Gobustan National Park

A protected area south of Baku containing one of the world's densest concentrations of prehistoric rock art, with over six thousand petroglyphs depicting hunting scenes, animal figures, ritual dances, and boats carved into sandstone outcrops spanning a period from roughly 40,000 to 5,000 years ago. The landscape itself is austere semi-desert punctuated by active mud volcanoes that bubble quietly from the plateau, a feature that coexists with the archaeological sites. The on-site museum contextualizes the carvings within the long sequence of human occupation at this location overlooking the Caspian Sea.