Some places keep their secrets in plain view. Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape is a low plateau of boulders and caves southwest of Baku, where over six thousand petroglyphs have been recorded, some perhaps forty thousand years old if you accept the broadest estimates, and others dating from the Middle Ages. The earliest pictures show hunters and large animals, and the later ones include boats with rows of oars, dancing figures and carts. Archaeologists believe the sea was close to the rocks in prehistoric times, and the boats fit that picture.
The Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl visited in the 1960s and noticed the resemblance between the carved boats and Viking ships. He argued that the ancestors of the Norse might have come from this region, a theory that most scholars reject, though it brought international attention to the site. UNESCO inscribed it in 2007, and a modern museum at the entrance now helps to explain the finds.
One of the odd treasures here is Gaval Dash, a large boulder that rings like a drum when struck with a stone, and it is thought to have been used in ritual. The sound carries a long way across the plateau, and it makes a nice test of how quiet the place is. A path leads through the main sets of carvings, with benches and shade shelters at intervals.
The land is open, dry and windy, and the summer sun is fierce. Spring and autumn are best, with clear skies, and the air is often full of the scent of wild herbs. Winter can be cold and rainy, with mud on the tracks.
Riding out from Baku along the coast on the highway is quick and uncomplicated, with fast traffic and wide shoulders, and the turn-off to the reserve is signposted. Qobustan, the nearest town, has petrol stations and small cafes, and the capital has all the services you need. The mud volcanoes nearby can be reached by a rough track, which is best done in dry weather, and the cones bubble gently, grey and glossy.