The Nakhchivan culture, also known as the Kizilveng culture or Painted Pottery culture, was formed during the Middle Bronze Age in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. The main center of painted pottery were Nakhchivan and the Arpachay Valley, in Anatolia, Urmia lake basin and the South Caucasus. In Azerbaijan, this culture was studied on the basis of archeological materials from the I Kultepe, II Kultepe, Shahtakhti, Gizilburun, Nahjir, Shortepe, Garachuk, II Gazanchi qala and other monuments. The painted pottery culture was studied by Azerbaijani archaeologists such as O. Habibullayev, V. Bakhshaliyev, V. Aliyev and A. Akbarov. According to V. Bakhshaliyev, the formation of this culture dishes in Nakhchivan was connected with the formation of the city states.
Recent researches suggested that the painted pottery culture of Nakhchivan was the result of the natural development of the Kura-Araxes culture.
History
First time in Azerbaijan the samples of painted pottery culture were discovered in the territory of Nakhchivan in 1895. In the result of the land work around Kizilveng cemetery located 18 km away from Nakhchivan, 3 km south of Tazakand, on the left bank of the Araz River, several historical items, including simple and painted dishes were revealed from the stone box graves. Captain N. Fyodorov conducted excavations on behalf of the Archeological Commission in Nakchivan where he found burials with painted pottery dated to the end of the 2nd millennium BC. A relatively extensive study of the painted culture in Azerbaijan was made possible during the Soviet period. In 1926, the Kızılvenk cemetery was investigated by the Trans-Caucasian Sciences Association under the leadership of A. Miller in Nakhchivan. In 1934, several painted dishes were found near the Shortepe settlement in Sharur. Excavations continued in the 1960s, painted pottery of Kultepe II, as well as Guruchay and Kondelenchay river basins were investigated. Scraps of painted dishes were found in Karakopektepe.
Characteristics
Archaeologists divided this culture chronologically into four periods:
XX-XVII centuries BC - simple pottery samples partially polished, monochrome painted (mainly black and gray ), neatly decorated with simple geometric shapes or with human, animal, bird patterns; found from Shortepe, Kultepe I, Kultepe II, Uzerliktepe. Jugs, bowls, goblets. XVII-XV centuries BC - Polychrome painted vessels decorated with complex geometric shapes, finely decorated with human, animal and bird patterns, Jug and bowl shaped pottery. Gizilveng (Dancing couple illustrated on the pottery) XIV-XI centuries BC- Monochrome and polychrome painted, relatively inaccurately decorated with human, animal and bird patterns, geometric figures. Vases, ellipsoid bowls, jugs, plates, kettle-like pottery X-VII centuries BC- More rigid and simplistic geometric patterns dyed in only red color.
Material remains
Painted pots were already represented in the ceramics of Nakhchivan's variant of the widespread Kura-Araxes culture that preceded Nakhchivan culture. In general, red on clay pots have been found in Azerbaijan since the Eneolithic period. Except a group of painted pots, the rest of them didn't differ from other eneolithic group pots by their clay content or the technology of preparation. In 1936, painted vessels belong to the Middle Bronze Age, were obtained from the second layer of the Shortepe settlement.
Monochrome painted ceramic patterns were discovered from the Dize necropolis. Monochrome painted pots dated to the III-II millenniums BC were mostly encountered in Yayjı necropolis in Nakhchivan. A wide range of animal drawings were illustrated on the monochrome painted long-necked jugs. In 1951, the archeological expedition organized by the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR under the leadership of O. Habibullayev conducted research in the Kultepe I and found painted dishes here.