Gobustan Rock Art represents flora and fauna, hunting, lifestyles, and culture of pre-historic and medieval periods of time. The carvings on the rocks illustrates men, ritual dances, men with lances in their hands, animals, bull fights, camel caravans, and pictures of the sun and stars. The date of these carvings goes back to 5,000 – 20,000 years before present.
17-858: The Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape represents the history of humanity from the Upper Paleolithic era to the Middle Ages in Eurasia. It is situated at the southeast end of the Greater Caucasus ridge in Azerbaijan . it is located approximately 64 km (40 mi) southwest from center of Baku . The area of the site is 537 ha. The cultural landscape covers three rocky highlands in the semi-desert territory of central Azerbaijan. There are more than 6,000 rock engravings on more than 1,000 surfaces of rocks that reflects 40,000 years of history of rock art. During
34-613: A small area, ranging from lowlands to glaciers . It is situated 50 km north of the resort of Sochi . The Western Caucasus also contains the Caucasus Nature Reserve ( Russian Кавказский государственный природный биосферный заповедник ), nature reserve ( IUCN management category Ia ) set up by the Soviet government in Krasnodar Krai , Adygea and Karachay–Cherkessia in 1924 to preserve some 85 m-high specimens of
51-700: Is a western region of the North Caucasus in Southern Russia, extending from the Black Sea to Mount Elbrus . The Western Caucasus includes a natural UNESCO World Heritage Site , comprising the extreme western edge of the Caucasus Mountains . UNESCO specialists say that it is the only large mountain area in Europe that has not experienced significant human impact. Its habitats are exceptionally varied for such
68-600: Is also the place of origin and of reintroduction of the Caucasian wisent . The last wild wisent in the world was killed by poachers here in 1927. Wisents partly interbred with American bison were reintroduced several decades later. In 2009, a Persian leopard reintroduction centre was created in Sochi National Park, where two male leopards from Turkmenistan are being kept since September 2009, and two females from Iran since May 2010. Their descendants will be released into
85-733: Is the major mountain range of the Caucasus Mountains . It stretches for about 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) from west-northwest to east-southeast, from the Taman Peninsula of the Black Sea to the Absheron Peninsula of the Caspian Sea : from the Western Caucasus in the vicinity of Sochi on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea and reaching nearly to Baku on the Caspian. The range
102-453: Is traditionally separated into three parts: In the wetter Western Caucasus, the mountains are heavily forested ( deciduous forest up to 1,500 metres (4,900 ft), coniferous forest up to 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) and alpine meadows above the tree line ). In the drier Eastern Caucasus, the mountains are mostly treeless. The watershed of the Caucasus is also considered by some to be
119-565: The Nordmann fir ( Abies nordmanniana ), thought to be the tallest trees in Europe , and a unique forest formed by English yew ( Taxus baccata ) and European box ( Buxus sempervirens ) within the city of Sochi . About a third of its high mountain species of plants are recognized as endemic . The area also includes the Sochi National Park (IUCN management category II). The Western Caucasus
136-693: The boundary between Eastern Europe and Western Asia . The European part to the north of the watershed is known as Ciscaucasia ; the Asiatic part to the south as Transcaucasia , which is dominated by the Lesser Caucasus mountain range and whose western portion converges with Eastern Anatolia . Most of the border of Russia with Georgia and Azerbaijan runs along most of the Caucasus' length. The Georgian Military Road ( Darial Gorge ) and Trans-Caucasus Highway traverse this mountain range at altitudes of up to 3,000 metres (9,800 ft). The watershed of
153-806: The Caucasus was the border between the Caucasia province of the Russian Empire in the north and the Ottoman Empire and Persia in the south (1801) until the Russian victory in 1813 and the Treaty of Gulistan which moved the border of the Russian Empire well within Transcaucasia. The border between Georgia and Russia still follows the watershed almost exactly (except for Georgia's western border, which extends south of
170-686: The archaeological excavation, 104 small-sized engraved stones were also discovered at different archaeological stages Petroglyphs in Gobustan dating about 5,000 to 8,000 years back contain longships similar to Viking ships . The discovery of ship illustrations among the rock paintings in Gobustan shows its relationship with the Mediterranean and the European continent . Jingirdag, Boyukdash, and Kichikdash mountains and Yazili hill are located in Gobustan , which are
187-670: The archaeological excavation, numerous Bronze Age structures were found here. Those archaeological excavations were supported by the Institute of Archeological and Ethnography of the National Academy of Science of Azerbaijan. In 1966, 1988, and 2001, all discoveries of rock carvings and images were taken under state protection in the Gobustan State Historical and Cultural Reserve and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. Greater Caucasus The Greater Caucasus
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#1732869818655204-494: The decree of the Council of Ministers of Azerbaijan SSR, the mountains were declared as Gobustan State Historical Artistic Preserve. By the decree of the president, the mountains were declared as National Reserve in 2007. For its quality and density of rock art engravings, Gobustan was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. The cultural landscape was firstly discovered by local miner in 1939–40. The sticky drawings of
221-656: The deer, goat and cattle dated between 12th and 8th centuries BC reflect the Neolithic period in Gobustan. Gobustan petroglyphs studied by Isak Jafarzadeh who analyzed approximately 750 rocks with more than 3,500 petroglyphs in 1947 and onwards were divided into 6 periods from ancient times to the Middle Ages: The Middle Ages (camel caravans drawings, a warrior with a weapon on his hand, symbols, Arabic and Persian inscriptions) . Later on, F. Muradova and J. Rustamov made new discoveries of more than 1.500 images. During
238-429: The home for the ancient rock art. Most of the rock carving can be found on the upper surface of Boyukdash and Kicikdash mountains. The paintings on the rock walls date back to 3-4 thousand years ago mainly reflect hunting scenes. Human (dancers, hunters, men wearing tropical helmets) and animal (deer and goat) paintings are depicted on the rocks of more sheltered sides. Images of animals on Gobustan rocks vary depending on
255-581: The periods because of the change in the hunting targets (from big animals like aurochs and wild horses (during the Pleistocene period) to relatively smaller Holocene animals such as deer, wild boar and bird) according to the climate change starting at the beginning of the Holocene period. The petroglyphs on the walls of the living sites as “Firuz-1”, “Firuz-2”, “Gaya-arasi”, “Gaya-Arasi-2” on Kicikdash Mountain, “Kaniza”, “Ana-Zaga” on Boyukdash Mountain are similar to
272-472: The petroglyphs on some stones in this site. One of the rocks has a Latin inscription belonging to the period of Roman Emperor Domitian ’s reign (81-96 AD), which shows the temporary stay of the 12th Roman Legion on the Caspian shores. Another remnant of the early time is so-called gaval chalan dash (tambourine stone), an ancient musical instrument described in Gobustan Rock Art. In 1996, by
289-408: The watershed, and a narrow strip of territory in northwestern Kakheti and northern Mtskheta-Mtianeti where Georgia extends north of the watershed), while Azerbaijan is south of the watershed except that its northeastern corner has five districts north of the watershed ( Khachmaz , Quba , Qusar , Shabran , and Siazan ). Download coordinates as: Western Caucasus The Western Caucasus
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