 of the excavations. Although the building found in the upper layer was badly damaged, it could be assumed to have been rectangular. The walls running east to west are 40-50 cm thick and a length of 2.5 m has been preserved, and another wall joins it on the eastern side creating a corner. These remains of buildings made of river stone are thought to date to the 10th and 11th centuries.

The remains of a rectangular building made from limestone, 25 sq.m in area, were found beneath this building. A portal 1.3 m wide was found in the eastern wall. The walls were 1.5 m thick and 1.6 m in the door section.

Archaeological excavations determined the area in which limestone was prepared during the construction process. An area for hewing, dressing and polishing the limestone was found in excavation squares 7 and 8. A stone slab decorated with a cross, found inside the building during the excavations, and Christian graves beneath and around the temple confirm that the remains are the ruins of an Albanian Christian temple of the 4th and 5th centuries. West of the temple, in the cultural layer’s lower construction stratum, a forge from the late classical period was found. In plan view the forge is oval. It had a two-tier construction.

Early Christian graves and two pitcher graves were studied during excavations at the site. Mainly, single burials were recorded. Only in square 3 was a collective grave found – a burial pit had been dug out in the shape of a cross and a body was buried in each part of the cross.

Grave goods were found in just one of the graves studied. Beads and bronze ornaments were found in a child’s grave.

Middle Ages

The settlement of Munjuqlutapa (9th-13th centuries), on the bank of the River Kur, 8 km north of the village of Qarajamirli in Shamkir District, was excavated in 1985-1988 in connection with the construction of the Yenikand hydro-electric power station (Ref 1, pp. 57-59). Two construction strata from the 9th-10th and 11th-13th centuries were found in a cultural layer 1.7-1.8 m thick. The remains of buildings built from river stone and fired brick, domestic and farm wells and more than 30 ovens and hearths were investigated. The ovens vary in shape and size. Lines had been drawn on their walls from the inside. The largest oven is 80 cm in diameter, while the smallest is 35 cm. The archaeological excavations uncovered pieces of architecture which prove the existence of monumental buildings in Munjuqlutapa in the past. For example, a capital neatly hewn from stone and the base of a column can be seen. An inscription on the capital in Kufic script says: ‘Power belongs to God (year 442 – 1050/1051). This is the work of Imamillah bin Muhammad al-Mudabbiri. May God have mercy upon him’ (Ref. 2, p. 37). The large amount of metal slag and refuse found during the excavations proves the presence of metal-working and in particular black-smithing.

Finds made in the cultural layer consist of tools, weapons, glazed and plain ceramics, metal and glass artefacts, jewellery and copper coins. The discovery of a 20-cm layer of ash and ruins in the upper stratum of the cultural layer shows that the settlement was attacked suddenly and set on fire, after which the population left. Archaeological excavations determined that the settlement of Munjuqlutapa is a ruined urban settlement from the 10th-13th centuries.