Page 6 - Azərbaycan xalçaları

4
Karabakh is considered one of the most ancient
inhabited lands in the world. The settlements and remains
of primitive people were discovered in the Azykh Cave
(Fuzuli region). This fact implies that Karabakh was one of
the first lands, besides the areas of the Mediterranean Sea
and East Africa, where Homo sapiens lived. Primitive tools
found in the bottom of Azykh Cave were identified with
the Guruchay Culture. Archaeological excavations finally
led to one important discovery when in 1968, a fragment of
a Homo sapiens’ lower jawbone was found. The primitive
man became known as Azykhanthropus (“Azykh man,”
living 350 - 400 thousand years ago). During the Stone Age,
particularly the Neolithic period (6th - 4th millennia B.C.),
and in the Bronze and early Iron
Ages (mid 4th - early 1st millennia
B.C.), significant changes tookplace
in the history of Karabakh. The late
Bronze and early Iron Ages (12th –
7th millennia B.C.) were marked as
the Khojaly - Gedabek Culture. In
one of the Khojaly burial mounds,
scholars discovered agate beads
with engraved cuneiform writings
mentioning the Assyrian king
Adadnerari.
Throughout human history,
Karabakh has been part of
Azerbaijan. In the prehistoric period and the early Middle
Ages, Karabakh belonged to Caucasian Albania (4th
century B.C. - 7th century A.D.). After the Christian religion
became the state religion in Albania, people in Karabakh
and particularly, in the highlands of this area became
Christian believers.
The Arab invasion (7th – 9th centuries) and the
subsequent fall of the Albanian State in 705 influenced
hugely the history of Karabakh. Before this conquest, the
population of the region was mono-ethnic. This picture
became fully distorted in the aftermath of the Arab
advance. As a result of the tragic policies of the Caliphate
regarding Azerbaijan, the influence of the Albanian Church
in Nagorno Karabakh weakened. This led to the growing
impact of the Armenian-Gregorian Church in the region.
These historical developments became a friendly way for
the Armenian Church’s clergy to expand its authority
among Albanian Christians of Karabakh. In turn, this
process encouraged local Albanians to adopt the Gregorian
branch of the Christian faith and
later, the Armenian language.
After the collapse of the Arab
Caliphate, Karabakh started to
gradually join the Azerbaijani
state of Sheddadids (975-1075),
and then, the Seljuk Empire (mid
11th - early 12th centuries), the
Azerbaijani state of Atabeks (1136-
1225). In the late 12th – early 13th
centuries, the Khachyn Principality
started to form in the mountainous
area of Karabakh. During the later
periods small local kingdoms
(such as Khachin, Varanda, Dizag, Gulustan (Talysh),
and Chilabord) emerged. In the 13th – 14th centuries,
Karabakh joined the Mongol Empire, and in the late 14th
and 15th centuries, Tamerlane’s state. Ibrahim I, the ruler
of Shirvan (1382-1417), joined the Karabakh lowlands to his
principality.
In some historical sources, the mountainous
part of Karabakh is called «Artsakh.»
Etymological studies have revealed that the
word derived from “Sak.” “Sak” is the name
given to one of the ancient Turkic tribes that
lived in Karabakh. Artsakh is thought to be
formed by the conjunction of “er” (man) and
“Sak” meaning “man of Sak.”
Entrance to the Azykh cave.
Fuzuli district.
Bottom jawbone of the Azykh man.
Currently exhibited in the National
Museum of History of Azerbaijan.
The history
of Karabakh