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Zayamchai

Evidence: Eneolithic | Bronze Age (Settlement/Cemetery) | Iron Age | Antique | Albanian | Medieval | Post-Medieval

This site consisted of 74 inhumations excavated in early 2004 on a terrace to the east of the river Zayamchai. Just to the south of the cemetery are the remains of a medieval stone bridge and it is likely that the two features are related.

The cemetery extends further south of the excavated area and potential graves were identified by the presence of stone-covered graves. Nearly all the graves were covered by a transverse setting of long stones, which is a version of a technique seen elsewhere. Burials at 316 Seyidlar had traces of wooden covers and other recent cemeteries exposed on the shores of the Kura Reservoir also have the remnants of timber coverings.

All the graves are strongly Muslim in character, with the face towards Mecca. In one grave (6) the body lay with his head facing vertically upwards and with folded arms (but damaged by construction activity), while grave 26 was in a disorderly state. Two graves (17 and 74) contained numbers of beads. The report's authors believe this may represent an early Muslim cemetery with traces of earlier rituals.

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