Gobustan is an administrative district, or rayon, of Azerbaijan. It is famous for a chain of outcroppings where petroglyphs were found in the mid 1930s. Some of the carvings were reportedly produced during the Neolithic age, ca 5000-8000 BC. The rock chain was declared a state preservation area in 1966 and was subject to intensive archeological research. Nowadays it is open to visitors as an open-air museum under the control of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Azerbaijan Republic.