The most significant historical discovery of 2025 is the unearthing of an 80,000-year-old Neanderthal remain in Khojavend’s ancient Taghlar Cave, uncovered by a joint Azerbaijan-Japan scientific expedition led by Azad Zeynalov, PhD, senior researcher at the Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Axar.az informs Isa Habibbeyli, president of the National Academy of Sciences, during the General Assembly said that the fossil is currently undergoing hydrocarbon analysis in Japan.

“If confirmed, this discovery—highly regarded by researchers—would be considered the second globally significant human fossil find, following the oldest human jaw identified in 1968 by Professor Məmmədəli Huseynov in Azikh Cave,” Habibbeyli noted.