Shomutepe

Shomutepe 

the remains of an early farming settlement dating from the fifth millennium B.C., in Kazakh Raion, Azerbaijan SSR. Shomutepe was excavated between 1960 and 1963 by I. G. Narimanov. The site covers an area of about 1 hectare. The thickness of the cultural level varies from 1 to 2.5 m. Shomutepe was densely built up with round dwellings (with hearths) and farm buildings made of mud brick. Among the finds were hoes made of antler, querns, stone pestles and grain mortars, flint and obsidian sickle blades, an intact sickle with a wooden base, and the remains of various species of wheat and barley; also found were the bones of domestic animals, such as bulls, swine, sheep, and goats, and the bones of wild animals, such as boar and deer. In addition, various bone objects were found, including awls, perforators, spoons, and female figurines, as well as roughly modeled pottery of simple shapes. Some of the pots were decorated with rounded affixed designs and with incised designs. Shomutepe, along with similar remains in western Azerbaijan and the neighboring regions of Georgia, is characteristic of the most ancient settled farming culture of Transcaucasia.

REFERENCE

Narimanov, I. G. “Drevneishaia zemledel’cheskaia kul’tura Zakavkaz’ia.” In VII Mezhdunarodnyi kongress doistorikov i protoistorikov: Doklady i soobshcheniia arkheologov SSSR. Moscow, 1966.

R. M. MUNCHAEV