The survey is carried out under the directorship of Kafkas University Faculty Member Ast. Prof. Dr. Ayhan YARDIMCIEL and from our department Asc. Prof. Dr. Davut YİĞİTPAŞA participates with his team. Aras River is a river whose name has not changed for thousands of years with a pronunciation close to today's (Herodotus-Araxes) mentioned in ancient sources. It reaches the Nakhchivan-Iran corridor by passing through the provinces of Erzurum, Kars and Iğdır with its source from the Bingöl Mountains. Afterwards, the river joins with Kura coming from the north and empties into the Caspian Sea around Baku. The region where the river enters the borders of Kars province and passes through Nakhchivan is defined as the Middle Aras Basin. This definition is related to the archaeological and historical association of the region. The Middle Aras Basin, including Mount Ararat and Aras Mountains, is at the forefront in terms of its historical role compared to the Upper and Lower Aras Basins, due to the intersection of roads and passages between the Caucasus, Anatolia and Iran. These road networks also organized east-west and north-south oriented migration and cultural exchanges. In a sense, the Middle Aras Basin acted as a catalyst between Anatolia, the Caucasus and Iran. The core of the important Bronze Age cultures, Kura-Aras I (Kura-Aras Culture, Early Transcaucasian Culture or locally named Karaz Culture) and Kura Aras II (Aras Painted Culture, II Millennium Culture etc.) and Early Iron Age Culture The fact that it is a region already reveals how important the region is. With the Middle Aras Basin researches, starting from the Chalcolithic Age, very important discoveries regarding the settlements, defense facilities, pottery culture and burial tradition belonging to the Early-Middle Late Bronze Age were made. However, the research has reached more specific information for the Early Iron Age. This information is related to the development of the Early Iron Age culture from the Ağrı Mountain region (Middle Aras Basin) east to the Van Lake Basin, and it should be noted that the settlement and defense facilities of the relevant period are much more concentrated in the Ağrı Mountain region. However, it was also an important finding that some of the settlements identified were archaeological centers that gave the appearance of cities.
Asc. Prof. Dr. Davut YİĞİTPAŞA
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