Karabakh is one of the most ancient regions of not only Azerbaijan but also the entire world. The site of the most ancient human beings was found in the Azykh cave of this region. It proves Azerbaijan to be one of the cradles of the mankind along with Karabakh, the Mediterranean Sea basin and East Africa. The researcher of the Azykh cave, Azerbaijani scientist M.Guseynov wrote: "River stone instruments discovered in the Azykh cave are close to those of the Orduvay culture of East Africa. At the same time the instruments were prepared in different ways thus making it possible to single out the Guruchay culture composed of the labor instruments found in the lower layers of the Azykh cave…The Guruchay culture can be dated back to 1 million 200 thousand years ago".

The jaw bone of the Azykh human -Azykhantrope was found in the Acheulian layer of the Azykh cave in 1968. The Azykhantrope is proposed to live 350-400 thousand years ago. The mustye culture of Karabakh was mainly represented by the Taghlar cave.