Mud Volcanoes

Azerbaijan has the most mud volcanoes of any country, spread broadly across the country. 350 of the 700 volcanoes of the world are in the Azerbaijan. Mud volcanoes appeared on the territory of the present Azerbaijan 25 million years ago. Near mud volcanoes, deposits of oil and gas can be found. Mud volcano's components can be used as raw materials for the chemical and construction industries, as well as for pharmacology.

Gobustan Rock Art

Gobustan State Historical and Cultural Reserve is located west of the settlement of Gobustan, about 64 km southwest of the centre of Baku. It was established in 1966, when the area was declared a national historical landmark of Azerbaijan in an attempt to preserve the prehistoric rock carvings, mud volcanoes and musical stones in the region. Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape covers three areas of a plateau of rocky boulders rising out of the semi-desert of central Azerbaijan, with an outstanding collection of more than 6,000 rock engravings bearing testimony to 40,000 years of rock art. The site also features the remains of inhabited caves, settlements and burials, all reflecting an intensive human use by the inhabitants of the area during the wet period that followed the last Ice Age, from the Upper Paleolithic to the Middle Ages. The site, which covers an area of 537 ha, is part of the larger protected Gobustan Reservation.