An expedition by the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences has made a significant discovery near the city of Dagestanskiye Ogni. They unearthed an ancient settlement site whose upper layers date to the Bronze Age, while the lower layers belong to the Eneolithic (Chalcolithic) era.
The site was initially identified during archaeological surveys in 2022, conducted ahead of the planned R-217 Kavkaz highway project north of Derbent. The reconnaissance work in 2022 couldn`t precisely date the site or determine its cultural affiliation. However, the 2025 excavations revealed that the lower strata correspond to an Eneolithic culture that existed simultaneously but was previously known only south of the Greater Caucasus mountain range, in the southern part of the Eastern Caucasus. This culture had never before been found in the North Caucasus.
Archaeologists recovered rich and diverse material offering a comprehensive insight into the culture, daily life, and customs of the Eneolithic settlement. Excavations uncovered remnants of residential and utility structures, burials, and a substantial collection of artifacts, including stone tools, ceramics, bone objects, and two clay bull figurines.
Academician Khizri Amirhanov, Head of the Department of Stone Age Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology RAS, commented on the findings, stating that the identification and study of the `Dagoginskoye 2` settlement will undoubtedly be one of the significant archaeological discoveries of 2025. He emphasized that this is the first time Eneolithic settlements in Dagestan have been explored over such a large area and with modern documentation techniques. Studying the settlement will provide crucial understanding of how ancient cultures developed in the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia in the 5th millennium BC, how their people migrated, and how their way of life changed.
Roman Mimokhod, a senior researcher in the Department of Bronze Age Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology RAS, noted that these scientific results will bridge a chronological gap in the cultural sequence of the Dagestan segment of the Caspian Lowland and establish the `Dagoginskoye 2nd` settlement as a benchmark site for the Eneolithic period of the North-Eastern Caucasus.
