About the Stone Products Discovered From the Pashatape Neolithic Settlement (Jalilabad District of the Republic of Azerbaijan)
Abstract
The purpose of research paper is to analyze and bring into discussion the idea that the Mughan Neolithic period is the youngest in the South Caucasus (Tufan Akhundov’s thesis) based on the concept of the formation of favourable conditions for a productive economy, does not justify itself based on the materials of the Pashatepe site of Jalilabad District and the fact that the Neolithic traditions of the region are older.
Scientific novelty. For the first time in the article, as a result of the chemical and mineralogical analysis of the Pashatepe Neolithic settlement materials, located in the Jalilabad region, considerations are made about some sacred stone objects belonging to the morion type of quartz.
Conclusions. The carriers of the early agricultural culture of Azerbaijan maintained relations not only with the inhabitants of the Middle East of the same period but also with other tribes of the Caucasus. These studies present that the Neolithic inhabitants not only developed their economic habits during their time but also established their religious rites and customs. The custom of burying the dead in their settlements and placing equipment next to them is characteristic of all Neolithic inhabitants. However, in the burial recorded in Pashatepe, the custom of burying a large horned animal behind the child to protect it, almost hugging the skeleton of the deceased, is a unique case.
The results of the archaeological research conducted in recent times in the sites of the early sedentary farmer-herder culture located in the Mughan plain allow us to say that this region was one of the centres where the local Neolithic culture was formed in the South Caucasus in the 6th millennium BC. The progressive traditions transmitted from the south to the north or vice versa during the mentioned period conditioned the formation of the early sedentary farming culture of the region in the Mughan area, which served as the main transit region in the transmission of these traditions. Unique architectural features and technical-technological differences observed in the production of ceramics make it possible to distinguish the Mughan Neolithic carriers from other local Neolithic cultures of the Caucasus. The context of these different witchcraft traditions, sorcery, etc., are also observed in the artefacts discovered during excavations of the Neolithic inhabitants of Pashatepe.
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