Azerbaijan Lowlands, Late Neolithic

The Late Neolithic lowlands of Azerbaijan unfold across marshes, river terraces and gentle plains where human communities left hearths, pottery and pits. Archaeological data indicates occupation between c. 5730 and 5375 BCE at sites including Zeyem Chaj (Mentesh Tepe) and Polutepe (near Uchtepe village, Jalilabad district). Material culture shows local development with influences traceable to neighbouring highlands and the broader Near East: coarse and fine wares, simple fired-clay architecture, and food processing tools suggest settled foraging and incipient farming lifeways.

Limited evidence suggests these communities exploited riverine resources and small-scale cultivation. Radiocarbon dates from associated contexts place these deposits firmly in the Late Neolithic, a time of climatic stability that favored wetlands and alluvial plains. The cinematic image is one of lowland encampments clustered along streams, where seasonal cycles of planting, fishing and livestock management were interwoven.

Because only two genetic samples are currently available, archaeological inference must remain cautious. Nonetheless, the concordance of pottery types and subsistence remains with nearby Neolithic sequences supports a picture of culturally connected but locally adapted Lowland Neolithic groups that participated in long-distance exchange of ideas and possibly genes across the southern Caucasus and adjacent regions.

Genetic data for Azerbaijan_Caucasus_lowlands_LN is extremely limited—only two sequenced individuals from Zeyem Chaj (Mentesh Tepe) and Polutepe (Uchtepe village, Jalilabad district). Both yielded mitochondrial genomes: one U7 and one H. No Y-chromosome haplogroups were reported for these two samples, so paternal lineages remain unknown for this small dataset. Given the sample count is below ten, any population-level inference must be treated as preliminary.

Mitochondrial haplogroup U7 today shows elevated frequencies in parts of the Near East, Iran and the southern Caucasus and is often interpreted as reflecting deep west–east connections across late Pleistocene and Holocene refugia of Southwest Asia. Haplogroup H is widespread across West Eurasia and is common in Neolithic and later populations in Europe and adjacent regions. The co-occurrence of U7 and H in these two individuals hints at maternal lineages with both local Caucasian/Near Eastern affinities and broader West Eurasian connections.

Archaeological data indicates cultural ties with neighboring Neolithic assemblages, and the mitochondrial signals are compatible with limited gene flow between lowland Azerbaijan and adjacent regions. However, autosomal profiles, more Y-DNA samples, and larger sample sizes are required to resolve degrees of admixture, migration directionality, and continuity with later Caucasus populations. Future sampling across additional contexts will be essential to test early hypotheses.