Cemetery
Location: Papravand, Aghdam
Condition Assessment
Status: Major damage
Located in the village of Papravand, in the Aghdam district, this cemetery appears on the list of heritage sites of the Republic of Azerbaijan (inventory No. 5750) as an archeological monument dating to the medieval era. 1
CHW's assessment of the condition of this cemetery is based on our review of the full corpus of satellite images available on GoogleEarth (site coordinates above). It is thus difficult to convey the basis for our assessment with a simple comparison of two images. Close scrutiny of the satellite images shows that up until September 2011, 2 tombstones appear to be standing upright, judging by the shadows they cast. By April 2019 and subsequently, 3 these shadows are no longer visible. Instead, the territory of the cemetery shows white linear features, as though the tombstones have been knocked down and the graves disturbed. This assessment is confirmed by recent images of the cemetery. Moreover, at least one mausoleum ( N.4044 ) was destroyed, and another structure to its southeast, which resembles a mausoleum, was also destroyed.
Drag the swipe tool right to see the cemetery in September 2011; 2 drag left to see the cemetery in September 2020. 3
Geolocation
CHW was able to geolocate the cemetery using a topographic map from 1989 4 and modern satellite images. 2,3
The cemetery on a 1:50K scale map from 1989. 4
References
2 Google Earth/Maxar Technologies, September 9, 2011.
3 Google Earth/Maxar Technologies/CNES/Airbus, September 13, 2020.
4 1:50K scale map of the Soviet General Staff (Sheet K-38-142-G, 1989).
