SKULLS

The Guba Mass Grave

Here in Guba we have a mass grave site. Its an ongoing archaeological dig that has a roof built over it and is enclosed in blue tarp about 50m by 20m on the side of a hill near our soccer field.

In order to avoid "controversy" all this post will be is some pictures and a transcription of the English language information sign the have there. (spelling and grammar mistakes and choice of words are part of the transcription, not my own)





GUBA GENOCIDE MASS GRAVE


1.ON 1 April, 2007 a mass grave was opened in Guba while doing ground works.
2.As a result of the primary research carried out by the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan from 8 to 11 April 2007 it has been revealed that the site is a burial place of the local innocent civilians massacred by the Armenians in 1918.
3.To provide a more comlete explanation to the problem the Sciense Board of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan proposed thorough arcaeological investigations in the site.
4.A staff of seven researchers of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan have been investigating the place.
The results of the research carried out in 2007.
The first, main stage involved the archaeological investigation of the mass grave.
The second stage was the investigation of the burial place from a historical point of view and on the basis of archive materials.
The third stage included talking to the local residents,mainly the old people.
The total area of the site is 500 square meters.
were found.
As a result of the archaeological excavations two wells and two channels filled withcorpses were found.
All the victims bear signs of mutilation. Exhumations claimed that the victims were murdered cruelly and inhumanely-with dull instruments.The number of murdered were discovered by counting the skulls.
It has been found out that all the remains of the mass grave belong to the Azerbaijanis and members of other ethnic minorities living compactly in Guba.
Most of the skeletal human remains found in the mass grave are of children and women.
Besides the wells, 200 skulls have been uncovered in the mass grave so far.
-50 of them are of children of different ages
-54 are of women and the rest belong to old people
From a historical point of view and on the basis of archive materials is has been identified that in 1918,at the end of April a special “torture regiment”instructed by Stephan Shaumyan , the commissar of the then Soviet of People Commissars and Korganov , a military commissar was sent to Guba Region.
Under the command of the Armenian general Hmazasp about 40 thousand civilianswere severely punished by the regiment.
As a result of the ordeal only in Guba region 1800 children, about 2000 old men and women were murdered.
Part of them was buried in the place where we have been carrying out our research.
The research is still going on.




Here is the picture of the sign I used to make the transcription above