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Top 10 Interesting Facts about Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape
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 approximately 64 km southwest of Baku, The area of the site is 537 hectares.
Gobustan Rock Art represents flora and fauna, hunting, lifestyles, and culture of pre-historic and medieval periods. The carvings on the rocks illustrate primitive men, ritual dances, men with lances in their hands, animals, bullfights, camel caravans, and pictures of the sun and stars.
These carvings go back 5.000 – 20.000 years back. It covers three areas of a plateau of rocky boulders rising out of the semi-desert of central Azerbaijan.
The Landscape has a collection of more than 6,000 rock engravings bearing testimony to 40,000 years of rock art.
The site also features the remains of inhabited caves, settlements, and burial sites. Here are the top 10 interesting facts about Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape
1. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Photo by Leila.M.9 from Wikimedia
Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape covers three areas of a plateau of rocky boulders rising out of the semi-desert of central Azerbaijan. It has a magnificent collection of more than 6,000 rock engravings bearing testimony to 40,000 years of rock art.
In 2007 Gobustan was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as an ACultural Landscape considered to be of outstanding universal value for the quality and density of its rock art engravings.
UNESCO or The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences, and culture. It has 193 member states and 12 associate members.
2. It Consists of More than 6000 Petroglyphs
Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape consists of more than 6000 petroglyphs, shelters, ancient settlements, burial sites, and sacred sites.
A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art.
Outside North America, scholars use terms such as “carving”, “engraving”, or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images. Petroglyphs are found worldwide and are often associated with prehistoric peoples.
Gobustan has an outstanding universal value for the quality and density of its rock art engravings. It shows how humans lived in this area by developing cultural and physiological behavior adapted to the harsh climate. Most ancient petroglyphs are concentrated on the upper terraces of the Beyukdash and Kichikdash mountains.
3. Visit the Gaval dashi Musical Stone of Gobustan
Photo by Faik Nagiyev from Wikimedia
One of the most notable discoveries by archaeologists was Gaval dashi, a musical stone and a symbol of Gobustan. It is believed that ancient humans performed rituals by producing sounds with this stone.
The stone is two meters long and produces a tambourine-like sound when it is hit by smaller stones. This musical stone was also used for dancing Yalli, a chain dance that is also one of the national dances of Azerbaijan.
Yalli is portrayed in rock carvings found in Gobustan. Many Azerbaijani musicians use the hypnotic sound of Gaval dashi even today to create fascinating pieces of music. A notable example was the semi-final of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest held in Baku, Azerbaijan where Gavaldashi was played and dancers performed Yalli.
4. Gobustan was Home to the Centurion of the 12th Roman Legion
It is believed that Romans were also present in Gobustan. A rock found in Gobustan contains a Roman inscription, which proves the presence of a centurion of the 12th Roman legion, known as the Fulminant.
Due to its uniqueness, the inscription attracted the attention of specialists in Latin epigraphy and the history of ancient Rome and Transcaucasia.
It is the only Latin inscription found on the territory of ancient Caucasian Albania. Most experts consider this inscription to be indisputable proof of the presence of Roman troops in the eastern part of Transcaucasia in the late 1st century BC.
There is also another theory that suggests that the inscription might have been left by a Roman centurion who carried out a secret intelligence or diplomatic mission.
5. Learn about the History of the world’s oldest Civilization at Gobustan
photo Source: Wikimedia
There are many hypotheses regarding human settlements in Gobustan. Some researchers note similarities between these Gobustan images and petroglyphs found in East Africa.
The well-known Norwegian traveler and scientist Thor Heyerdahl has another theory. He was fascinated by Gobustan rock carvings, which he visited several times in his life.
On seeing the famous image of a multi-seat boat of the 6th millennium BC among the rock carvings of Gobustan, he became firmly convinced that, most likely, it was a reed vessel related to Sumerian ones.
This led him to believe that people who lived in Gobustan could have contact with the world’s oldest civilizations.
6. Tour the Extraordinary Gobustan Museum
Gobustan Museum is a large Museum that was opened in 2011. It has become a must-see destination for all the tourists visiting Azerbaijan. This museum includes exhibitions of World Heritage sites.
Tourists also learn about the history of the discovery of petroglyphs, ancient people living in the territory of Gobustan, and its original flora and fauna. More than 100,000 items found by archaeologists during excavations are stored in repositories.
In 2013, the Gobustan Museum won the European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA). Today, we have a glimpse of the ancestors through the rock paintings and discoveries made by Archaeologists and Palaeontologists in Gobustan.
7. It Represents the History of Humanity from Paleolithic Era to the Middle age
Photo by Сёма Дядя from Wikimedia
The Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape represents the history of humanity from the Upper Paleolithic era to the middle age.
The Paleolithic Era is a period in prehistory, distinguished by the original development of stone tools, that covers 99% of the period of human technology.
The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history which are classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages.
8. Anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl Visited the Site Regularly
A well-known Norwegian explorer and traveler Thor Heyerdahl paid special attention to the paintings of boats in Gobustan. According to him, the Gobustan boats with arched bottoms probably of cane do not have analogs over the world.
He paraphrased the famous saying “all roads lead to Rome” and suggested that “all roads led from Gaboustan” under the hypothesis that there existed some water road “from Varyags to Greek” in very ancient times.
Thor visited Azerbaijan several times between 1961 and his death in 2002 to study the site in his “Search for Odin.”
Search for Odin is the project title of Thor’s last series of archaeological excavations, which took place in Azov, Tanais in Russia.
9. Explore the untouched Jinghrdag Mountains
Photo by Robot8A from Wikimedia
The Jinghirdag Moutain-Yazylytepe hill is one of the most remote and undisturbed landscapes in the world. Aside from these two regions, visitors can
enjoy their adventure in the mountains of Chirgirdag, Songardag, Boyukdash, and Shinagawa.
One cannot fully embrace history without visiting these Mountains. The mountains are home to ancient rock art and reflect over 15,000 years of history.
Here, visitors find drawings of primitive men in all positions, bullfights, camel caravans, and so on. Images of animals on these rocks vary depending on the hunting targets during that period.
10. Discover Different types of Flora and Fauna
Azerbaijan is a tiny country, but there are nine out of eleven climate zones here. Gobustan has mild winters and hot summers. Because of the climate, Gobustan has over 470 plant species and over diverse fauna.
Gobustan has attributes of a desert and semi-desert. Aside from the heaps of stone, you can also find the wild rose, dwarfish cherry, Hibernian honeysuckle, wild pear, wild fig, and grapes.
Gobustan is home to over 110 wild bird species, 28 mammal species, and 20 reptile species in the region. Gobustan is also home to rare jackals, foxes, hares, feral cats, mountain chickens, larks, wild pigeons, lizards, and a variety of snakes.
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