Methods & Chronology

Just how old are the Gobustan petroglyphs? The exact ages of the petroglyphs are uncertain and are often grouped in millennia. The petroglyphs are speculated to date between a very wide range of years, 5,000 and 20,000 years ago, with a considerable amount dating to around 12,000 BCE. Gobustan is the only place in Azerbaijan where researchers have discovered engravings presumed to be from the Pleistocene period. (Farajova, 2010) However, other sources contend that the oldest petroglyphs are more recent, and date only to the 10th to 8th centuries BCE. (Window to Baku) All that can be said for certain is that dating the petroglyphs of Gobustan is exceedingly difficult, and dates are often speculations based on the available evidence and scientific tools. 

Methods

  • Typological comparisons based on style, execution, and proximity to other carvings. However, Randall White, in his book Prehistoric Art (2003), warns against dating petroglyphs based on style instead of the kinds of scientific techniques listed below.
  • Scientific techniques such as radiocarbon analysis. (Farajova, 2009; 148)
  • Searching for evidence that connects the petroglyphs with different cultural groups that existed in the area, and that have already been dated with some accuracy. (Farajova, 2009; 151)
  • Using depictions of different animals to date petroglyphs to the time periods when those animals thrived. For example, the depictions of aurochs, extinct ancestors of oxen, prompted researchers to date the engravings to the Upper Pleistocene, when aurochs thrived in this region. (Farajova, 2009; p 159)
  • The rise and fall of the water levels of the Caspian Sea, climate and landscape alterations, and the fossilized remains of fauna aid in dating processes. For example, Farajova discusses the image believed to be a dolphin on Kichikdash Mountain. The levels of the Caspian Sea and the existence of dolphins in the Caspian Sea from the Quaternary period lead researchers to date the rock drawing to the end of the Upper Pleistocene. Likewise, cockle shells were found on the upper terrace of the Beyukdash Mountain and played a role in determining the Paleolithic age of the site, as the cockleshells could have only lived during the period when the Caspian Sea was fresh water. (Farajova, 2009; p 155)
  • Comparing etchings to reliably dated artifacts found nearby. Sometimes, fragments of stone and bone adorned with imagery are buried in layers of the earth that can be dated with some certainty. When the style and imagery on these excavated fragments closely resemble the cave wall engravings, the latter is assumed to be from a similar period. For example, some tools found in Gobustan (such as bone awls and knife-like flint plates) are associated with the Upper Paleolithic period, and these finds have influenced how some scholars date the petroglyphs at the associated sites. (Farajova, 2009; 149)  As another example, archeologist D. Rustamov carried out an excavation of one cave site uncovering a 2 meter stratigraphy that dated back 10,000 years. This unearthed material included a fallen engraved fragment of an anthropomorphic figure, which determined an approximate age limit for the engraving. (UNESCO, 2007; p 237)

Correct dating of excavation sites, artifacts, and representations is essential to understanding the significance of Gobustan within a wider context of world history and human development. Continual advancements in dating technologies radically alter assumptions held within the archeological community. The methods described above have been instrumental to the dating process; however there are technological limitations to dating Gobustan petroglyphs. One dating issue arises because the rocks themselves are impossible to carbon date, although in some cases there are pigment remnants which can be dated. Often, researchers have to rely on datable cultural material found in the ground during excavations.

Increasingly, it is necessary to apply an interdisciplinary approach to the process of dating petroglyphs.  Expertise is needed from disciplines such as geology, paleozoology, paleobotany, osteology (the study of bones), and stratigraphy (the study of geological layers). In the last decade, physics, chemistry, biology, and new forms of data sharing and interpretation have paved the way for more accurate dating, and Farajova is optimistic that in the future it will be possible to date the patina on the rock surfaces. (Farajova, 2009; p 164)

Yet even with the latest scientific instruments and cooperation between disciplines, rock carvings remain exceedingly difficult to date. Farajova laments that more work must be done and the current approaches to dating are insufficient. Progress will depend on enhanced data sharing and collaboration between researchers. (Farajova, 2009; p151)

Chronology

Isaak Jafarzade, the first anthropologist to study, catalogue, and publish works on the Gobustan petroglyphs, conceived of a six-stage system to date the petroglyphs:

  • The most ancient, early period (late Pleistocene and early Holocene)
  • Neolithic period
  • Eneolithic period 
  • Bronze Age
  • Iron Age
  • Middle Ages

As new data was discovered, modifications had to be made to this chronology. For example, recently, samples of bone and soil with ash that were extracted from a cultural layer at the depth of 1.85 m. were analyzed and dated with a radiocarbon method in New Zealand. The findings have led researchers to adjust the dates of some petroglyphs from VIII-VII BCE to 9,029 BCE. Consequently, petroglyphs with analogous style and execution techniques may be dated to this age. For the first time petroglyphs of Gobustan are dated on the basis of dated archaeological material. These findings characterize stages of the end of Upper Paleolithic Period in Gobustan. They give us a notion of the development of ancient Stone Age cultures in the course of several millennia.

Farajova (2009) elaborated on Jafarzade’s categories (Farajova, 2009; p 164-5), associating each stage with a dominate type of animal or design appearing in the subject matter—aurochs; wild horses and oxen; deer and goats; goats; camels; and finally, tamgas and other symbolic inscriptions.

  • The ancient, early period is the period of aurochs. The subject-matter of the rock drawings from this period show changes in the fauna hunted by the region’s residents, and fluctuations of climate the water levels of the Caspian Sea.
  • This ancient period can also be subdivided into four style groups:

    Style I is exemplified by the image of an auroch’s head in the Gayaarasi site of Kichikdash Mountain, and also the image of another auroch head on a piece of stone at the Okuzler-2, Kaniza site, upper terrace of Beyukdash Mountain (stone № 33 (45) of the upper terrace of Beyukdash Mountain).

    Style II is illustrated by the images of auroch depicted life-size and by reverse low-relief images of women (stone № 65, 29, upper terrace, Beyukdash Mountain).

    Style III is illustrated by images of auroch with short legs and elongated bodies and claviform signs (stones № 29, 65, upper terrace of Beyukdash Mountain).

    Style IV (X-VIII mln. BCE) is characterized by 1) reverse low-relief images of male hunters and images of bows and arrows; and 2) images on stones that were excavated in settlements sites, such as Okuzler-2 and Kaniza located at the upper terrace of Beyukdash Mountain, Gayaarasi site located at Kichikdash Mountain, and the Shongar Mountains. At these locations petroglyphs of hunters, women, oxen, and ships were discovered.   

  • The Late stage (Neolithic period, 7,000–6,000 BCE) is the period of wild horses and oxen.
  • The Later stage (Eneolithic period, 6,000–4,000 BCE) is the period of deer and goats.
  • The Bronze Age (4,000 – 3,000 BCE) is the period of goats. In the Bronze Age, images of vehicles and horsemen appeared. Also during this period, depictions of animals became more elaborate. For example, in some instances, geometrical forms were drawn within the cursive silhouette lines of the animals, creating a pattern that cuts across the animals’ middle. [See image on p 163, Fragment of Stone No. 35]
  • The Iron Age (2,000 – 1,000 BCE) is the period of camels.
  • The Middle Ages (1st –18th Centuries CE) is the period of tamgas (abstract seals or stamps that serve as emblems of a tribe, clan, or family), inscriptions, and images with Islamic themes. The monuments of the early Iron Age and the Middle Ages are characterized in part as having images that are more schematic—a stylistic manner of depiction that departs from the ones before. Also present are scenes of hunting on horseback, scenes of rounding up deer, images of armless anthropomorphic figures, and scenes of sacrifice.

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