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CULTURES
Kur-Araz Culture

Central and eastern parts of South Caucasus, main areas of North-east Caucasus, South...

 

 

 

This culture was called so because of the reveal of the material primarily inherent to that culture between Kur and Araz Rivers in 1940. Kur-Araz culture belongs to the first Bronze Age covered chorological frame from mid of 4th millennium B.C. till last quarter of 3rd millennium. 
Farmer and cattle-breeder tribes. Farmer and cattle-breeder tribes occupy plain and upland regions of Azerbaijan during the first Bronze Age. Large dwelling points are created; population grew; patriarchal attitudes are decisively intensified. Power and property are concentrated on heads of tribes. Defense barriers are built in some dwellings. Houses are constructed in circular design and sometimes right-angled form.  Clay braziers are used to heat the rooms. Bread is cooked in flat furnaces. The development of sheep-breeding stimulates summer-pasture breeding. Kurgans belonged to cattle-breeder tribes are revealed in summer pastures. Clay churn is discovered in that period. 
Craftsmanship. Tribes of Kur-Araz culture prepared mainly bronze things consisted of copper- arsenic mixture, as well as in some cases tin alloy. Copper- melt furnace, cast and metal items were revealed from Babadervish. Pottery, weaving, leather production and other art fields spread widely there. Clay ware of the first Bronze Age of South Caucasus plays the role of factor defining Kur-Araz culture.
Earthen and animal figures.  Earthen and animal figures found from the dwellings assume great importance in study of cattle-breeding, basic economy field of Kur-Araz cultural age. The figures made related to the first religious ideas, worshipping in animal are known from numerous monuments of Near East and South Caucasus. Earthen figures of this age were revealed mainly in Kultepe I and Babadervish in Azerbaijan. Most of animal figures displayed in Kultepe I includes bull (21 units), the rest-sheep, goats and dogs (3 units). 
Belief in bull. Earthen bull figures and the graves where bull buried indicate wide-spread of belief in a bull since the very old time in Azerbaijan. Worship in a bull in Babadervish is seen from bull-head trivets. The belief appeared in local circumstance and reflected world outlook of the tribes created firstly amongst cattle-breeder tribes and later spread amidst farmers. Horizontal hole opened in the nose of several Kultepe I bull figures, while description of some of their eyes drawn by scrawl method
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