The BTC Pipeline Archaeological Excavations in Azerbaijan

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and South Caucasus Pipelines (BTC) were constructed through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey during the period 2003-5. The project was accompanied by a 5 phase archaeological project intended to investigate and mitigate the effects of this construction. The project grew from small beginnings in 2001 to include a continuously operating team of around 80 staff during 2005 that included members of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography (IoAE) in Baku, international archaeologists and local labourers. This project was the largest archaeological enterprise in Azerbaijan for many years prior to the end of the USSR.

Archaeological results of the project included over 40 excavations on sites of varying date, surveys of different pipeline route options and the study of numerous sites while crossing the country. The project coincided with the introduction of GPS measuring equipment and the use of available satellite imagery and mapping, some of which was prepared specifically for the project. This meant that for the first time local archaeologists could record geographical information to a level that had previously been a state secret. Novel techniques were introduced such as aerial archaeology, digital images and the collection of over 50 radiocarbon dates.

The archaeological sites covered a range of periods and types from Chalcolithic settlements and cemeteries, Bronze Age settlements and cemeteries and Antique cemeteries. Medieval sites were represented by a potential Christian chapel and associated cemetery and a number of rural settlements of varying complexity. A key result of this project was the appearance of the Chalcolithic sites that dramatically extended the limited corpus of known sites in Azerbaijan; the almost non-visibility of evidence for the Kura Araz culture and the excavation of the rural medieval sites that would previously have been ignored in favour of the more interesting and finds-rich urban sites.