Gobustan State Reserve in Azerbaijan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its collection of over 600,000 rock paintings dating back 20,000 to 5,000 years ago. The reserve also features mud volcanoes, Singing Stones, and a Roman inscription. Some believe the Gobustan people migrated to Scandinavia and transferred their boat building skills to the Vikings. Visitors are recommended to hire a guide to explore the reserve’s attractions.
Gobustan State Reserve is a huge reserve in Azerbaijan. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and has been since 2007. It is listed as a World Heritage Site as the Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape. Gobustan State Reserve is known for its huge collection of rock paintings.
The reserve contains more than 600,000 distinct paintings, dating from 20,000 years ago to 5,000 years ago. The paintings in the Gobustan State Reserve depict a diverse range of figures and scenes, including various hunting scenes, war scenes, trading scenes, and individual animals and people. Gobustan State Reserve covers more than 1300 acres (530 hectares) and includes many distinct sites.
The rock paintings of Gobustan State Reserve were first discovered in the 1930s. A massive cataloging of the paintings was underway in the 1940s, and a number of archaeologists made the site their life’s work, eventually cataloging most of the immense number of petroglyphs and paintings in the area.
The Gobustan State Reserve petroglyphs have a number of similarities to other stone paintings around the world, and some people have used this to promote a theory that the Gobustan people traveled north to Scandinavia. To further this claim, people point to a series of paintings depicting what appear to be Viking long boats, which were likely used to navigate the strait between the Caspian and Black Seas. Thor Heyerdahl is the staunchest proponent of this theory, claiming that the people of Gobustan migrated around 100 AD and transferred their boat building skills to the Vikings.
Gobustan State Reserve also contains attractions other than Paleolithic cave paintings. Most notable among these are the mud volcanoes. Finding the mud volcanoes is probably one of the hardest things to do in the reserve, and it’s highly recommended that visitors hire a local guide to get there. Mud volcanoes are constantly spewing hot mud that oozes and slides around, and those who don’t mind getting all dirty will enjoy it immensely. The mud is renowned for its healing qualities and some people go to Gobustan State Reserve mainly to bathe in the mud.
Gobustan State Reserve is also home to a number of so-called Singing Stones, most notably the Gaval Dash. These stones create musical tones when touched and can essentially be played to create eerie music.
Also of note in the Gobustan State Reserve is a nearby rock which is the site of the easternmost Roman inscription. This appears to be a “graffiti” left by the 12th Legion of the Roman Empire, traveling the area around AD 75 and commemorating the eastern point of the Roman Empire.
The site is about 40 miles (65km) from Baku and some of the roads are quite rough. Most people drive around the area and then hire a guide to take them around the reserve, showing them points of interest and explaining what the various paintings are about. There are also a number of field guides to the Gobustan State Reserve Paleolithic paintings, and these can serve as useful references for dating the different groups and for finding some of the more isolated and impressive paintings.
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