TAVA TEPE
Archaeological Project (GaRKAP)
The Azeri-Italian Joint Archaeological Project in Western Azerbaijan
CAMNES (Italia) - Istituto di Archeologia ed Etnografia (ANAS, Azerbaijan)
In collaborazione con:
Con il contributo finanziario del:
Direzione Scientifica:
Nicola Laneri (CAMNES, UNICT), Bakhtiyar Jalilov (ANAS)
The Tava Tepe Archaeological Project is a joint endeavor between CAMNES (the Center for Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies) and the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Azerbaijani National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) in collaboration with the University of Catania, The Lorenzo de’ Medici Italian International Institute and Fondazione Oelle. The project is supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), CAMNES and the University of Catania.
The Tave Tepe Archaeological Project falls under the wider umbrella of GaRKAP: Ganja Region Kurgan Archaeological Project. The scientific direction of both projects is coordinated by Nicola Laneri (CAMNES, University of Catania) and Bakhtiyar Jalilov (ANAS).
The site of Tava Tepe is located in Western Azerbaijan (Ağstafa district) and positioned on a multi-mound of about 3.3 hectares distant a few kilometers west of the Kura River valley nearby the modern village of Aşağı Kəsəmən. The site is strategically placed between the Kura River plateau and the southeastern slope of the Lesser Caucasus mountains.
The archaeological investigations on the mound started in 2021. In four seasons, various types of contexts belonging to different chronologies, ranging from the Late Bronze Age to the Middle Iron Age (ca 1500-600 BCE), have been found. This periodization is supported by a number of radiocarbon tests conducted on multiple samples collected throughout the site. The site is most-probably a context strictly linked to the nomadic and semi-nomadic communities present in this and in the surrounding areas during this large chronological span. In particular, a high number of pits of various dimensions (Areas A and B) was discovered, some very large that may have served as pit-houses for one or more seasons, along with large quantities of pottery fragments. Numerous kilns and furnaces of various dimension have also been discovered in Area C, supporting the idea that preliminary metalworking activities were carried out on the tepe at least since the Early Iron Age onwards. Starting in 2023, and fully exposed in 2024, in Area F was unearthed what appears to be a large building probably belonging to the Late Bronze Age consisting of two concentric structures in mud-brick and pisé, characterized by the presence of post-holes. Inside the inner circle, a complex structure was found, most probably a stove, consisting of various ovens for the preparation and cooking of food, flanked by another fireplace of smaller size. The context has returned large quantities of ceramics, including a high number of intact vessels (for cooking and food consumption), animal bones (meal remains), as well as some clay tokens and a set of small anthropomorphic ceramic figures.
