Research on Late Iron Age Occupation in the Yardimli Region: Preliminary Results from the 2024 Season
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30546/679523.2.2025.034Keywords:
Southeastern Highlands, Post-Achaemenid, Parthian, Jar Burial, Megalithic Burial, Horse Burial, SettlementAbstract
This paper presents a preliminary discussion of fieldwork conducted in the Yardimli (Yardımlı) region of Azerbaijan in 2024, which occurred within the framework of the Southeastern Highlands Archaeological Research Project. Fieldwork focused on two sites near the modern village of Urakaran (Urakəran): the Bilga (Bilgə) necropolis and the newly identified Seyyidin Yeri settlement. Excavations at Bilgə revealed diverse mortuary practices, including jar burials, megalithic tombs, simple ground burials, and possibly associated horse interments, with evidence suggesting a prolonged and complex use of the cemetery from the Achaemenid through the Parthian periods. Radiocarbon dates and artefact typologies suggest continuity and adaptation in funerary traditions within a highland cultural landscape. At Seyyidin Yeri, the exposure of multi-phase stone architecture, associated plaster floors, and material-rich fills provides rare evidence for substantial Late Iron Age settlement in this upland zone. Together, these results highlight the emergence of durable communities investing in monumental construction and elaborate mortuary expression, challenging assumptions of sparse occupation in the southeastern highlands. The findings contribute to a broader reevaluation of regional social organisation, mobility, and supra-regional integration during the late first millennium BCE and early first millennium CE.
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