“GEGHARD”
SCIENTIFIC ANALYTICAL
FOUNDATION
2025
2025
In the photo — the entrance to the Azokh Cave
“Archaeological research will be conducted in several directions in Karabakh, including “Khojaly Bronze Age,” “Azokh-Taghlar Paleolithic Sites,” “Study of the Material and Cultural Heritage of Caucasian Albania,” and others.” This was stated by Farhad Guliyev, Director of the Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. According to him, international archaeological expeditions will soon begin working in the “liberated territories.”
The emphasis on these directions of archaeological work reflects Azerbaijan’s policy of rewriting history and constructing a new past—a policy launched in the Soviet period, particularly the 1930s. It is clear that the “study of the material and cultural heritage of Caucasian Albania” will serve the purpose of portraying and appropriating Armenian cultural heritage in Artsakh as Udi-Albanian. In other words, the aim is to “scientifically” present the entire Christian heritage of Artsakh as Albanian and, consequently, Azerbaijani.
Azerbaijani “historiography” did not limit itself inventing a hereditary connection to Caucasian Albania or Atropatene; it seeks to go even further by “appropriating and Azerbaijanizing” even prehistoric humans.
During the archaeological excavations carried out in the 1960s–1970s in the Azokh Cave in Artaskh, one of the most significant archaeological sites, a hominid jawbone was discovered. According to some representatives of Azerbaijani historiography, the jaw belonged to the “first Azerbaijani.”
According to Karim Shukurov, director of the Institute of History and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, “the favourable natural and geographical environment in Azerbaijan made it one of the first places in the world to be inhabited by humans. According to the latest scientific research, homo habilis (‘handy man’) settled here about 2-2.5m years ago. Thus, Azerbaijan’s history “started”.
In March 2021, Ilham Aliyev visited the Azokh Cave with his family, where he declared at the entrance: “This is one of the oldest human settlements in the world and belongs to Azerbaijan’s history.” He then accused Armenian and foreign archaeologists of conducting “illegal excavations,” stating that “the Armenians have damaged our historical heritage,” and from now on, “only Azerbaijani scientists and their invited foreign partners will conduct research here.”
In contrast to the false historical narratives promoted by Azerbaijani historiography, in September 2023, the prestigious academic journal Central Asian Survey published an article by researcher Uri Rosenberg from the Universities of Potsdam and Heidelberg (Germany), titled "Was the Prehistoric Human an Azerbaijani Nationalist? The Mobilization of Prehistory and Nation-Building in Azerbaijan."
In the introduction of the article, which was written based on fieldwork conducted at the Gobustan Museum near Baku, Rosenberg notes: “While many nation-building projects dig deep into the past, reconstruct it, claim ancient civilizations as their own and sometimes even invent historical narratives that never happened, the Gobustan Museum and the narrative it implies (that prehistoric people living in 15,000 BCE were Azerbaijanis) seems like ‘overkill’, an exaggerated effort to connect the past and the present.”
At the archaeological site near the Gobustan Museum, more than 17,000-year-old cave engravings and petroglyphs have been discovered. The author is struck by the question of why a person who carved a cave wall 17,000 years ago is considered Azerbaijani in present-day Azerbaijan. At the beginning of the article, the scholar explains that the construction of history for Azerbaijanis began during the Soviet period, discussing the issue within the broader phenomenon of nation-building. According to Rosenberg, in Azerbaijan, the cave-dweller of Gobustan is seen as Azerbaijani due to the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the desire to assert a presence in the region that predates the Armenians.
The author notes that “Azerbaijanis are using archaeological findings from Gobustan to prove their indigeneity in the land and to claim that they are the original inhabitants of the land – including Nagorno Karabakh – long before the Armenians came and settled there.”
The author emphasizes that archaeology can be used for political purposes not only to strengthen a group’s identity but also to justify genocide, ethnic cleansing, and other atrocities.
Rosenberg notes that according to the staff and visitors of the Gobustan Museum, the prehistoric humans who lived in that area are considered the ancestors of Azerbaijanis, and some even call this prehistoric man Azerbaijani. This claim is also widespread among Azerbaijani researchers and historians, who openly state that the prehistoric human was Azerbaijani. Rosenberg writes that, according to Azerbaijanis, if prehistoric remains are found within Azerbaijan’s territory, that alone is sufficient evidence to link them to Azerbaijanis.
The researcher believes that “the museum in Gobustan serves a political purpose – to prove the Armenians wrong and propagate that it was the Azerbaijanis who were the first people in the land.”
Thus, the cave complexes located in the villages of Azokh and Mets Tagher in the Hadrut region of Artsakh play an important place for Azerbaijani propaganda.
In recent years, the Azerbaijani government has been regularly organizing tours for foreign travelers, tourists, journalists, and others, and one of the stops is the Azokh Cave. There, visitors are told about the “ancient human habitation within Azerbaijan’s territory” and about the “illegal excavations carried out by Armenians.”
If the Azerbaijani “archaeologist” Farhad Guliyev claims that the “map of archaeological monuments proves that Azerbaijan’s rich history and culture date back to the Stone Age,” then it would be no surprise if one day Azerbaijani “experts” declare that prehistoric humans spoke Azerbaijani and carved scenes praising the Aliyev family on cave walls.