Pages: 17-27

The Acheulean site of Garadzha was discovered in 2013 on the southern shore of the Minghechaur water reservoir in the west of Azerbaijan. Stone artefacts and faunal remains were collected in 7 localities confined to an ancient terrace. The localities of Garadzha, Garadzha 1, 2, 3, and 5, which yielded Acheulean artifacts, seem to be the most important ones. All the artefacts are made of local raw material (pebbles). Their geomorphological position, state of preservation, and morphology permit to consider the industry of Garadzha homogeneous one. Of particular interest among the stone tools is a cleaver (hachereau) from Garadzha 1. It possesses all the characters typical of this tool category, and has indisputable analogies in the Acheulean of Africa.

Keywords: Caucasus, Acheulean, Garadzha, flake cleavers, problems of typology

Information about authors:

Sergei Kulakov (Saint Petersburg, Russia). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Nab. 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russia
E-mail: [email protected]
Azad Zeynalov (Baku, Azerbaijan). Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. H. Javid Pr., 31, Baku, AZ 1043, Azerbaijan
E-mail: [email protected]