The Chalkhangala fortress – has been built to the North of Payiz village of Babek region, in the area of Jahri village, on an unapproachable mountain. The fortress is situated in the West of Jahri river which flows in the North-South direction, at an altitude of 1840 metres from the sea level. So, it is very auspicious from the defence aspect. That is, the enemy is not allowed to attack the fortress directly. As the entrance path of the fortress passes through sheer slopes and rocks, it hampers the enemy’s attack very much. But there are very little remainders of buildings belonging to the dwelling house inside of the fortress. Cultured sheet and archaelogical materials are not met in its central part. The location area of the fortress allows to keep the whole valley of Jahri river under control and prevent the danger of attack. It is possible to ascend Chalkhangala from the East and North form Jahri river. As it is in Vaykhir fortress, archaeological materials are not met here, too. Possibly, the fortress was not used as a permanent dwelling, but used with the purpose of defence in the case of danger. Chalkhangala has been built in the Southern side of the precipitous cliffs the surface of which is flat, consists of one wall. The defence walls belonging to the Late Bronze period also show different peculiarities for building technology. From this point of view, the building technology of Chalkhangala draws attention. Roughly made, four-cornered stone blocks have been used in the building of the fortress walls. The walls have been built from large blocks in the sides, and the middle of them has been filled out with small stones. In some cases fixing solution has been used in the building of the walls. As this part of dwelling is not protected naturally, the defence wall has been needed. The length o fthis wall which is in the North-West direction, is approximately 350- 360 metres. The West end of the wall joins with a high rock, and the East end with precipitous cliffs. The fortress wall is not of the flat figure, has been built according to the relief of the place, timbered with projections from inside and outside. The thickness of the wall is 2.3-2.7 metres, and the height is between 2.5-2.7 metres. It is supposed that the wall has been higher in the previous periods. The most significant feature of Chalkhangala defence wall is building of the walls with projections to outside and inside at some distance. Such kind of tecnology that considrably increases the defence power of the walls has not been met in other monuments of Azerbaijan up to now. Chalkhangala looks like an unstraight polygon in the general plan. The fortress has two doors, one in the South-West, another in the South-East. The width of the South-West door is 2.4-2.5 metres, and the height is 3.1 metres. The surface of the door has been covered with a whole flagstone. The door entrance has been fixed with counterforces from either sides. There are the residues of a three-room building joining with the wall inside of the fortress wall. The thickness of the wall of rectangular buildings is between 1-1.2 metre. There are the residues of four-cornered houses in the South of the fortress walls, at the foot of the hill. The inside of these buildings constructed on stone foundation has been filled out with ground. Perhaps, the top of them has been built from air-brick. The fortress walls can be related to the middle and second half of the II millennium B.C.

Vali Bakhishaliyev, archaelogy of Azerbaijan