Ovçular Tepesi

A low, broad mound on the left bank of the Arpa river just north of the village of Dizə, a few kilometres east of Sharur. Excavations since 2006 have shown that the site was occupied through much of the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age — over five millennia of continuous use, with mud-brick houses, kilns, and one of the earliest copper workshops in the region.

The visible remains are modest — a fenced excavation area and a few interpretive panels — but the site is of real importance to anyone interested in the prehistory of the Caucasus.

things to do sight
A story
Excavations at Ovçular Tepesi have uncovered some of the earliest evidence of copper metallurgy in the South Caucasus, with crucibles and slag dating to the early fourth millennium BC. The settlement was probably part of a long-distance copper trade reaching down into Mesopotamia.