An international conference titled "Archaeology of Eastern Anatolia from Prehistoric Times to the End of the Iron Age" was held from April 28–30, 2026, at Ege University in the Republic of Türkiye, organised jointly by Ege University, Ankara University of Social Sciences, and Marmara University. DARK III, a continuation of the first and second meetings held in İzmir in 2019 (DARK I) and in online format in 2021 (DARK II), aimed to bring together researchers working across all topics — including cultures that existed in Eastern Anatolia — while maintaining the same chronological framework and extending its scope to include neighbouring regions.

Over the course of the three-day conference, 30 papers were presented by archaeologists from Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, the United States, Germany, Poland, France, Australia, and Italy. It should be noted that while the conference abstracts have been published, full-length articles are intended to be published in a SCOPUS-indexed publication, as was the case with DARK I and DARK II.

At the conference, Dr. Yagub Mammadov — Leading Research Fellow at the Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology of ANAS and lecturer at the Department of History and Archaeology at Khazar University — delivered a paper entitled "Azykh Cave: A Unique Site That Was Home to Three Different Species of the Genus Homo." Mammadov presented research conducted at Azykh Cave under the supervision of Mammadali Huseynov between 1960 and 1982, as well as newly resumed investigations following the liberation of the Karabakh region from occupation. Based on the findings obtained, participants were informed that three distinct human species — Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, and Homo neanderthalensis — had inhabited Azykh Cave, making it a site of unique significance in this regard.

On the final day of the conference, participants visited the Yeşilova Neolithic Settlement (Yeşilova Höyüğü), located in the city of İzmir and dating to approximately 8,500 years ago — around 6500 BC — one of the oldest known settlements in Anatolia.