Black Sea–Caspian Steppe language and the Northeast Caucasian languages are related to Hurrian and Urartian. This implies that the mountaineers of the Caucasus have been in their present location for a very long time. According to the most common theory the Indo-European languages originated on the steppes north of the Caucasus and Black Sea. Some time before 3000 BC the Maikop culture appeared in Circassia and Kabardia. It is noted for its excellent gold and silver work. North on the steppe was the Yamnaya culture which was probably Indo-European. Around 1000 BC there was a bronze-age Koban culture in the Kabardian area which
Svinoy, Caspian Sea Svinoy, Caspian Sea Svinoy, Sangi-Mugan Island or Muğan daşı (, Russian: "Ostrov Svinoy"), is an island in the Caspian Sea located south of Baku, Azerbaijan. This island lies south of the Baku Archipelago, 16 km off the shore. Svinoy is about 1 km in length and 0.6 km wide. Although geographically quite far from Baku, This island is considered part of the Baku Archipelago. On Svinoy Island, there is an automatic station for the monitoring of local water pollution. Stenka Razin's Cossacks crushed the fleet of the Safavid Shah Suleiman I of Persia in the waters off Svinoy Island in