Huseyngulu Tepe Late Neolithic Settlement (Western Azerbaijan): Preliminary Archaeological Investigations, Stratigraphy and Material Culture
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30546/679523.2.2026.003.017Keywords:
Azerbaijan Archaeology, Late Neolithic, Neolithic, South Caucasus, Kura Basin, Huseyngulu Tepe, Obsidian industry, Early Farming communities, Pottery Neolithic, Shomutepe cultureAbstract
The mechanisms and trajectories that triggered the Neolithization of the South Caucasus during the transition from the late 7th to the early 6th millennium BCE remain poorly understood and widely debated. Recent archaeological investigations at Huseyngulu Tepe contribute new data to this discussion. Excavations conducted during the 2022 field season exposed the upper architectural horizons of the settlement, revealing two building levels characterised by circular structures dated to the first half of the 6th millennium cal. BC. This forms part of a broader research agenda aimed at investigating the emergence of sedentary lifeways and the earliest subsistence systems based on agriculture and animal husbandry processes traditionally associated with the so-called Neolithic Revolution. Within this framework, particular attention is devoted to clarifying the cultural and chronological position of the Shomutepe culture, which represents the earliest well-defined Neolithic cultural horizon in Azerbaijan. The excavations at Huseyngulu Tepe aim to reassess the archaeological assemblage of this culture and refine its chronological framework through systematic excavation and the application of modern field methods. Preliminary results suggest that Hüseynqulutepe (hereinafter Huseyngulu Tepe) represents a typical settlement of the Shomutepe cultural tradition, occupied during the first half of the 6th millennium cal. BC. The site has yielded well-preserved architectural remains together with a substantial and stratified archaeological assemblage, providing valuable evidence for defining the material culture of the Shomutepe horizon. In conjunction with recent international archaeological research in the South Caucasus, the findings from Huseyngulu Tepe offer important insights into the development of early farming communities and the processes that shaped the emergence of Neolithic societies in the Middle Kura Valley.
References
Abibullayev, O. A. (1953). Excavations of the Kul-Tepe hill (Раскопки холма Кюль-Тепе). КСИИМК, 51, 36–45.
Abibullayev, O.A. (1957). The first results of the excavations at Kul-Tepe [Первые итоги раскопок Кюль-Тепе]. Azərbaycan Tarix muzeyinin əsərləri, 2, pp. 75-97.
Akhundov, T. I. (2012). Shomutepe: At the origins of the Caucasian civilisation: Neolithic Azerbaijan (Шомутепе: У истоков Кавказской цивилизации: Неолит Азербайджана). Elm.
Alakbarov, V. (2016). Pottery of the Goytepe Neolithic settlement (Göytəpə neolit dövrü yaşayış yerinin keramikası) (Doctoral dissertation, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, ANAS).
Alakbarov, V. (2024). Initial archaeological excavations at the Neolithic Huseyngulutepe. In Modern Aspects of Modernisation of Science: Status, Problems, Development Trends: Materials of the 51st International Scientific and Practical Conference, December 7, 2024 (pp. 216–218).
Alakbarov, V. (2025). Neolithic concept (Neolit Konsepsiyası). In Scientific Work, International Scientific Journal: Scientific Researches XXII International Scientific Conference, Baku, January 7, 2025 (pp. 57–59).
Arai, S. (2020). The Neolithic bone-and-antler industry from Göytepe. In Y. Nishiaki & F. Guliyev (Eds.), Göytepe: Neolithic Excavations in the Middle Kura Valley, Azerbaijan (pp. 293–322). Archaeopress Publishing.
Bastert-Lamprichs K. (2012). The pottery from Aruchlo in Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan 44, AMIT (pp. 71–82). Berlin.
Baudouin, E. (2017). Preliminary Remarks on the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Architectural Techniques at Mentesh Tepe (Azerbaijan) [Remarques préliminaires sur les techniques architecturales du Néolithique et du Chalcolithique à Mentesh Tepe (Azerbaïdjan)]. In B. Helwing, T. Aliyev, B. Lyonnet, F. Guliyev, S. Hansen, & G. Mirtskhulava (Eds.), The Kura Projects: New Research on the Later Prehistory of the Southern Caucasus (Archäologie in Iran und Turan, 16) (pp. 153–162). Berlin.
Guilbeau, D., Astruc, L., & Samzun, A. (2017). Chipped stone industries from the Middle Kura Valley (Mentesh Tepe), Azerbaijan. In B. Helwing, T. Aliyev, B. Lyonnet, F. Guliyev, S. Hansen, & G. Mirtskhulava (Eds.), The Kura Projects: New Research on the Later Prehistory of the Southern Caucasus (Archäologie in Iran und Turan, 16) (pp. 397–404). Berlin.
Guliyev F., Nishiaki Y., Huseynov F., Shimogama K., Nakata H., Gasimov P., Alakbarov V., Salimbayov Sh., Abbasova S., Ahmadova V. & Arai S. (2015). Goytepe ancient settlement - 2013-2014 years [Göytəpə qədim yaşayış yeri-2013-2014-cü illər]. Azərbaycanda Arxeoloji Tədqiqatlar — 2013-2014 (pp.354-360). AMEA.
Guliyev F.E. & Nishiaki Y. (2012a). The Starting Point of Civiliazation-The Early Village of Goytepe [Sivilizasiyanın başlanğıc nöqtəsi-Göytəpə neolit dövrü abidəsi]. Baku: CBC.
Guliyev, F. & Nishiaki, Y. (2012b). Excavations at the Neolithic settlement of Göytepe, the Middle Kura Valley, Azerbaijan, 2008-2009. In R. Matthews & J. Curtis (Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, 12–16 April 2010 (Vol. 3, pp.71–84). Harrossowitz Verlag.
Guliyev, F. & Nishiaki, Y. (2014). Excavation at the Neolithic settlement of Göytepe, West Azerbaijan: 2010-2011. In P. Bielinski, M. Gawlikowski, R. Kolinski, D. Lawecka, A. Soltysiak & Z. Wygnanska (Eds.), Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, 30 April – 4 May 2012 (Vol. 2, pp.3–16). Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz Verlag.
Hamon, C., Jalabadze, M., Agapishvili, T., Baudouin, E., Koridze, I., & Messager, E. (2016). Gadachrili Gora: Architecture and organisation of a Neolithic settlement in the middle Kura Valley (6th millennium BC, Georgia). Quaternary International, 395, 154–169.
Hansen, S., & Mirtskhulava, G. (2017). Excavations in Aruchlo 2005–2014. In B. Helwing, T. Aliyev, B. Lyonnet, F. Guliyev, S. Hansen, & G. Mirtskhulava (Eds.), The Kura Projects: New Research on the Later Prehistory of the Southern Caucasus (Archäologie in Iran und Turan, 16) (pp. 195–297). Berlin.
Hansen, S., Bastert-Lamprichs, K., Kromer, B., & Ullrich, M. (2017). Stratigraphy and radiocarbon dating. In B. Helwing, T. Aliyev, B. Lyonnet, F. Guliyev, S. Hansen, & G. Mirtskhulava (Eds.), The Kura Projects: New Research on the Later Prehistory of the Southern Caucasus (Archäologie in Iran und Turan, 16) (pp. 291–295). Berlin.
Hansen, S., Mirtskhulava, G., & Ullrich, M. (2012). Excavation context. In B. Lyonnet, F. Guliyev, B. Helwing, T. Aliyev, S. Hansen, & G. Mirtskhulava (Eds.), Ancient Kura 2010–2011: The First Two Seasons of Joint Field Work in the Southern Caucasus (Archäologie in Iran und Turan, 44) (pp. 60–69). Berlin.
Hansen, S., Mirtskhulava, G., Bastert-Lamprichs, K., Görsdorf, J., Neumann, D., Ullrich, M., Gatsov, I., & Nedelcheva, P. (2007). Report on the excavations in the Neolithic settlement mound Aruchlo I in summer 2007 (Bericht über die Ausgrabungen in dem neolithischen Siedlungshügel Aruchlo I im Sommer 2007). Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan, 39, 1–30.
Helwing, B., & Aliyev, T. (2017). Excavations in the Mil Plain sites, 2012–2014. In B. Helwing, T. Aliyev, B. Lyonnet, F. Guliyev, S. Hansen, & G. Mirtskhulava (Eds.), The Kura Projects: New Research on the Later Prehistory of the Southern Caucasus (Archäologie in Iran und Turan, 16) (pp. 11–42). Berlin.
Kadowaki, S., Guliyev, F., & Nishiaki, Y. (2016). Chipped stone technology of the earliest agricultural village in the Southern Caucasus: Hacı Elamxanlı Tepe (the beginning of the 6th millennium BC). In R. A. Stucky, O. Kaelin, & H.-P. Mathys (Eds.), Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East: June 9–13, 2014, University of Basel (Vol. 3, pp. 709–722). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
Kadowaki, S., Maher, L., Portillo, M., Albert, R. M., Akashi, Ch., Guliyev, F., & Nishiaki, Y. (2015). Geoarchaeological and palaeobotanical evidence for prehistoric cereal storage at the Neolithic settlement of Göytepe (mid 8th millennium BP) in the Southern Caucasus. Journal of Archaeological Science, 53, 408–425.
Kiguradze, T. (1986). Neolithic settlements of Kvemo-Kartli, Georgia [Neolithische Siedlungen von Kvemo-Kartli, Georgien]. (Materialien zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Archäologie, 29). München: C.H. Beck.
Lyonnet B. & Guliyev F. (2011). Archaeological research in the ancient settlement of Menteshtepe [Menteştəpə qədim yaşayış yerində arxeoloji tədqiqatlar]. In Azərbaycanda Arxeoloji Tədqiqatlar-2010 (pp.314-323). AMEA.
Lyonnet, B., Guliyev, F., Bouquet, L., Bruley-Chabot, G., Samzun, A., Pecqueur, L., Jovenet, E., Baudouin, E., Fontugne, M., Raymond, P., Degorre, E., Astruc, L., Guilbeau, D., Le Dosseur, G., Benecke, N., Hamon, C., Poulmarc’h, M., & Courcier, C. (2016). Mentesh Tepe, an early settlement of the Shomu-Shulaveri Culture in Azerbaijan. Quaternary International, 395, 170–183.
Narimanov, I. G. (1971). About Chalcolithic agriculture in Azerbaijan [О земледелии эпохи энеолита в Азербайджане]. СА, 3, 3–14.
Narimanov, I. G. (1987). Culture of the ancient agricultural and pastoral population of Azerbaijan [Культура древнейшего земледельческо-скотоводческого населения Азербайджана] Elm.
Narimanov, I. G., & Rustamov, J.N. (1960). Neolithic in Toyretepe [Töyrətəpədə neolit]. Az. SSR EA Məruzələri, 17 (9), pp. 907-912.
Nishiaki Y. & Guliyev F. (2020). Göytepe. Neolithic Excavations in the Middle Kura Valley, Azerbaijan. Archaeopress Publishing.
Nishiaki, Y., Guliyev, F., & Baudouin, E. (2020). Mud-bricks in Neolithic architecture at Göytepe. In Y. Nishiaki & F. Guliyev (Eds.), Göytepe: Neolithic Excavations in the Middle Kura Valley, Azerbaijan (pp. 97–108). Archaeopress Publishing.
Nishiaki, Y., Guliyev, F., Kadowaki, S., Alakbarov, V., Miki, T., Salimbayov, Sh., Akashi, Ch., & Arai, S. (2015a). Investigating cultural and socioeconomic change at the beginning of the Pottery Neolithic in the Southern Caucasus: The 2013 excavations at Hacı Elamxanlı Tepe, Azerbaijan. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 374, 1–28.
Nishiaki, Y., Guliyev, F., & Kadowaki, S. (2015b). Chronological contexts of the earliest Pottery Neolithic in the Southern Caucasus: Radiocarbon dates for Göytepe and Hacı Elamxanlı Tepe, Azerbaijan. American Journal of Archaeology, 119(3), 279–294.
Palumbi, G., Guliyev, F., Astruc, L., Baudouin, E., Berthon, R., Bianca D’Anna, M., Decaix, A., Gratuze, B., Hamon, C., Poulmarc’h, M., Ricci, A., & Alakbarov, V. (2021). The Neolithic in the Middle Kura River Valley (South Caucasus): The 2017–2019 excavations at Kiçik Tepe, Western Azerbaijan. Archaeological Research in Asia, 27, Article 100308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2021.100308
Shimogama, K., & Alakbarov, V. (2020). Archaeological reconnaissance survey around Göytepe, Tovuz-Qovlar region. In Y. Nishiaki & F. Guliyev (Eds.), Göytepe: Neolithic Excavations in the Middle Kura Valley, Azerbaijan (pp. 137–166). Archaeopress Publishing.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
