Isa Habibbayli: Results of analysis of discovery in Taghlar Cave to be published in 2026

The results of the analysis of the approximately 80,000-year-old Neanderthal remains discovered during archaeological excavations in the ancient Taghlar Cave in the Khojavand region in 2025 will be published this year, Isa Habibbayli, President of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), said at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Field Season of Archaeological Research, Report informs.

According to Habibbayli, the archaeological find is currently being studied in Japan.

"Based on the analysis, its age, gender, and other characteristics will be determined. If confirmed, this discovery could become the second most significant worldwide, after the oldest human jawbone discovered in 1968 in Azikh Cave," he noted.

The paleoanthropological remains of a Neanderthal were discovered in Khojavand during a joint Azerbaijani-Japanese archaeological expedition.