Gobustan National Park is located in Azerbaijan and is one of the most important rock art archaeological sites in the world.
It is located approximately 60 km southwest of Baku, and Gobustan Park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007.
The rock carvings were discovered accidentally in 1930, and the area was subsequently declared a National Park in 1966.
The park is home to over 6,000 petroglyphs that bear witness to 40,000 years of human history, from the Upper Paleolithic to the Middle Ages.
The carvings depict hunting scenes, animals (bulls, deer, horses), human figures, primitive vessels, and iconic ritual dances of ancient nomadic communities.
A petroglyph is a figurative or symbolic engraving made on rock surfaces in prehistoric times. Unlike paintings, petroglyphs are carved into the stone by carving or scraping.
One rock preserves a Latin inscription left by the Legio XII Fulminata towards the end of the 1st century AD, testifying to the presence of the Roman Empire in the area and the easternmost Roman vestige.
Near the archaeological site is one of the world’s largest concentrations of mud volcanoes.
