3

Maxta

Maxta 1 is a tell located 5 km northwest of Sharur city, near the modern village of Maxta (Figure 1). The modern tell is .78 ha in extent and probably about 4 meters high and was occupied during the Early Bronze Age. Maxta 1 is in the middle of an irrigated field and has suffered extensive bulldozer damage (Figure 2).

In 1988 and 1989, Safar Ashurov excavated a small horizontal exposure at this site. He uncovered several circular Kura-Araxes houses, including one house together with nearly all of its furnishings.

In 2006, the Naxçivan Archaeological Project revisited the site of Maxta 1 during our first season of regional survey. The extensive bulldozer damage at this site, which had exposed a number of clear sections and thrown up extensive Kura-Araxes objects, including whole vessels and hearths, encouraged us to excavate a sounding at this site as well (Figure 3). We excavated a 2X2m sounding at Maxta which was approximately 2.5m deep, exposing a series of super-imposed circular houses (Figure 4 and Figure 5). As at Kültepe 2, we focused on retrieving C-14 dates and archaeobiological data (animal bones and carbonized seeds).

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5