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Shamkirchai

The area west of the Shamkirchai River contained a small group of stone kurgans not easily seen in the cultivated landscape. These were 332.7 Shamkirchai I and 333 Shamkirchai II.

332.7 Shamkirchai I comprised a pair of kurgan stone settings.

Kurgan 1 contained a single grave under an irregular spread of stone. The structure of this spread, if any, had been disturbed by post-depositional processes.

Kurgan 2 was a well-defined stone ring, 12m in diameter, with an apparent entrance to the north-west. The kurgan contained two burials, both marked by stone settings. Grave 1 was at the centre of the ring, while Grave 2 lay at the outside of the ring and may have been later in date than the main structure.

The central burial chamber of Kurgan 2 and the pottery in general are typical of the final stage of the Kura-Araz Culture. Therefore, this site can be dated to the final stage of the early Bronze Age period i.e. mid-3rd millennium BC.

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