Excavation

Figure 1: Maxta, view from the south. Bulldozer and irrigation damage to the site is visible in the forefront, the excavation site is in the background.

Maxta 1 is a tell located 5 km northwest of Sharur city, near the modern village of Maxta . 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: CORONA image (DS1115-1075DF074), September 14, 1971, showing Maxta 1 north of the railway tracks and Maxta 2, probably a classical period site to the south.

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.

Figure 3: East section of the Maxta 1 sounding, showing pisé architecture and ashy floors from a series of Kura-Araxes period round houses.

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. We excavated a 2X2m sounding at Maxta which was approximately 2.5m deep, exposing a series of super-imposed circular houses. As at Kültepe 2, we focused on retrieving C-14 dates and archaeobiological data (animal bones and carbonized seeds).

Figure 4: Maxta 1, areas 1 and 2. This represents the most recent occupation surface uncovered in this trench and belongs to a large circular house with a large enclosure wall and a smaller dividing wall.	Figure 5: Maxta 1, areas 4 and 5, floor 14. This represents a later occupation surface, belonging to a small circular house with two other pisé walls located to the east.