7,000-Year-Old Copper Age Settlement Transforms Caucasus Archaeology

By Gary Manners – Ancient Origins

Archaeologists from the Russian Academy of Sciences have unveiled one of 2025’s most significant discoveries: a remarkable 7,000-year-old settlement in southern Dagestan that fundamentally transforms our understanding of how early farming communities spread across the Caucasus Mountains. The site, designated Dagogninskoe-2, provides unprecedented insights into the Eneolithic period – the pivotal Copper Age that bridged the Stone and Bronze Ages.

Located near the coastal town of Dagestanskiye Ogni on the Caspian Sea, this extraordinary settlement was uncovered during rescue excavations ahead of highway expansion north of Derbent. While first identified in 2022, only recent large-scale excavations confirmed its extraordinary antiquity and cultural significance, revealing two distinct archaeological layers that span millennia of human occupation, explains an Arkeonews report.