Alikemek-Tepesi


Alikemek-Tepesi is an ancient settlement located in Jalilabad District, in the Mugan plain, belonging to the Chalcolithic period, dating to c. 5000 BC. Early levels belonged to the Shulaveri-Shomu culture. It covers an area of over 1 hectare.

Description

Materials from this site are very close to the materials obtained from monuments of northwestern Iran. The artifacts of the lower level are similar to those at Kültəpə I in Nakhchivan. In the upper levels, there is also pottery of the northern Ubaid period type.
There was numerous earthenware found during the excavations. More than 300 samples of painted pottery covered with monochrome drawings were found. Most of the brown and red drawings are triangles, rhombuses, containing straight and curved lines. Many items from Alikemek-Tepesi are considered as locally produced.

Alikemek-Kul'tepe culture

Some archaeologists speak of the ancient Alikemek-Kul'tepe culture of southeastern Caucasus, which followed the Shulaveri-Shomu culture, and covered the transition from the Neolithic to Chalcolithic periods.
According to A. Courcier,

"Situated respectively at the border of the Mugan Steppe and in Nakhichevan, the settlements of Alikemek and Kul’tepe I were excavated in the 1950s–1970s and are not dated with certainty. They probably represent a relatively long period and occupation seems to have started early . The Alikemek–Kul’tepe culture covered the Ararat Plain, Nakhichevan, the Mil’skoj and Mugan Steppes and the region around Lake Urmia in north-western Iran".