GOBUSTAN ROCK ART. Baku. Day 2.

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Petroglyphs are rock carvings (rock paintings are called pictographs) made by pecking directly on the rock surface using a stone chisel and a hammerstone.

Gobustan Rock Art represents flora and fauna, hunting, lifestyles, and culture of pre-historic and medieval periods of time.[1] The carvings on the rocks illustrates primitive men, ritual dances, men with lances in their hands, animals, bull fights, camel caravans, and pictures of the sun and stars. The date of these carvings goes back to 5.000 – 20.000 years before present.

The cultural landscape covers three rocky highlands in the semi-desert territory of central Azerbaijan. There are more than 6.000 rock engravings on more than 1.000 surfaces of rocks that reflects 40.000 years of history of rock art.[5][4][6]
During the archaeological excavation, 104 small-sized engraved stones were also discovered at different archaeological stages[3]
Petroglyphs in Gobustan dating about 5,000 to 8,000 years back contain longships similar to Viking ships.[7][8] The discovery of ship illustrations among the rock paintings in Gobustan shows its relationship with the Mediterranean and the European continent.[9]
Jingirdag, Boyukdash, and Kichikdash mountains and Yazili hill are located in Gobustan, which are the home for the ancient rock art. Most of the rock carving can be found on the upper surface of Boyukdash and Kicikdash mountains. The paintings on the rock walls date back to 3-4 thousand years ago mainly reflect hunting scenes. Human (dancers, hunters, men wearing tropical helmets) and animal (deer and goat) paintings are depicted on the rocks of more sheltered sides.[10]
Images of animals on Gobustan rocks vary depending on the periods because of the change in the hunting targets (from big animals like aurochs and wild horses (during the Pleistocene period) to relatively smaller Holocene animals such as deer, wild boar and bird) according to the climate change starting at the beginning of the Holocene period.[3]
The petroglyphs on the walls of the living sites as “Firuz-1”, “Firuz-2”, “Gaya-arasi”, “Gaya-Arasi-2” on Kicikdash Mountain, “Kaniza”, “Ana-Zaga” on Boyukdash Mountain are similar to the petroglyphs on some stones in this site.[3]
One of the rocks has a Latin inscription belonging to the period of Roman Emperor Domitian’s reign (81-96 AD), which shows the temporary stay of the 12th Roman Legion led by Fulminate on the Caspian shores.[7]
Another remnant of the early time is so-called "gaval chalan dash" (tambourine stone), an ancient musical instrument described in Gobustan Rock Art.