In the vicinity of Mingachevir, an archaeological historical and cultural complex of the ancient settlement Sudagylan, as well as three more settlements and three ancient burial grounds were discovered. The complex was considered the largest in the Caucasus.
Scientists date the oldest archaeological sites to the 3rd millennium BC. Two settlements date back to the III-XIII centuries. AD, one - XIV-XVII centuries. AD
The archaeological complex included Albanian Christian temples of the 5th-8th centuries, Christian and Muslim burials and other objects that give an idea of the way of life of people who lived in this area many centuries ago.
The most ancient settlements are attributed by historians to the culture of the Kuro-Arak Eneolithic. Another group of monuments belongs to the Khojaly-Gadabay culture (late II - early I millennium BC). A significant number of burial complexes date back to the Early Iron Age (VIII-II centuries BC).
For the first time, surface research work on the site of ancient settlements was carried out in 1871 by the archaeologist F. S. Bayer, who described the ancient Mingachevir as "a city on pillars." The message greatly interested the historical community, but only in 1935, under the leadership of Professor Yevgeny Pakhomov, serious excavations began here and two ancient settlements were discovered, as well as various types of graves. Pakhomov's work was related to the preparation for the construction of a reservoir and the Mingechaur hydroelectric power station.
Already in the 30s. it became clear that the ancient settlement stood at a busy crossroads of trade routes and was an important trade and cultural center. Such conclusions were made, among other things, thanks to the coins found here: Greek, Roman, Sassanid, Arshakid and Arab.
A systematic, serious and planned study of the Mingachevir archaeological sites began in 1946-1953, when the construction of the hydroelectric power station began. Archaeological work in the south of the Boz-Dag mountain range, on the banks of the Kura was carried out under the leadership of the scientist-historian S. M. Kazieva (in modern transcription - Gazieva). In the course of these works, two more settlements and four large cemeteries with burial grounds were discovered, in which the dead were buried along with jewelry, weapons, and expensive utensils.
Found remains of residential buildings made of raw bricks, products made of stone, bone and metal, glass products, including Phoenician glass, remains of horse harness, faience dishes, dishes made of gold and silver, wind musical instruments, pottery pits and finished clay utensils, rich decorations, fragments of sculptures, various weapons, coins of a number of ancient eastern cities, remains of textiles testify to the high level of development of trade and cultural ties of ancient Mingachevir.
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In the center of the settlement, the ruins of the already mentioned Albanian temple were also discovered, in the center of which there was a rather large prayer hall. On its walls, traces of ancient plaster have been preserved; in some places, painting made with vegetable paints was visible. An image of two peacocks has been preserved on the stone capital inside the temple. The thick walls of the temple (their thickness reached one and a half meters) were built of raw bricks. It is interesting that the small square burial found inside was already laid out of baked bricks, in contrast to the main walls of the temple. The roof of the religious building was covered with wooden tiles.
A stone base for the cross and fragments of ceramic candlesticks with Albanian inscriptions were also found. It is curious that the sources reporting the find and relating to the time of the discovery of the settlement spoke exclusively about Albanian inscriptions.
Some Romanian and Russian media mentioned Armenian inscriptions, forgetting that this is an anachronism: at that time there were no Armenians on the territory of the settlement, because they were not at all in the Transcaucasus. Moreover, there was no Armenian writing, which arose much later, after the 5th century. as a borrowing from the Ethiopian letter geez (which was extremely unhappy with the Ethiopian scholars).
On the right bank of the Kura River, another unique find was made - the so-called pitcher (pot) burials. In addition to large jugs that serve as a kind of coffins, smaller earthenware vessels and other utensils were found. Dishes were a cult thing of ancient people - they symbolized food and life; its use in the burial ceremony speaks of the faith of the ancients in life after death. That is why jewelry, coins, and various tools were found in the burial grounds.
In some places, archaeologists have found the remains of large domestic animals and rich utensils. It is believed that tribal leaders were buried in such graves. In total, more than three hundred “pot graves” located in several mounds were found.
How was the pitcher burial carried out? The body of the deceased was placed in a large jug with a wide neck in the position of an embryo with his head, as a rule, to the opening. The jug was laid on its side (however, sometimes there are jugs installed vertically). The feeling was that the departed were being prepared for resurrection in a new life, as if returning them to the mother's womb. The dead were buried in clothes, with jewelry, sometimes a stone was placed under their heads.
As a rule, pitcher burials have no ground signs. The depth of the grave pits is different, ranging from a few tens of centimeters to three to four meters. The grave pits were made square, rectangular, round or oval. The orientation of the funerary jugs varies from region to region. The most stable orientation is in Mingachevir, where most of the pitchers are directed from the south-east to the north-west.
The rite of jug burial among the ancient Albanians ceased only after the entry of Albania into the theocratic state - the Arab Caliphate and the adoption of the Islamic religion by the majority of non-Christian Albanians.
In addition to pitcher burials, over two hundred catacomb burials of the 1st-8th centuries were also discovered. AD, unknown before in the Caucasus. They contained clay, glass and silver vessels, rings with different images, iron weapons, gold earrings and other jewelry, Arshakid and Greco-Roman coins and Sassanid seals.