BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. The remains discovered during recent excavations in the Khan's Mosque Complex in Azerbaijan’s Shaki belong to the third ruler of the Shaki Khanate Muhammad Husayn Khan Mushtag, Trend reports on December 2.
The remains were identified as a result of scientific research and a series of genetic analyzes carried out with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. The basis for this was also the scientific conclusion of the Institute of Archaeology, Ethnography and Anthropology of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences.
The studies were carried out in Austria, the UK, Estonia and Türkiye.
Since May 2021, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation has been carrying out restoration work in the Shaki mosque complex, during which large slab stones were found under one of the mihrabs [niches indicating the direction towards which Muslims should face when praying]. After that, restoration work on this site was immediately suspended, and archaeologists began work.
A total of 52 beads found in the grave, as well as bronze rosary heads, testified that the buried person was a person of high religious or state status.
On the basis of the above information, as well as the notes of the outstanding Azerbaijani literary critic, collector of medieval manuscripts Salman Mumtaz with details about the burial of the remains of Khan Mushtag under the mihrab of the mosque, scientific research was carried out.
With the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, samples were taken from fragments of the discovered skeleton and sent for radiocarbon and genetic analysis to the laboratory of Oxford University in the UK.
