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Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan

The Ikuo Hirayama International Caravanserai of Culture

REPORT

on archaeological excavations at the Qarshovultepa site/settlement in the Chinaz district of the Tashkent region in 2020

Authors: K.A. Sheyko
Dr. G.P. Ivanov
Dr. J.Ya. Ilyasov

Tashkent 2021

In July-August 2020 we continued archaeological excavations at the Qarshovultepa settlement. The monument is located to the south-west of Tashkent, in the village of Dustlik, Chinaz District, Tashkent Province, on the right upper terrace of the River Chirchik. Its coordinates are 40°58'24.03"N, 68°54'31.64"E.

The work focused on four sectors: R-3 (the so-called platform); R-4 – excavation in the southern part of the site; R-8 – excavation located on the uppermost sector in the central part of the site; R-9 – new excavation intended for the study of the southern sector of the site’s fortification (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Qarshovultepa-2020. Plan and location of the excavations

Excavation 3 (R-3)

Excavation 3, intended for the study of the platform and the area that it was built on, is currently a stratigraphic one, which, with every opened layer, will enable us to study all the phases of life at Qarshovultepa.

Fig. 2. Р-3, platform

It is important to emphasize that work on R-3 has its own specifics, because it is quite difficult to conduct planigraphic excavations of edifices of the second building horizon (II) in large squares. The reason for this is the massive platform that covers the central part of the building complex of the second building horizon (II). Firstly, its removal for the access to underlying layers requires a laborious process, and secondly, and more importantly, we are trying, as far as possible, to preserve this unique construction, the function of which is yet unclear to us.

Fig. 3. Character of the filling between Floors 3 and 4

The height level of Floor 1 in Room 1 (the “Throne Hall”) measures -520-522 cm from the benchmark. Since clay floors were never ideally horizontal and even, and also often tended to rise near the walls or sag above the loose filling of the previous periods, these numbers are averaged. On the first floor stand sufas built along the southern and western walls of Room 1, including the “estrade”. Floors 2, 3 and 4, which we opened under Floor 1, have no relation to the “Throne Hall”, which existed here in one of the functioning phases of the edifice of the second building horizon (II). They belong to the preceding periods of usage / building of this sector, and the layout of the rooms / courtyards which they related to still needs to be clarified.

Fig. 4. Floors calcinated by fire

Floor 2 lies -575 cm under the benchmark, i.e. 55-58 cm lower than Floor 1. On this floor stands a wall made of raw mud bricks that served as the base for the western sufa in Room 1. The base of the eastern wall in Room 1, which incorporated the entrance into the “Throne Hall”, lies 45 cm lower than Floor 1 and 13-17 cm higher than Floor 2, i.e. it was erected during the formation of Room 1, but it is not related to Floor 2.

Floor 3 lies on the -593-596 cm mark, i.e. 73-75 cm lower than Floor 1 and 15-20 cm lower than Floor 2. It consists of several layers of clay covering, its total thickness being 8-10 cm (Fig. 3).

A characteristic feature of Floor 2 and Floor 3 is the occurrence of round fields heavily calcinated by fire, located above each other and extending underneath the eastern wall of Room 1 at the spot of a passage to Room 2 (Fig. 4). This testifies to the fact that braziers (fire altars?) had been placed here (in the centre of the rooms?) in the functioning periods of Floors 2 and 3.

Floor 4 lies at -636-640 cm under the benchmark, i.e. 40-47 cm lower than Floor 3. The layer between Floor 3 and Floor 4 consists of a loose mass of grey colour, nurtured with ash, with streaks of burned earth, soot and small coals as well as with ceramic fragments and animal bones (Fig. 3). Inside Floor 4, at a distance of 130 cm from the southern wall and 85-86 cm from the eastern wall, there is a pit with a diameter of 12-13 cm, probably to keep the coals.

In the loose layer, before the spreading of Floor 3, a lens-shaped recess was dug out, which was filled with dense homogenous clay (Fig. 6). The northern border of this clay lens lies at a distance of 2,35 m from the edge of a sufa, built in the last phase of the functioning of Room 1 along the southern wall. Before the clay dried, two small round pits and a groove were dug out of it. They are located along the north-south axis (Figs. 5, 7). The first round pit is 21-22 cm in diameter, with a preserved depth of 6,5 cm. The pit cut into raw clay has fireproof walls — first, a layer of clay covered by small stones, then a layer of pure clay on top. The walls of the pit are calcined to red, the thickness of the calcined layer is 2 to 5-6 cm. At a distance of 40 cm to the south are the remains of another round pit, 22 cm in diameter. Its walls are likewise covered with clay, and calcined. On its ground lies the bottom part of a modeled vessel with walls 1 cm thick.

13 cm to the south of the second pit a north-south orientated groove was cut out of the clay, (Fig. 8). The distance between the groove and the edge of the sufa is about 90 cm. The groove is trapezoidal in cross section, its ground and walls are smoothed out. Its preserved length is ca. 60 cm, its width 5-7 cm.

Judging by traces of high temperature, the walls of the pits were exposed to high degrees of heat. Such temperatures can be achieved through the usage of charcoal and the blowing of fire with the help of bellows. A procedure like this is required, for example, to melt a small amount of metal. That is, we are dealing with traces of a small-sized workshop (of jewellery?). After some time the pits and the groove were hidden under Floor 3.

In this filling layer, 15-18 cm underneath Floor 3 (minus 606-611 cm under the benchmark), we found an intact ceramic lid with a loop-shaped handle and a cut-out decor (Figs. 12, 13).

Fig. 5. R-3. View of the southern part of Room 1 and the layers under it

Fig. 6.

 

Fig. 7. Small pits under Floor 3

Fig. 8. Groove near the pits

We noted several times that the northern part of the excavated sector was significantly damaged by a looting pit. That pit also cut through Floor 4. Next to the pit can be seen the outline of a round calcined spot, trace of a mobile hearth used to heat the room (Fig. 9).

Fig. 9. Floor 4 and looting pit

In the northern wall of the room — the single wall that existed throughout the entire functioning period of all floors unearthed at this point, from Floor 1 to 4 — we detected a round hearth-fireplace, located closer to the north-eastern corner of Room 1 (Figs. 10, 11). In the same wall there is a narrow, low opening, relating to Floor 2 or Floor 3 as a doorway. Because the looting pit cut the surface of the northern wall, too, it seems impossible to determine which of the floors this doorway exactly related to.

Fig. 10. R-3. View of the northern wall

Fig. 11. Fireplace on Floor 4

In the filling between Floor 3 and 4 we found animal bones and fragments of ceramics that can be divided into kitchen ware, tare ware and table/banquet ware. The kitchen ware consists of fragments of hand modeled pots for cooking and boiling water, whose surface is covered with soot. Two of them have vertical handles of flattened oval shapes in cross section. The upper part of the handle is connected to the collar, and the lower is fixed to the shoulder of the vessel. The shoulder carries a horizontal stuck stripe decorated with dents; to the left of the handle base a knobble was stuck onto the vessel’s body (Fig. 15). There are also a fragment of a hand modeled bottle-shaped vessel and a moulded pot decorated with a wavy ornament incised prior to the firing (Figs. 14, 15).

Furthermore we found fragments of a mug, a khumcha and ewers made on potter’s wheel (Fig. 16).

Fig. 12. R-3. Ceramic lid in situ

Fig. 13 a, b. R-3. Ceramic lid

Fig. 14 a, b. R-3. Hand modeled pot with incised ornamentation

Fig. 15. R-3. Hand modeled vessels

Fig. 16. R-3. Tare vessels

In the filling we also found a fragment of a ceramic support with a stylized depiction of a ram’s head (Fig. 17). Both ends of such supports had the shape of an animal, often of a ram; they probably had a cultic function.

Fig. 17. R-3. Part of a ceramic support (Height 10.5 cm, length 10.7 cm, width 4 cm)

Very interesting is a vessel, the fragments of which were found in different parts of the room and in different depths in the floor (Fig. 18). While the first find was discovered immediately under the spreading of Floor 3, on the surface of the sooty filling, the other fragment was found inside the sooty filling, 5 cm above Floor 4. It is a modeled vessel, a round bottom bowl decorated with a ring surrounded by triangles, which were drawn on its outer side prior to the firing. Inside the ring and the triangles there are incisions. On the outer bottom part of the bowl an S-shaped sign was cut in, likewise prior to the firing. Unfortunately, the sign is not fully preserved. It is likely a tamga, the earliest among those found at Qarshovultepa to this date. The surface of the vessel is brightened. This object does not belong to household wares and obviously had a specific function.

Fig. 18. R-3. Ceramic bowl with tamga and incised decoration

Noteworthy are two ceramic finds from Floor 4. They are miniature objects, probably children’s toys. One of them recalls flasks of the Kaunchi culture, with one flat side, 3,7×3,2 cm in size (Fig. 19). It was found 2,95 m from the southern sufa and 1,20 m from the eastern wall. It could also have been used as a whistle. The second find is a footring of a miniature vessel (Fig. 20), spotted at 2,85 m from the southern sufa and 1,75 m from the eastern wall, 2,54×1,6 cm in size.

Fig. 19 a, b. R-3. Toy ceramic flask

Fig. 20 a, b. R-3. Footring of a toy vessel

Two interesting objects were recovered from the filling between Floors 3 and 4: a stone polisher 9,3×7,6 cm (Fig. 21), and an astragalus bone (knucklebone), 3×2,2×1,7 cm, with a hole drilled into it (Fig. 22). The latter was found near the northern wall, 1 m from its north-eastern corner. Until recently astragalus bones were used by the population of Central Asia for gambling, and the holes were used to fill them with lead in order to add weight for more effective throws.

Fig. 21. R-3. Stone polisher

Fig. 22. R-3. Astragalus bone

The continuation of work on P-3 will make it possible to study the settlement’s stratigraphy and to differentiate the material (ceramic and, hopefully, numismatic), which characterizes the transition from the late phase of the Kaunchi culture (Kaunchi III – second half of the 4th – first half of the 6th centuries CE) to the Turkic period.

Excavation 4 (R-4)

We resumed work with excavation № 4 on the southern edge of the central part of the settlement, next to the steep slope.

The excavation there was started in 2011 by the orientalist A. Savchenko. During the same season the excavation was interrupted for lack of perspectives. As the excavations of the current season have shown, the reasons for this interruption were the underestimation of the importance of this area of the monument, and the significant damage of the layers in this area requiring an excavator of higher qualification. The plan composed after the 2011 excavation reveals how complicated and unintelligible the situation at the selected area was.

Fig. 23. Plan of Р-4 after the 2011 excavations

The decision to resume work on R-4 was based on the assumption that the territory on which it was started possibly contained the citadel of Qarshovultepa. This hypothesis was set up after the study of satellite photographs. Comparing the shots taken at different times of the day we could detect that the central part of the south of the settlement might have been separated from the main territory of the site by massive fortification walls (Fig. 24).

Fig. 24. Relief of the settlement’s walls

Work started with the cleaning of the old sector and its inclusion into the grid of five-metre squares systematizing the entire settlement. On its edge we installed a temporary benchmark for the measurement of depths in relation to the general zero benchmark. Its mark is -170 cm. Hence, this is the approximate measure that the entire square around the excavation lies lower than the highest point of the settlement. Initially, throughout the area of the old excavation, we cleaned off the floors on the level of minus 260-280 cm and clarified the directions of the remaining walls. Afterwards we expanded the area of the excavation southwards to the steep slope and 5 m to the north and east respectively (Fig. 25).

Fig. 25. Plan of R-4 after the 2020 excavations

Thus, the overall square of R-4 has reached 360 sq.m. (24×15 m).

The top of the entire excavated area presents a more or less homogenous picture. A turfy layer of 5-10 cm was followed by a very loose salted and entirely destructed ground. The thickness of this layer varies. In the northern and southern parts of the excavation it as about 20 cm thick, in the centre up to 40 cm. It is noteworthy that this kind of layers occurs at all excavations on the site, with the exception of the areas above the “platform” at P-3 and above the fortification walls and towers on excavation R-7. This layer was even thicker at excavation P-5 (necropolis), where no traces of burial pits were visible up to a depth of one metre. This is possibly related to the destructive impact of tree roots during a millennium, which are significantly more present in a soft ground.

We traced a relatively loose layer with fractions of adobe walls under the amorphous layer described above, practically on the entire area of the excavation down to the floor level -260 cm (90 cm from the present-day surface). Next to the wall fragments preserved in this layer the rubble was denser. This layer was particularly loose in the central part of the excavation (squares AA-113, A-113 and the north-eastern corner of square B112) due to a large amount of pits. They were so numerous that, except for one pit located at the very centre of square AA-113, we could not define their edges.

In squares A-114 and AA-114 the picture is different.

Fig. 26. R-4. Eastern part. The destroyed wall and the clay consisting of its fragments. View from the south

There we detected remains of a north-south oriented adobe wall. Traces of it are preserved over a length of 15 m, but only a small sector (slightly over a meter long and 110 cm thick) inside square BB-114 is preserved with both its facades up to a height of 90 cm from the floor level of -260 cm. In the southern part we managed to trace 4,5 metres of its western façade, 20-30 cm in height above the floor on the -260 cm level. A clay вал, about 80 cm wide and slightly above 1,5 m long, adjoined this facade approximately at its middle. The height of the вал did not exceed 15 cm above the floor at its highest point. It is highly probable that these are the remains of a wall directed westwards.

Fig. 27. R-4. Square АА-114. Remains of a wall directed westwards

The central part of the south-east wall described above is preserved as well. The edge of the remaining wall is slightly higher, reaching 30 cm. This remaining part and the floor to the east of the wall are covered with a layer of dense dried clay, with small pits dug up in many spots. This layer cannot be a simple remnant of the wall. Most likely the wall was intentionally destroyed for the preparation of clay.

In the north-western corner of the excavation we opened two rooms, the walls of which rose above the floor (-260 cm) to a height of 40-60 cm.

Room 1. Its southern part was partially opened in 2011. Then, the excavators did not reach the floor of the room, but missed it - by a few centimetres only. The trapeziform room stretches from south to north with a slight deviation to the east. At the south the width of the room measures 3,75 m, 6 m further north it narrows to 2,5 m, but because of oval protrusions built onto the eastern and western walls the width of the north entrance into the room is 1,55 m.

Fig. 28. R-4. Room № 1. View from the south, and its entrance from the north

The three remaining walls are built from pahsa. They are 80 cm thick. The eastern wall of the room curves slightly to the east. It is badly preserved. Its eastern facade is heavily damaged by precipitation, like the southern wall. Its northern (i.e. inner) facade is preserved much better than the southern one. This circumstance probably attests to the fact that the space to the east and south of Room 1 was not roofed. From the north-western side the room is limited by better preserved walls. We opened a passage 120 cm wide to the north-west beginning at a spot 170 cm to the north-east from the western corner of the room. From the north the passage is limited by the outer southern corner of Room 2.

In the southern part of Room 1 we cleaned off two floors. The upper one on the level of -250 cm was well tamped. The filling of the room above this floor is quite loose, homogenous, and was formed through the gradual breakdown of the walls in small pieces (abandonment). The lower floor (on the level -265 cm in the southern part and -275 near the northern passage into the room) was also easy to clean off. It has clear traces of habitation. It is partly burned and there are a lot of coals and soot in the filling between the floors. Particularly many of them were found next to the northern passage.

To the north of Room 1 we opened part of a corridor (?) narrowing to the north. Under the northern edge of the excavation its width measures only 180 cm. Its walls are continuations of the walls of Room 1. They are preserved to a height of 30 cm.

Fig. 29. R-4. Corridor and passage into Room 2. View from the south

The filling under the floor of the corridor is a burnt layer. Its passage, 110 cm wide, into Room 2 is in the north-western wall.

Room 2. Not completely opened. The north-western part of the room was left beyond the excavation area. It shares its south-eastern wall, 80 cm thick, with Room 1. The width of Room 2 is 5 m. Extra niches were made in the wall ends aligned with the passage for the frame of the doors. One meter from this passage on the floor in the corridor we found a granite thrust bearing with two holes for the installation of doors (Fig. 30). Hence, the passage to Room 2 may have been closed with double doors.

Fig. 30. Р-4. Stone thrust bearing from Room 2

 

Along the south-eastern and south-western walls sufas, rising 20 cm from the floor, were arranged. The south-eastern sufa is 130 cm wide, the south-western one 80 cm. In the corner between them there is an unfilled space of 30×30 cm, possibly the spot of a wooden column.

An oval hearth (140 ×70 cm) was inserted in the northern corner of the south-eastern sufa (Fig. 31). The borders of the sufa and the hearth were simultaneously decorated with flat raw bricks lying on their edges. The hearth is moved towards the passage, and the distance between it and the north-eastern wall reaches 1 m. The fact that the hearth was located near the passage presupposes that it did not fulfill household needs, but cultic purposes.

Fig. 31. R-4. Room 2. Sufa and hearth

The cleaning by fire of persons entering a room was widespread among Central Asian peoples in the pre-Islamic period. Such a ritual cleaning arrangement was already discovered in 2017 at room 20, Excavation R-3.

The smoothly finished floor of Room 4 was cleared off at a depth of -175 cm. Above it there is a massive burnt fire layer, covered at -150 cm with a surface on top of which we found only traces of abandonment.

To the south of the southern wall of Room 1, 3 m away from it, we found an ill-preserved pakhsa wall inside squares А-112 and В-113 (Fig. 32). Its northern part was already discovered in 2011. This year we expanded the excavation and opened the southern end of this wall in the south-western corner of square B113. The overall length of the wall reached 15 m, but its north-western part lies beyond the excavation area. To the east of it, on a small area, on the floor at level -160 cm we detected lenses of humus. To the south-east of that wall, beyond the southern edge of the control partition, we opened a wall that formed its continuation, stretching from the centre of square B-113 to the cliff at the centre of square C-114: quite a complex construction. Its lower part consisting of a single row of bricks follows the principle of placing whole bricks longitudinally on the edges, with a filling of fractions and clay between them (Fig. 33).

Fig 32. R-4. Wall in squares А-112, СВ-113. View from north-west

Fig. 33. R-4. Wall in squares В-113, С114

 

With the bricks being heavily crushed, we were unfortunately unable to measure their sizes; in any case they were large rectangular bricks, 10 cm thick or more. The wall is 90 cm thick. At the -260 cm level, the bricks of the wall lie on the cut pakhsa wall, the edge of which protrudes westwards from the line of bricks for 20-30 cm. On the farthest edge of the excavation, above the cliff fall, we detected a piece of a pakhsa wall standing on top of the brick wall. It is possible that the bricks standing in one row only served as the foundation of the pakhsa wall, which is not preserved.

To the west of the walls described above, in squares С-112 and 114, the surface of the territory is so heavily changed by pits dug out at a later time that the preserved wall fragments do not give us a clear picture of the layout on the excavated level.

At the crossing of squares А-114,115 and В-114,155 we opened a corner of well-preserved pahsa walls extending under the eastern border of the excavation

(Fig. 34).

Fig. 34. Р-4. Wall in squares В-114,115

The corner is directed westwards. The walls are preserved to a height of 60 cm above the floor level, defined at a depth of -260 cm, but they had been built at an earlier period.

Through the work conducted at P-4 during the season under review we opened new areas concerning the last phase of habitation and the period when the settlement was being abandoned. Unfortunately, the layout of that period was heavily damaged when the walls were disassembled to obtain construction material. However, as the walls were not taken apart below the -270 cm level, work on that sector is promising. The position of the building with large rooms inside an area of the settlement that was possibly a citadel gives us hope for more interesting material on the urban planning structure and city architecture in pre-Islamic Chach.

Fig. 35. R-4. Fragment of terracotta Fig. 36. R-4. Fragment of ceramic support

Fig. 37 a, b. R-4. Fragments of ceramic support and ceramic incense burner

Fig. 38. R-4. Mug, NW corner, under floor 3 Fig. 39. R-4. Mug, NW corner, under floor 3

Fig. 40. R-4. Mug

Excavation 8 (R-8)

In 2020 work was conducted in rooms 4, 8, 9, 10 and 11 (Fig. 41).

Fig. 41. R-8, plan

Room 4

In field season 2019 we excavated Room 4 along the horizon of the first building period. It is 6,80 m long and 6 m wide. Its north-western wall is badly preserved. Its northern part, near the passage into Room 3, is destroyed by a 20th century burial. An identical burial was detected at the north-eastern wall during the 2018 field season. The south-eastern wall is shared with Rooms 1, 2 and 4. The north-eastern wall of the first building period stands on a levelling clay layer, the surface of which served as a floor in the last habitation phase of this complex.

It is noteworthy that a large amount of household (utilitarian) pits, set from different levels at different periods of habitation significantly obstructed the study of Room 4 (Fig. 42).

Fig. 42. Household pits in Room 4. View from the west

The north-eastern wall of Room 4 is better preserved in its northern part. In 2019 we detected a household pit at a distance of 80 cm from the north-western wall near the doorway. The opening of this room started from the -174 cm mark, i.e. from the surface of Floor 1 of the first building period. The upper surface of the 35-40 cm thick coating became Floor 1. Right underneath this finely dispersed clay coating is a filling consisting of an ash-cinder layer including charcoals mixed with soil. The floor on which these layers lie was fixed at the -234 cm mark. It belongs to the second building period when the room had different dimensions. Its length is as yet unidentifiable because the north-western wall of Room 4 most likely lies under the floor of Room 3, but its width is known — 4,60 m. A pit is lowered near the entrance from Floor 1 of the first building period; it partly destroyed the north-western wall of the second building period. During field season 2019 we found the second pit of the first building period near the eastern corner of the north-western wall. The south-eastern and north-western walls are of equal length — 6,90 m. The south-western wall was 4,60 m long in the first building period. Between the first and second floor of the first building period lies a layer of filling, consisting of soil with a large amount of cinder-ashy incisions with some coals. Inside that filling we found large numbers of decayed pieces of reed mats, which possibly served as cover material for roofing the room.

That layer yielded ceramic fragments as well as two coins. On the obverse of the first coin a predator walking to the right is depicted, on the reverse is a tamga shaped like a pitchfork. The second coin belongs to the group of coins with the representation of the ruler and his wife. Noteworthy are several fragments of walls of a large vessel — a cooking pot with a series of ornaments: short oblique line strokes under its mouth, below them short segments and another ornament in the form of herringbones. In that layer we found numerous walls of cauldrons and khums as well as ewers and plates.

On this particular layer the north-western and the south-western walls were erected. The south-eastern wall continues beyond this layer and, evidently, there is another more ancient wall behind it, to which new walls were continuously attached, changing the layout of the rooms. This was fixed in the process of its excavation in Rooms 2 and 3 in 2019. An analogous situation is to be found in Room 4, which is attached to the south-eastern wall. There, at the -267 cm mark, we detected masonry of raw bricks in the sizes of 50-48×30-23×8-10 cm. In the south corner of the room the western part of the wall is now absent, because here, most likely, was a door passage leading south, where Room 5 is located. At the level of the top of this masonry the floor was coated throughout the entire area of the room. At the level of this floor we found 3 pits dug into Floor 2 of the first building period. Two further pits were located under this floor; they were lowered from the second floor of the second horizon. Pit 6 is located under the south-western wall, covered by Floor 3 of the first building period, which is clearly visible in cross section (Fig. 43). It is halfway cleared off. Inside we found a coin with the portrait of a ruler in three-quarter view turning to the right, enclosed by a ring. The reverse of the coin is heavily abraded, but one can identify a tamga consisting of two bows connected by two parallel lines.

Fig. 43. Room 4, Pit 6

Fig. 44. Room 4. Pits 4, 5 and 6

Pit 7 was discovered in the eastern side of the room next to the north-western wall of the first building period; it extends to the area of Room 3 (Fig. 45). Like Pit 6, it was lowered from the level of Floor 3 of the first building horizon, i.e. functioned earlier than Pits 3 and 4.

Fig. 45. Cross section of Room 4 with Pit 7

In the work process we noted that the floor coatings of different building horizons significantly differ from each other. While Floor 1 was perfectly leveled in Rooms 1, 2, 3, 4 (season 2018), Floors 2 and 3 were carried out as if applied in haste, without sparing material. It is clear that Floors 2 and 3 of the second building period were used only temporarily during renovation. The utilitarian pits we found in these layers suggest that they were most likely used to contain the clay needed for covering the floors.

Room 8

This room offered the opportunity to clarify the length of the north-eastern and south-eastern walls. The first one is 4,00 m long, the second one 4,75 m.

Fig. 46. Section of Room 8 from north-east to south-west

The eastern corner of the room is destroyed by a household pit. The north-western wall was excavated in 2019, it was 4,00 m long. Its western part is destroyed by a 20th century burial situated at a door passage leading out of this room into a corridor (Room 6). The clearing showed that across the entire area of this residential complex destroyed premises were swamped and this filling was covered with a clay layer, which served as the base for new walls. Thus, the surface of the clay coating became the floor of the upper building horizon.

The last floor of the room yielded two coins: one, found near the south-eastern wall, with a female portrait and, on its reverse, a lyre-shaped tamga, the second one of small denomination with a square hole, of ill preservation.

Room 9.

Located to the north-east of Room 5, it shares a wall with it - the north-eastern wall for Room 5, the south-western one for Room 9. It is built of bricks 50-49х24х9-10 cm, 4,40 m long and 80-87 cm thick. When the floors were laid out in the second building horizon, a sufa 35-42 cm wide was attached to it.

The north-western wall is shared with Rooms 5 and 11 from the north-western side and with Rooms 1, 2 and 4 from the south-eastern side. The north-eastern wall is 4,20 m long. The south-eastern wall is 3,45 m long and heavily destroyed by pits at its centre and southern corner. The entrance was probably located in the southern corner of the south-eastern wall. Inside the room we cleared off three levels of floors, which belonged to different periods of the first building horizon.

In the room we found several wall pieces of large vessels and rims of ewers and khums. On the first floor of the first building horizon we detected a coin that can be related to Group 7, Type 1, Variant 5. It shows a ruler portrait in three-quarter view to the left encircled in a dotted ring. The ruler wears a bashlyk-shaped headdress. Another coin was found in the layers under Floor 2 of the same horizon. Judging by its preserved features we can assign it to Group 5, Type 1, Variant 3. It shows a paired portrait of a ruler and his spouse, and, on the reverse, an image composed of a symmetrical tamga with a cross in its upper part. The coin is heavily abraded with edges broken off.

Room 10

Behind the north-eastern wall of Room 9 follows the area that is taken up by squares ОО108, 109 and NN107,108,109. Within these squares we did not identify any architectural structures, including pakhsa and brick walls, down to the -1,85 m mark. Therefore, back in 2019 we made the assumption that this sector was used as a utility yard in the last functioning phase of Qarshovultepa. That is why we decided to lay a 5×2 m sized digging, which eventually turned into an excavation. The floor on this sector is uneven, closer to the eastern edge and in the southern direction there were formless piles of clay, which, in our view, were prepared for renovation works. From the north-western side the floor of this sector is connected to the south-eastern wall of Rooms 1 and 2, which lie behind that wall. The thickness of the floor coating of the first building horizon reached 38-40 cm. Underneath lies a 40-45 cm thick layer, which consists of layers of small charcoals and cinder, mixed with earth and pieces of pahsa. In the southern part it is three times as thick as in the northern part.

Fig. 47. Section of Rooms 10 and 11 on the А – А1 line

This layer lies on Floor 2, which belongs to the second building horizon. At the level of the floor, in the northern part, we detected the upper row of a brick wall masonry, matching with this floor. At a particular time a reconstruction was undertaken in this area, this wall was destroyed, and the room filled up.

Fig. 48. R-8. Room 10, mug

On top of this filling the surface is leveled with a thick layer of clay, serving as the last floor in this area. As a result of this work, the area of this sector expanded, and its function changed. We determined that a corridor functioned in the first building period in the area described. It led from Room 8 to the north-east.

Under Floor 3 of the first building period lies a layer of earth with a large amount of raw brick fragments, which probably originated from the north-western wall of the corridor and were used as filling material for this sector after the levelling of this wall. Floor 2 of the first building horizon was fixed at a -3,52 m mark. In this layer we found a red-slip mug as well as fragments of a large tare vessel – a khum – and walls of a cauldron pot.

Floor 4 was fixed in the corridor at the -3,87 m mark. Compared to the other floors – 1, 2 and 3 – it is perfectly even and easy to clear off. Occasionally, there are some pieces of chalk, which suggests that it was covered with whitewash. From this floor, 30 cm from the north-eastern wall, in its centre part, a pit 1,26 m deep was lowered. It is 1,30 m in diameter. The north-western wall is preserved up to a height of 0,95-1,00 m. It is built of raw bricks sized 46-49×23×9-10 cm. In its lower part the south-eastern wall is build identically to the northern one, but starting from a height of 50 cm from the floor line, its masonry starts including different-sized bricks and pakhsa blocks. In the western part it extends under the control edge.

During the clearing of this floor we found great amounts of ceramics, among which we will mention a fragment of a round-foot plate, made of high quality clay, covered with a light-brown slip with a polished finish. Here, we also found fragments of a cauldron, with handles under tits rim, most likely decorative ones. Near the southern corner in the north-eastern wall, at a height of 0,86 m from the level of the last floor, there is a niche 0,60 m wide, 0,70 m high, and 0,60 m deep. We found a coin on the floor next to a utilitarian pit, heavily abraded, but one can still see a paired portrait of a ruler with his spouse, and, on the reverse, a composed tamga in the shape of horns.

Room 11.

Located to the north-west of Room 10, sharing a wall with it, which for Room 11 is the south-eastern one, and for Room 10 the north-western one. It is excavated partially, because the south-western and north-eastern walls extend under the north-western wall of the first building period. The length of the excavated south-western wall is 1,90 m, its remaining part lies underneath the north-western wall of Room 2 of the first building horizon. It is composed of raw bricks 45-46×23-25×9-10 cm in size. The south-eastern wall is built of identical bricks, 4,05 m long, with a preserved height of 0,7-0,8 m. The north-eastern wall was excavated up to a length of 1,50 m, and just as the south-western one it proceeds under the wall, but towards Room 1. In the excavation process we fixed two horizons in this room, the floors of which belong to the first building period. On the first floor of the first building period lies a layer of rubble made of raw bricks which were found in this room’s wall masonry. Possibly, when the floor of the first building period was spread, the walls of this room were torn down first, and only afterwards was the above-mentioned floor laid on top of them.

Among the finds in this room is a ceramic mug with a broken handle, covered with red slip, its walls partially burned black. We also found two coins. One of them was lying in the centre of the room in the rubble above the first floor of the second building period. It depicts a predator; on the reverse is a pitchfork-shaped tamga. The second coin was found on Floor 2 of the first horizon. It shows a paired portrait analogous to the portrait on the coin from Room 10.

Further excavations opened the corridor (Room 6) in the western direction. The stratigraphy of this area does not differ significantly from that of Room 10. The corridor measures 10,65 m starting from the control edge in Room 10 up to the outer wall of Room 7. Its width varies between 2 m in the north-eastern part and 3 m in the south-west. At a distance of 4,55 m from the control edge in Room 10 in the south-western direction there are separating “wings”, building a passage and nominally dividing the corridor into two parts.

Two hearths were built with vertically set raw bricks 49×24×9 cm in the south-western part of the corridor in the north-western wall at the level of Floor 2 of the first building horizon. Around the hearths were dispersed large amounts of animal bones, scraps of cinder and ashes. Near one of them we found a coin of a small denomination with a ruler portrait and a lyre-shaped tamga on the reverse.

In the south-western corner of the corridor is a door way leading into Room 8; it was partly destroyed by a 20th century burial.

Fig. 49. Corridor area in the north-eastern part of the excavation

As in the other areas we are faced here with floors from different times that belong to one and the same building period. The area of the corridor is not fully excavated yet. Further excavations at R-8 will provide important information on the building structure and the layout of this sector located at the highest point of the settlement.

Fig. 50. R-8. Oil lamp Fig. 51. R-8. Bowl with tamga

Excavation 9 (R-9)

As has been continuously pointed out in our reports and publications, in ancient times the river Chirchik was flowing in close proximity to Qarshovultepa. On the one hand it provided security for the access routes to the city walls from the south. On the other hand at some point the river started washing away these walls. At the present time, the southern edge of the highest point of the monument looks like a steep cliff, 15 m high. Every year the collaborators of the excavation examine this cliff in order to find new details in the layers of the monument or dropped out artifacts. 2020 was no exception. During the examination of the farthest eastern part of the cliff we found a massive pakhsa wall directed perpendicularly to the bank of the southern fortification wall of the shahristan at the junction with the citadel.

Fig. 52. R-9, plan

After a slight cleaning it was clear that this area is undoubtedly of interest for the study of the city’s fortification. Hence, we decided to start working on it. The excavation received the ordinal number 9 (Fig. 52). The sector was connected to the settlement’s systematizing grid of squares. At the junction of squares C-122,123 and D-122,123 we installed a temporary benchmark. It is 285 cm lower than the universal zero mark of the monument. Since the pahsa wall was built perpendicularly to the city’s fortification wall, the object was identified as a tower.

The excavations started from the cleaning of the eastern facade of the wall discovered in the cliff. Afterwards we opened the layers to the west of it. The overall area of the excavation works conducted at P-9 exceeded 150 m². The area of the excavated sector has a deviation/skew from -285 cm in the north-west to -450 cm and -800 cm in the south-east. The turf layer is the same as at the rest of the settlement – 5-15 cm.

Fig. 53. R-9. Eastern wall of tower in the course of cleaning

Fig. 54. R-9. Eastern wall of tower, view from the east

The outer eastern wall of the tower is built on the north-northwest – south-southeast line, perpendicularly to the southern city wall (Figs. 53, 54). In the season under review we followed it up to a length of 12,5 m from the cliff edge, but did not manage to reach the spot where it joined the wall. Under the turf layer above the wall lies a terrain of medium density, 30-50 cm thick, containing pahsa lumps from a destroyed wall. On the remaining excavation area we found friable ground. The upper part of the wall was discovered at the -450 cm level in the northern part and at -500 cm in the southern one.

Fig. 55. R-9. Platform and steps

Fig. 56. R-9. Entrance into the tower between platform and pylon

The wall is 250 cm thick at the top. To the east of it the relief falls heavily, but under the loose layer along the wall we found large pieces of pakhsa (up to 1,5 m) that slipped from it during destruction. In square С-125, a stepped ramp (possibly initially a staircase) led from the top of the wall eastwards to the -550 cm level (Fig. 55). We could not yet measure the width of the ramp, because its northern edge lies beyond the excavation limits. The length of the ramp is 4 m, it rises from an adobe platform built into the wall. The platform protrudes 4 meters from the wall eastwards, from the northern edge of the excavation, along the wall, 5 metres in length. The same layer of rubble consisting of large wall pieces continues lower than the platform down to a surface level of -800 cm. No excavations were conducted into greater depth at that part, but it is visible in the cliff that the wall is built from the -945 cm level. Hence, its preserved height is about 5 meters. At 130 cm to the south of the platform, a pylon 220 cm long and 90 cm wide was attached to the wall. Its top was obviously cut off. Its preserved height is 50 cm near the wall, 20 cm at the opposite end. This led us to the idea that there was an entrance into the tower between the platform and the pylon, which was subsequently walled up (Fig. 56). It was confirmed after we cleared off the western (inner) facade of the eastern tower wall, where this entrance has actually been found (Fig. 58).

To the west of the fortification wall the excavations were conducted in squares D-124 and Е-123,124 (Fig. 57). On this territory the layers significantly differed from the ones we detected in the eastern part of the excavation. First of all, there were no large fractions of pakhsa along the fortification wall. A row of 40 cm thick fragments lies under the surface at the -500 cm level. This surface was cleared off across the entire excavation area. Above it was a relatively even, loose layer with some seals in the northern part of square Е-123.

Fig. 57. R-9. View of the eastern part of the excavation

If any buildings existed above that surface, they were not preserved. At a greater depth than the -500 cm surface the facade of the fortification wall was more articulate and easy to open. Under the layer of pahsa fractions up to the -610 cm surface level we found a loose layer with lenses of cinder and ash. In this layer we opened two pakhsa walls. One adjoins the inner front of the eastern tower wall with its end (approximately on the line of the pylon, attached to the fortification wall from the east), and extends for 9 m to the cliff. Another wall was attached to this wall from the south. It runs parallel to the eastern wall of the tower, 3,5 m to the west of it. These walls are 80 cm thick. Under the -610 cm mark down to the -675 cm level, work was conducted within a space limited by the northern edge of the excavation. At the eastern wall of the tower we cleaned the upper part of an arched passage built with large rectangular bricks, 52-53×26-27×10-11 cm in size (Fig. 58). The width of the passage at the foot level of the brick masonry is 175 cm, the preserved height of the masonry is 90 cm. The upper part of the passage arch as well as the top of the masonry are washed away. Under the brick masonry is a layer of thickened ground, about 30 cm thick, into which a ceramic pipe (a kubur in the Central Asian archaeological terminology) is buried. Its diameter is 30 cm. It is the first part of the pipeline which was intended to withdraw the water from inside the tower, after the passage was built The passage is so far cleared off up to a height of 120-130 cm, its width measures 180 cm in the lower part.

Fig. 58. The tower exit, view from the west

Two walls relate to the lower layer of the tower, identified in the course of the excavation (Fig. 59). The first one stretches along the eastern wall of the tower, 1,5 m to the west of it. It starts from the line of the southern side of the passage and follows southwards to the cliff. The second one stretches along the east-northeast – west-southwest line, i.e. almost parallel to the southern fortification wall of the city. Its eastern end is located at a 1,5 m distance from the eastern tower wall, it proceeds westwards, continuing the line of the northern side of the passage up to the cliff in the western part. In this wall, 1,2 m from its eastern end, we cleared off a passage to the north 80 cm wide. The distance between two perpendicular walls is 1,5 m. The filling at the lower excavation level is loose earth blackened by charcoal and cinder. No excavations were conducted below the -675 cm level during this season under review.

Fig. 59. Р-9. View from the north

The materials gathered in the course of the excavation at R-9 in 2020 are of high value, not only as sources for the history of the fortification of Qarshovultepa, but also for the little studied history of fortifications in early medieval Chach more generally. We intend to continue our efforts at R-9 in the upcoming season.

Fig. 60. R-9. Mug with two tamgas, from the tower

Fig. 61. R-9. Mug, from tower Fig. 62. R-9. Ceramic lid

    

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Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan
The Ikuo Hirayama International Caravanserai of Culture

REPORT
on archaeological excavations
at the Qarshovul Tepa site
in the Chinaz district of the Tashkent region
in 2021

Authors:K.A. Sheyko,
Dr. G.P. Ivanov,
Dr. J.Ya. Ilyasov

Tashkent 2022

In October-November 2021 we continued archaeological excavations at the Qarshovul Tepa settlement. The monument is located to the south-west from Tashkent, near Dustlik village in the Chinaz district of the Tashkent Province, on the right upper terrace of the Chirchik River, its coordinates are 40°58'24.03"N, 68°54'31.64"E (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Chirchik River, Dustlik Village and Qarshovul Tepa Site


Fig. 2. Qarshovul Tepa. Google Earth image, January 2022

The works were focused on three sectors: R-4 – excavation in the southern part of the site; R-8 – excavation located on the uppermost sector in the central part of the site; R-9 – excavation intended for the study of the southern sector of the site’s fortification (Fig. 2).

Excavation R-4

Fig. 3. Excavation R-4. Plan, 2021

The southern part of the site was excavated with an area of 200 sq. m in order to clarify the structure of this part of the settlement, as many questions about the layout remained unclear after last season's work due to the strong destruction of the walls by later pits (Fig. 3). In addition, according to the long-term program of studying the stratigraphy of the settlement, it was necessary to study the lower layers in this area.
Work on the excavation began with the clearing of the area of the squares B- 112-114 to clarify the situation with the wall discovered last season in the squares A-112 and B-113 (fig. 4). For the convenience of description we marked this wall as wall “A”.

Fig. 4. The beginning of works on R-4

The layers here were as follows: at a depth of 10-15 cm from the surface was fixed turf layer. Below was a layer of saline and loose soil. Its thickness in the eastern part was 40 cm and in the western part 20 cm. Under this layer up to the floor at a depth of -2.60 m from the Zero reference point, there was a layer of broken pakhsa walls. It was denser in the western part. Part of the wall “A” was almost completely destroyed by the late Pit 1 at this location. This pit in the square B-113 is 2 m in diameter, began at the level of -2.10 m and continued till the bottom of wall “A” which is at a depth of -3.30 m from the Zero point (Fig. 5). Its filling did not differ from the ground next to it. In the section of the wall, which was formed as a result of destruction during the digging of the hole, we were able to establish the method of its construction. At this point it was built in two parts: eastern part of 70 cm thick and western of 50 cm thick (Fig. 6). At the same time, at the southern end of this wall at the edge of the cliff no such picture is observed. Here the wall is monolithic (Fig. 7).

Fig. 5. Wall “A” destroyed by pit No. 1

        
Fig. 6. Section of the wall “A”      

Fig. 7. Southern part of the wall “A”

This year's work was carried out in the southern part of the excavation, in an area of 15×14 m. Under the floor at a depth of -2.60-2.70 m, loose soil with large amounts of ashes was detected. The next floor, named floor -2.90, in the eastern part of the excavation (east of wall "A") was easily penetrated by any tool and was fixed only by a very thin layer of clay interlayers, which differed from the upper and lower layers in color and density. The depth of occurrence of this floor is not the same in different parts of the excavation: from -2.70 m in the northwest corner of the site to 3.00 m in the southeast corner. To the west of wall "A" a different picture was observed. The fill was denser and the floor at a stable level of -3.00 m was well compacted and dense. While clearing this floor it was possible to fix the bases of the walls of several rooms. At this level they were less destroyed by the late pits.
Room 4. It was not completely uncovered. The western part remained under the western boundary of the excavation. Three levels of floors at -2.90, -3.00 and -3.35 m were uncovered in the room.

Fig. 8. Northern corner of room 3

Fig. 9. Room 3. View from north

The filling between the floors was quite dense, but they could easily be cleared. The northern corner of the room was excavated in square A-112 and the main part in square B-112. A 3.20 m long section of wall "A" served as the eastern (actually, north-eastern) wall of the room. The thickness of its main part at the bottom at the depth of -3.40 m was 80 cm, but at the level of -2.90 m a thin 25-cm-wide repair wall was added to its eastern façade (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10. Repair wall, eastern side of the wall “A”

Fig. 11. Repair wall, western side of the wall “A”

The same wall was also attached to the west façade at -3.00 m depth, but it is only preserved in the southern part of the room (Fig. 11). The maximum preserved height of this section of wall “A” is 90 cm. The northern wall of Room 4 is opened to the length of 1.80 m (Fig. 12). Its south-western part remained under the western edge of the excavation. The wall was built of pakhsa together with the main part of wall "A". Its foundation in the east part is at -3.35 m depth and at -3.45 m depth in the west part. The wall is 60 cm thick at the bottom.

Fig. 12. Room 4, northern wall

Fig. 13. Wall between room 4 and room 5. View from south

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The southern (actually, south-eastern) wall of Room 4 separated it from Room 5 (Fig. 13). Its facades are very poorly preserved, but the fact that there was a wall separating rooms 4 and 5 in this place is beyond doubt. It was traced at 6 m from wall "A" to the western edge of the excavation. The base of the wall was at a depth of -3.45 m. The remains of the wall were up to 60 cm high, and it was about 80 cm thick at the bottom. The size of the room was at least 6.00×3.20 m. It remains unclear what side the entrance was on. It is possible that it was on the north or west side, as the entire west wall and part of the north wall remained uncovered under the western edge of the excavation. It is also possible, however, that the entrance was in the badly damaged middle part of the southern wall between rooms 4 and 5. At the depth of -3.35-3.40 m layers of ash, up to 20 cm thick, were observed under the floor of the room, and in many places between them we could see interlayers of tamped floors/surfaces.

Fig. 14. Room 5

Fig. 15. Room 5, north-eastern part

Room 5, stretched along the line NE-SW, excavated to the south of the Room 4 (Fig. 14, 15). Its northern wall is shared with Room 4. The dimensions of Room 5 are 6.60×2.80 m. The eastern wall of the room was a section of wall "A", destroyed by pit No.1 (see description above). The western wall closed the space of the room from the south-western side. The wall is made of pakhsa and collapsed heavily in the southern part.

Fig. 16. Wall between Rooms 5 & 6, western corner of Room 6

Fig. 17. Southern corner of Room 6 between upper and lower floors

The interior facade in the northwest corner of the room is well preserved. The thickness of the wall is about 60 cm. Its base is at the level of the lower floor of the room (-3.45 m), the preserved height is about 80 cm. There are two floor levels at the depth of -3.35 m and -3.45 m in the room. In between there is dense layer of a destroyed wall. The southern wall of the room 5 was built of pakhsa from the floor level of -3.35 m. Its western part with a length of 4.50 m was preserved, and its eastern part was destroyed by the two overlapping pits 2 and 3 each 1.50 m in diameter. It is characteristic that the filling of the pits differed little from the filling of the premises. Consequently, they were not specifically dug out for garbage; instead, they remained empty and were filled in the natural way by fragments of walls and dust brought by winds. There was no clear passage into the room. It could be either in the place of collapse of the northern wall common with the Room 4 or in the southern wall in the area destroyed by pits Nos. 2 and 3. Below the lower floor (-3.45 m), the room was excavated to the level of -4.50 m. Throughout the entire area of the room and under the wall separating it from Room 4, the same layers were observed as under the floor of Room 4. Numerous layers of earth with ashes, from 5 to 20 cm thick, separated from each other by relative soft earth surfaces (floors?).

Room 6, measuring 3.20×2.50 m, elongated in a NW-SE line, was excavated to the south of the eastern part of Room 5 in squares C-113 and 114. The room had three floors at -3.00, -3.35, and -3.45 m. Its northern wall was the eastern part of the southern wall of Room 5. The southern part of wall "A" served as the eastern (actually, north-eastern) wall. Here it reached 1.20 m thickness at the level of the lower floor (-3.45) due to attached pakhsa from the side of the room, and up to 1.50 m from the east side due to a bricklaying from the -3.00 m floor level. The west wall with a thickness of 1.20 cm was made from pakhsa, its foundation level is on a depth -3.35m. The wall is 80 cm high, but its middle part has been cut down almost to the ground by Pit 4, which is 1.20 m in diameter. The southern pakhsa wall is very poorly preserved. Only closer to its corners this wall rose above the -3.00 m floor level. The southern (outer) façade was badly damaged by sliding down the cliff and is very poorly preserved. The thickness of the southern wall which is 80 cm could be found only at its base. There is a 90 cm wide entrance in the middle of this wall. Three of the walls, the southern, western and northern one, were built at a floor level of -3.35 m. Under this floor another floor level had been cleaned at the -3.45 m depth. We can conclude that during the functioning of the -3.45 m surface, Rooms 5 and 6 did not exist. The same filling from thin layers of the ground with ashes 5 to 20 cm in thickness, separated from each other by interlayers of clay, was observed throughout the space of squares B-112,113 and C-114 under premises 4-6. These layers were fixed to the -4.5 m depth, and were preserved as isolated “islands”, due to numerous diggings and late pits filled with the same ashen soil.

Fig. 18. Brazier in the square C-113.

Fig. 19. Fragment of oven-door

At the level of -4.35 m, at one of such “islands” of the floor, the remains of a brazier which have been dug into the floor was cleared out (Fig. 18). Its eastern part is not preserved because of digging activity of the later period. The preserved length of the structure is 80 cm. The width of the groove is 20 cm, it is 15 cm deep. The inner walls of the structure are strongly calcinated. The whole internal space was filled up with burnt earth with charcoal and ashes. To the east remains of an arch-shaped ceramic object made of fireclay and ornamented with circular grooves were also found here. The preserved height of the arch is 20 cm. The width at the base is 18 cm, the thickness is 6 cm. The surface of the object is burnt and smoked on the ornamented side. Similar objects are known as a kind of damper, placed on one of the ends of the brazier (Fig. 19).

Fig. 20. Southwestern wall of Room 3 and layers under this wall

To the east of wall "A," excavations were conducted in squares A–112-114, B–114 and C–114, 115 in the space bounded on the southwest side by wall "A", on the east side by the southwest wall of Room 3 and on the north side by the south wall of Room 1. In square C–115 in the eastern edge of the excavation we continued the cleaning of the south-western wall of Room 3 as well as the layers under this wall (fig. 20). So, the length of this wall is 4.80 m from the northern corner of the room to the south. Further, we found a 1.80 m wide passage in this wall (Fig. 21). Whether it was a corridor between two rooms or a wide entrance into Room 3 needs to be investigated.

Fig. 21. Passage in the wall

There is a layer of dense clay under the wall and the passage with a thickness of 20-30 cm. It is assumed that it was a kind of expanded foundation for stability of walls standing on very loose soil (Fig. 21).

Fig. 22. Ash layers and ash-pits under Room 3

Below the floor which is in the depth of -3.00 m, excavations were carried out to a level of -5.40 m. No architectural remains were recorded in the excavated area (Fig. 22). The filling is exactly the same as under Rooms 4-6. We still need to find out why in such a large area we detect only ashes and ash interlayers (Fig. 23). Moreover, a similar picture is presented by other excavations on Qarshovul Tepa. As a working hypothesis, an opinion is put forward that at some stage people lived in tents and yurts in the area of the settlement.

Fig. 23. Ash layers and ash-pits under Room 3

Excavation R-8

During the 2021 field season, the main work on R-8 was focused on excavations in Room 4, Room 5, 6, and the so-called street (Fig. 24). The work began with the opening of the street, which is located in the southwestern part of R-8. To date, the study of this section of R-8 was not made as in this place was the highest concentration of graves from the late XIX – early XX centuries. And only after the transfer of these graves there was an opportunity to start the study of this area. Naturally, the top layer and part of the walls in place of these graves were destroyed. In addition, in the southern part of the area 3 pits were dug out in the last building period (1st building horizon), which have also damaged the walls.

Fig. 24. Excavation R-8. Plan, 2021. M - graves

Fig. 25. View on the northwestern part of R-8. Street

From the mark of -1.15 m in the southwestern part and from the mark of -1.09 m in the northwestern part throughout the excavated area is a layer of destroyed bricks and pakhsa. At the -1.25 m mark, the upper part of the wall running northwest, parallel to the southwest wall of Room 8, was fixed. The absence of any partitions and doorways for 17 meters allowed us to assume it was a street. Its continuation in the northwest direction goes under the western edge of R-8, and the southeastern end goes under the southern edges of the excavated area. The width of the street in different parts varies from 2.95 m to 3.30 m. Rooms 4, 5, 8 and the southern end of the Room 6 (corridor) adjoin the street from the east. Excavations of the street revealed 2 levels, which refer to the 1 construction period. The first level is fixed at -1,98-2,00 m from the general Zero point of Qarshovul Tepa. It is covered with a dense layer of clay over the entire excavated area. This clay cover smoothly passes to the walls that are limiting the street.

Fig. 25. South-eastern part of the street

Fig. 26. The 2nd level of the street

In the layer lying on this floor, fragments of pottery were found, mainly the walls of jugs, and a large amount of animal bones. We should especially note a fragment of the wall of a large storage jar – khum or khumcha – on which there are two scratched marks. The first mark in the form of a vertical stick and the second in the form of a half oval with a “foot” attached at the bottom.

Fig. 27. Tamgha-sign on khum fragment

Fig. 28. Fragment of mug

A fragment of a red-engobed polished mug with a loop-shaped handle was found in the same layer (Fig. 28). Under the handle there was a tamgha-sign scratched before firing, of which only the upper part in the shape of an arch was preserved.

Near the northeastern wall, in the area where it adjoins to Room 8, above the floor a coin with a square hole in the middle was found in the rubbish. Unfortunately, there are no images, inscriptions or tamgha. The second coin was found directly on the floor near the southwest wall and has an image of a predator walking to the right. On the reverse is a tamgha in the form of a trident. Another coin was found 1.30 m to the north of the second, but near the north-eastern wall. There is a badly preserved enface image of a ruler on it. On the reverse of the coin is a lyre-shaped tamgha. There is a runner preserved on the edge of the coin (Attachment I: 1, 2, 3). Other finds include bronze appliqués for a belt. One of them has the dimensions of 1.5×1.2 cm (Fig. 29, a), another one is 1.9×1.4 cm (Fig. 29, b). They were found directly on the floor 1 in the southern part of the street.

Fig. 29a. R-8, bronze object

Fig. 29b. R-8, bronze object

The second floor was found on a depth of -2.45 m and just like the floor 1 has a good clay covering. The filling between the first floor and the second floor is different. There are no large pieces of pakhsa and mud-bricks on the second floor, in contrast to the fill over floor 1. That indicates that there was no destruction of walls during this period. Area was just leveled and raised on 40-45 cm.
In turn, the floor 2 lies on an ashen sub-base, which lies on another level which was functioning before the walls of the 1st building period were erected and served as a separator between the 1st and 2nd building levels in this area.
In this level a groove running from north to south has been cleaned. It is 15-20 cm deep and 20-24 cm wide. In the northern part it is overlapped by the control section, which was left in this place and there is also a pit, which also goes under this line. But it seems that the ditch and the pit were interconnected in their functions (Figs. 30, 31).

Fig. 30. Groove under floor 2 and walls

Fig. 31.Groove under floor 2 and walls

Thus, we got the following picture. Walls bordering the street are built from the level of -2.50 m. Under them is an ash layer of 20-30 cm thickness, which was made for the leveling of the site for the construction of walls. At the -2.80 m depth another horizon was cleaned out, where the backfill on which the street walls were built has been started. It was well paved and perfectly leveled, unlike the two levels above it. At this level, two coins were found near the ditch, one of which depicts a ruler sitting cross-legged on a throne (Attachment I: 4). The second coin was found to the south, at a distance of 40 cm from the first coin, and 1 meter from the southeast wall. The coin is defaced, but the obverse of the coin shows a portrait of the ruler enface. On the reverse side we see a badly visible forked tamgha. There is a runner preserved on the edge of coin (Attachment I: 5).

In the filling between this horizon and the floor 2, which is 35 cm thick, a small amount of pottery fragments was found, mainly from large and medium-sized vessels. For instance the rim of a khum (Fig. 32) and a fragment of a big bowl – tagora – covered with red engobe (Fig. 33).

Fig 32. Fragment of khum 



Fig. 33. Fragment of a big bowl

In 2019, a digging was laid at the northeast wall of Room 4 in order to trace the stratigraphy of cultural strata beneath the floor. It turned out that all of the floors were associated with the walls of building period I. In 2020, the floors of this room, which belonged to the building period II, were excavated. At the depth -2.67 m the southwestern wall of Room 4, i.e. northeastern border wall of the street, were cut through. As a result, a profile of the street wall was obtained, in which all the elements of its construction are perfectly visible (Fig. 34).

Fig. 34. Section of the wall between Room 4 and street

The layer on which all the walls of room 4 are standing was a dense tamped ashen layer with soil additives. In turn, this layer lies on the clay floor, which was cleaned up on the entire area of the excavated room. There are no walls standing on this level, i.e. this layer goes under all the walls of the Room 4.
A bronze applique for a belt was found in this layer (Fig. 35). Its dimensions are 2.4×1.9 cm.

 
Fig. 35.Bronze belt applique

Another pit was found at this level, which is located on the southwest side of the room and is 0.75 m deep and 0.84 m in diameter. The pit is filled with loose soil, which has a large amount of ashes. At the bottom of the pit a miniature ceramic vessel was found (Fig. 36), as well as spindle whorl made from a ceramic fragment (Fig. 37) and a large ceramic bead (Fig. 38).

Fig. 36. Miniature vessel

    
            Fig. 37. Spindle-whorl                                     Fig. 38. Ceramic bead

Fig. 39. Room 4, pits

Fig. 40. Room 4, pit No. 12 filled with ashes

Back in 2018 and 2019, three pits were excavated, dug up from levels of the 1st building horizon. They were cut through the floors and levels of the underlying layers. In 2021, 8 pits were recorded throughout the area and were excavated (Fig. 39). They were filled with ashes (Fig. 40). At the depth -2.71 m on the whole area of the room a level of clay coating was opened. Its thickness is 1.5-5 cm, in the eastern direction it goes 10-15 cm deeper. In the western part of room a hearth spot measuring 70×50 cm was cleaned up.
In the northwestern part of the Room 4 two coins were found directly on clay plaster. The first one has a square hole in the middle. The coin is in bad condition but could be identified as a so called “Tukhus” type. The second coin has the image of a predator walking to the left on the obverse with his head turned back. A fork shaped tamgha is on the reverse, with a Sogdian inscription around it (Attachment I: 6, 7).

Fig. 41. Ash layers under north-western wall of the Room 4

The second horizontal level of the сoating was fixed at -3.12 m from the Zero point of Qarshovul Tepe. It is not perfect in its preservation, as in some places the plaster was not preserved. From this floor level, in the northwestern part of the room, another pit was dug out, which is connected by a small groove with a small hearth that is 0.45 m to the north of it. It was used to collect ashes and burnt material from the hearth while cleaning.
The third level, cleaned in this area, is at -3.59 m depth and is a very dense clay layer, up to 15 cm thick. Two coins were found in the fill, belonging to the coinage of the Khorezmian ruler Bravik. They lay together directly on this coating and were poorly preserved (Attachment I: 8, 9). The number of coins of this ruler found on P-8 are three. The first coin was found in the 2018 field season in square LL108 at the level of the 1st building period. So, we can assume that the third floor/level may date no earlier than 7th century AD.
Another pit was found on this horizontal level, but unlike all the others present in this site, it is square in shape. It has another round pit inside which was dug out from the 1st building horizon. Inside the pit we found fragments of large ceramic tare vessels – khums, as well as fragments of pots, jugs, mugs, pans and other smaller vessels. One bronze object, a coin divider or button was also found in this pit (Fig. 42).

   
Fig. 42. Bronze coin divider or button

The fourth level was fixed at the -3.60 m depth, and the works were stopped there. Two more pits were found on the floor of this building horizon. One is on the west side, and the second next to the square pit. The first one was completely filled with ashes.

   
Fig. 43. Lyre-shaped bronze buckle

Two metal objects were found next to the pit. One is a lyre-shaped bronze buckle (Fig. 43). The size of the buckle is 2.1×3.0 cm. And the second item is a four-petal belt ornament or button (Fig. 44). The size is 1.1×1.2 cm.

        
Fig. 44. Bronze belt ornament or button

In Room 5, the northwestern wall with an attached sufa was cut and the room itself was excavated to a depth -3.0 m to obtain information about the stratigraphy of the layers under the floor of the room and the construction of the northwestern wall. Under the sufa, at a depth of 45 cm from its surface and -2.50 m from the Zero point, there are remains of a destroyed furnace which was used probably for some kind of production, maybe for metal melting (Fig. 45). It stands on the floor, which is fixed at a -3.03 m depth. Two smaller stoves are situated to the east of furnace. They were destroyed during the construction of the sufa along the northwestern wall of Room 5.
Near the first stove a coin with the image of a ruler and his wife was found. On the reverse is a tamgha in the form of horns. The second coin was found to the south. It depicts a predator (leopard?) walking to the right. On the reverse is fork-shaped tamgha and remains of a Sogdian inscription (Attachment I: 10, 11).
At a distance of 36 cm to the south from the first hearth, there is a 45 cm wide groove in the floor. At the same level (-2.50 m), two meters from the above-mentioned furnaces, the upper part of the wall of some room, standing on the same floor with the furnaces, was found. These must be the remains of premises of the 2nd building horizon. A part of the northeastern wall of this room goes in the direction of Room 6 (corridor).
A coin with the image of a ruler with a fork-shaped tamgha on the reverse side was found here in a layer above the floor (Attachment I: 12).

Fig. 45. Furnace under the floors in Room 5

The continuation of works on R-8 would allow us to understand the plan and stratigraphy of the central part of Qarshovul Tepa, its place in the urban structure and the history of the town.

Excavation R-9
In the southern area of the hill fort we continued the works started last season to find out the location of the citadel of the city. In addition, it was necessary to clarify the construction of the defensive wall with a passage outside the city that was discovered last year.

Fig. 46. R-9, plan

The excavation area was expanded to the north by squares B-123, 124, C-123, 124, D-121-123 in order to clarify the layout in this area. The total area of the excavation reached 320 sq.m. All depth measurements were taken from a temporary benchmark established in 2020. Its level is -2.80 m from the highest point of the settlement. The excavation was divided by the 1 m wide control line into two unequal parts – the southern basic part along the edge of the hill fort and the northern part with the area of 40 sq.m considering further extension of the northern part to the north and west. The level of the dividing control terrace was lowered along the slope of the settlement's surface from the -2.40 m mark in the D-121 quarter to the -5.90 m mark in the B-125 quarter. In the southern part of the excavation the main work was carried out to the west of the defensive wall which is perpendicular to the southern defensive wall of the city. In this part, layers were excavated from the surface of the settlement till the floor at -4.80-4.90 m depth. The upper turf layer is 10-15 cm thick. Below, as practically on all excavated sites of the settlement, there was a loose saline layer without any architectural remains. The thickness of the layer was not the same in different parts of the excavation. In the western part, near the edge of the precipice, it was about 1 m, and only 20-35 cm thick in the east, above the defensive wall. A rather loose layer was also unearthed below this one, but it contained pieces of pakhsa and fragments of adobe bricks. In this layer, along the dividing control edge, the front of the pakhsa wall was cleared all the way from the western edge of the cliff to the defensive wall with the passage to which it adjoined (Figs. 47, 48).

Fig. 47. R-9. Upper pakhsa wall. View from south

Fig. 48. R-9. Upper pakhsa wall. View from west

The wall stood on the surface at -4.10 m depth. The preserved height of the wall is not the same in different sections. In the western part, its height is only 20 cm. In the central part, at the depth -2.80 m, its preserved height reaches 80 cm. At the eastern end, at the junction with the defensive wall, it is 25-30 cm high. We were unable to establish the exact thickness of the wall, as its northern facade is covered by the control border. The surface at -4.10 m depth on which the given pakhsa wall was built is not very dense. In many places it was destroyed by later pits. But the layers above and below this surface differed significantly by the presence of a large number of interlayers with ashes in the layers below the given surface. This lower layer was traced to the floor level at a depth of -4.80- 4.90 m from the Zero reference point. It was possible to fix the walls of two rooms at the level of this floor. The wall of the eastern room was the outer eastern defensive wall of the whole excavated area of excavation R-9.

Fig. 49. R-9. Eastern room. Vew from the east

Fig. 50. R-9. Eastern room. Vew from the west

There is a 1.60 m wide passage in the eastern wall at the level of the room floor which goes beyond the city limits (Fig. 50). The established dimensions of the room are 4.90×3.40 m. The north wall was not opened. It remained under the upper wall along the control line. The southern wall of the room, 4.90 m long and about 1 m thick, was very poorly preserved, up to 40 cm high in the western part. In the eastern and western corners of the room, this wall has been completely destroyed by pits which are up to 1.60 m in diameter. The western wall, also made of pakhsa, was 3.50 m long, and has completely collapsed at its northern end, which was under the upper wall. Its thickness was 80 cm, and its height was 40 cm on the south and 95 cm on the northern side. On the floor of the room, approximately in the center of it, a 30 cm high ceramic vessel with a wide mouth and a loop-shaped handle was found (Fig. 51).

Fig. 51. Jug on the floor of eastern room

Fig. 52. Walls of western room. View from northwest

The exact dimensions of the western room could not be established, as the northern wall was left under the upper wall, and we were only able to record traces of the western wall on the floor (Fig. 52). The presumed dimensions were 6.00×3.50 m. The floor, just like in the eastern room, was excavated to a depth of -4.80 m. In many places it was punctured by later pits.
To the east of the eastern wall of the "tower" excavations were carried out to a depth of -8.20 m from the Zero reference point. An 8×5 m pakhsa laying was constructed at the corner between the southern defensive wall of the city and the eastern wall of the "tower". We consider that the thickness of the southern defensive wall of the city was at least 2.50 m, but it should be studied in future. The pakhsa massif was used to ascend to the wide passageway to the eastern room which was described already and located 3 meters above.
Last year, an exit leading outside was cleared inside the tower. In 2021 this passage was investigated from the outside (Fig. 53). The entrance is 1.25-1.30 m wide and is between the pakhsa massif from the north and protruding the wall from the south (Fig. 54).

Fig. 53. Estern wall of tower with entrance

The pass was closed with bricks measuring 48×24-25×8-10 cm, ?×27×8 cm. The bottom of the passage is at the level of the bottom of the second layer of the pakhsa wall (-7.85 m), i.e. one meter above the bottom of the wall itself. The preserved height is 1.80 m. The arch itself, which was apparently made of brick on the outside as well as on the inside, is not preserved. The collapsed part was covered with a strip of pakhsa. Careful clearing of the surface of the wall next to the passageway revealed the system by which it had been created. A 2.90-3.00 m wide gap was left in this area during the construction of the wall. To the north and south of both ends of the wall, there were perpendicular walls that protruded 2.20 m to the east of the wall. In the body of the wall at a height of 1.50 m from the bottom of the passage, a brick arch was supported on these walls, leaving between them a passage width of 1.30 m and a height of at least 1.80 m. The pylon top was gradually lowered down to the east to a height of 40 cm from the floor surface, rising between pylons from -8.20 to bottom of the passage at -7.85 m.

Fig. 54. Entrance to the tower from the east

In the northern part of the excavation R-9 in the squares B-123, 124 excavations were carried out on an area of 40 sq.m. They reached to the level of -5,70 m in the western part and level -6,50 m in eastern part of R-9.

Fig. 55. Northern part of R-9. View from the east

Fig. 56. Northern part of R-9. View from the west

Here, under the turf and amorphous layers (described above) at the level of -4.90 m we were able to find the continuation of the eastern wall of so called tower, with a thickness of 2.80 m. This wall was traced for 4 meters and poorly preserved, but clearly a visible passage of 1.60 m in width was detected in it. The bottom of the passage was at a depth of -5.70 m, which is not significantly different from the bottom of the upper passage in the same wall in the southern part of the excavation. Perpendicular to this wall the inner facade of the southern defensive wall of the city was cleaned. It is 3.50 m long and goes eastwards. Consequently, originally there was a defensive wall in the direction North – South here. In this case it could not be a tower wall, but rather a defensive wall of the citadel. Its purpose is still to be clarified.

The results of the 2021 work on R-9 confirmed the importance of studying this part of the site in order to clarify the history of construction and development of the city.

     
         Fig. 57. R-4. Mug     


Fig. 58. R-8, Room 5. Mug

 

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Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan

The Ikuo Hirayama International Caravanserai of Culture    

 

   

REPORT

on archaeological excavations

at the Qarshovultepa site

in the Chinaz district of the Tashkent region

in 2022  

 

       

Tashkent 2022

In June-July 2022, archaeological excavations continued at the Qarshovultepa (Karshaultepa) site. The monument is located south-west of Tashkent, in Dustlik village of Chinaz district of Tashkent region, on the right-bank terrace of the Chirchik river, its coordinates are 40°58'24.03 "N, 68°54'31.64 "E (Fig. 1).

The works were concentrated at four sites: R-3 (so-called platform); R-4 – excavation in the southern part of the settlement; R-8 – excavation located at the highest site in the central part of the settlement; R-9 – new excavation aimed at study of the southern section of the fortification of the settlement (Fig. 1).

 

Fig. 1. Qarshovultepa-2023. Plan and excavations

 

Excavation 3 (R-3)

Excavation 3, aims to study the platform and the area on which it is built; it is now a stratigraphic excavation that will allow, by layer-by-layer uncovering, the study of all stages of Qarshovultepa history (Fig. 2).

 

 

Fig. 2. R-3, platform and surrounding

 

The layout of construction horizon II continued to be clarified. As has been clarified in previous years, the rooms of this horizon, including the so called "throne room", were partly cut down during the construction of the monumental platform and partly concealed under it.

 

 

Fig. 3. R-3. Premises of the construction horizon II (No. 1 – «throne room»)

 

This made it impossible to trace the layout of the rooms adjacent to the "throne room", or, more precisely, to reveal the layout of the entire complex, somehow connected either with the religious or social life of the town's inhabitants.

Fig. 4. R-3. Construction horizon II, view from west. 4-7 – room numbers,

W – walls, S – sufa/bench, P – pit

 

Fig. 5. R-3. Construction horizon II, rooms 4-7. View from south

In order to continue investigating the structure of construction horizon II, we had to cut down part of the platform in an area of 5×5 m and to a depth of 2 m to the north of the 'throne room' (Room 1) this year. The corners of the four rooms adjoining it and Room 2 to the north were identified in this square pit. These rooms were numbered 4, 5, 6 and 7 (Figs. 2-5).

The dimensions of the opened parts of the rooms are as follows: Room 4 – 1.60 (west-east) × 1.30 m; Room 5 – 2.30 (west-east) × 1.10 m; Room 6 – 2.25 (west-east) × 2.70-3.10 m; Room 7 – 1.70 (west-east) × 2.25 m. The wall separating rooms 4 and 5, and rooms 6 and 7 in the meridional direction is made of mud bricks (52×32×? cm, 56×26×? cm), 90 cm thick, laying is one and a half rows (one row lengthwise and one row across), with a 14 cm joint between rows. This wall was traced to the north for 4.25 m from the southern edge of the excavation, it was cut down further, or there was a passage that connected Rooms 6 and 7. This wall is probably a continuation of the eastern wall of Room 1 (the "throne room").

The wall separating Rooms 5 and 6 is 80 cm thick, made of mud bricks with dimensions of 46×29×11 cm, 46×23×? cm, 44×23×? cm, etc., also one-and-a-half rows, with a 12-15 cm joint. As we can see, bricks sometimes deviated from the standardized ratio of 2:1 that had spread throughout Central Asia in the early Middle Ages (6th-8th centuries). Their most typical size can be recognised as 52×26×10 cm.

In Room 5, the floor level (Floor 1) has been cleared and is located at a depth of -5.10 m from the zero point of the settlement. This is very close to the floor level of Room 1 ("throne room"), which is at -5.18-5.22 m. Room 6 also shows a burnt floor level at -5.22 m.

Room 7, or more precisely its south-west corner, which fell into the excavation, had a podium or sufa measuring 1.10×1.10 m. It was adjoined by a circular pit to the north, the walls of which were coated with clay (Figs. 4, 5, 9). The clay coating is preserved in the western half of the pit. The walls of the pit are not burnt; it is filled with loose ashy soil.

The walls of the building horizon II were cut down evenly and carefully during the construction of the platform. The premises were filled to the same level as the upper plane of cut down walls to form an even surface, on which either pakhsa or platform’s brickwork was laid (Figs. 6, 7).

As we have mentioned, the ramming of the premises varies. Thus, in the north-west part of the Room 4, which fell into the excavation, the infill consists of rubble from the (intentional) destruction of the walls. These are small and large pieces of bricks mixed with soil (Fig. 7). In the adjacent Room 5, located to the west, the fill consists of loose bulk soil, which was filled in several stages, interspersed with a clay coat. The uppermost layer, which lies immediately below the platform’s bottom, has an even greyish colour due to its saturation with ash (Fig. 6). Room 1 ("throne room") was filled with the same soil.

   
Fig. 6. R-3. View on the platform from north

Fig. 7. R-3. Fill of Room 4

 
Fig. 8. R-3. Platform over rooms 5 and 6, view from east

 

Fig. 9. R-3. Platform over rooms 6 and 7, view from south

 

In Room 6, on Floor 1, there is dense, uniform fill, 35 cm thick at the southern wall, 50 cm in the northwest corner of the excavation (Fig. 8), with a gradual reduction to 35 cm at the northern end of the eastern wall (Fig. 9). Above that lies loose ashy filling, with pottery and bones, from 14 cm thick in the north-west corner of the excavation to 42 cm in Room 7 (Fig. 9). This layer is overlain by a 3-5 cm thick clay coat; it is covered in places with a thin layer (3-6 cm) of loose backfill, and pakhsa, of which the northern end of the platform is constructed entirely, is laid on top.

         To the east, our excavation is bounded by mud brick (50×25×10 cm) masonry, laid in two rows (Fig. 10). This masonry is 1.60 m from the eastern wall of Room 5 and is unrelated to the building of the construction horizon II. The masonry is up to 2.20 m wide; it served to level the platform edge site and limit it.

 
Fig. 10. R-3. Mud brick masonry, view from west

Underneath this masonry are layers of fill and levelling for the construction of the platform (Figs. 10, 11).

Fig. 11. R-3. Fill under mud brick masonry, view from west

To the east, there is another masonry wall, which probably covered the eastern half of room 4 (Fig. 10). It was once separated from the Room 2 to the south by a brick wall, which collapsed last year due to loose ash layers and precipitation (Fig. 12). At the same time its filling was preserved and this season it was possible to clear a part of this room. Judging by the location of the wall separating Rooms 4 and 7 within the excavation, Room 4 was rather narrow, corridor-like. It was entered from the east. The Floor 1 in Room 4 was at a depth of -5.50 m, which was lower than the Floor 1 in the "throne room" (-5.18-5.22 m), but higher than the Floor 2 (-5.76 m). Clearing it revealed that there was a hearth on the floor close to the collapsed wall (Fig. 13). A loose loess-coloured layer 28-30 cm thick lies on Floor 1. A similar layer of greyish colour with inclusions of mud brick pieces and charcoal lies on it, it is about 30 cm thick (Fig. 14). In this layer, near the south-eastern corner, a gambling astragalus was found, grinded and polished. In the same layer, 50 cm above Floor 1, a jug with a chipped rim was found (Fig. 15).


Fig. 12. R-3. View from south on the eastern part of Room 4


Fig. 13. R-3. Floor 1 in the Room 4


Fig. 14. R-3. Fill of the Room 4  

 

The fill layers are laid with brickwork, which served as the basis for the construction of the platform. The bricks measure 48x21x10cm, 49x25x10cm. On their underside there are indentations made on the damp clay with four fingers of the left hand. Some scholars see these marks as magic and symbolic signs. It is more likely, however, that they were made to make bricks stick better to the mortar.


Fig. 15. R-3. Ewer from the Room 4

 

 

A clear indication of the stages of platform construction is given by the western face of the excavation (Fig. 16). Here the platform had the best preserved height of approximately 3.50 m from the footings. The footings is at -4.75 m from the zero point. The section shows that the northern part of the platform, consisting of combined masonry (a row of mud bricks, a thick layer of clay fill), was attached to the pakhsa massif which formed the base of the platform. We can clearly see that in this part the mortar layer and bricks were placed on the cut surface of the walls and the levelling layer of the backfill, rather than pakhsa. A cavity with a rather loose filling was found in the thickness of the platform (Fig. 16), and if this is not a grouting between two vertical sections of masonry then we may be dealing with a saving of building materials. Pakhsa was again used for the northern end of the platform.


Fig. 16. R-3. Structure of platform, view from east  

 

Thus, the works of the year 2022 have provided new data on the layout of building horizon II, the unusual nature of which unambiguously indicates the presence of a miniature "throne room". In the next season the task will be to continue these works to reveal the layout and also to open the joint between Room 1 and Room 5 and to understand to what period the passage in the northern wall of the "throne room" belongs. In addition, we intend to continue the stratigraphic study of the site, which will allow us to differentiate the material (ceramic and, hopefully, numismatic) characterizing the transition from the late stage of the Kaunchi culture (Kaunchi-III – the second half of 4th – the first half of 6th century AD) to the Turkic period.

 

Excavation 4 (R-4)

Excavations on R-4 continued and, due to the development of the site, became more and more of a stratigraphic study. Excavations were carried out in the southern part of R-4 along the whole width of the excavation, covering the area up to 7-8 m from the edge of the cliff (Figs. 17, 18). According to the coordinate system of the settlement, these are squares A112-114, B112-114 and C112-115.


Fig. 17. R-4. Southern part of excavation before the beginning of work


Fig. 18. R-4, plan

 

The whole site was levelled to a level of -5 m from the zero point and the layers were then cleared in layers to a level of -6.90 m. Up to the -5.95 m level, layers of soil with large amounts of ash were observed (i.e. the same layers as those we uncovered under the upper buildings last year). The space between the layers is 5-10 cm. The ashy layers were separated from one another by thin layers of clay damp. These 2-3 cm thick layers were layered, quite dense and were similar to temporary floors. The layers above them were easily separated. In many places these layers were disturbed by pits lowered from the higher levels. As a consequence, it was never possible to clear a continuous surface across the entire site.

While levelling the selected area for stratigraphic works, on one level of clay interlayers at the depth of -4.80 m from zero reference point in the square B-113, a ditch (or rather its part, as its southern part was destroyed by the late pit while the northern one is beyond limits of excavated area) with 25 cm width and 29 cm depth was excavated, extending in line NW-SE. The length of the open area is 2.35 m (Fig. 19). Similar ditches were previously found on R-8.

Fig. 19. R-4. Square В-113. Ditch at the level -4.80 m, view on south-west (left)

and north-west (right)

 

 

At a depth of -5.30 m from the zero reference point, while clearing one of the many surfaces of suspected floors in square C-113, the remains of mud bricks heavily melted due to precipitation were discovered (Fig. 20). The dimensions of the bricks could not be ascertained. The remains of these bricks were laid out in a single row above the -5.45 m surface and outlined an oval area at least 2.50 m wide. The full area outlined with bricks could not be established, as its southern part at the edge of the monument is remaining for the 2.60 m only. In the western part, inside the area enclosed by the brick rampart, there was a shallow circular hole 40 cm in diameter enclosed by melted adobe bricks. The bottom of the pit and the edges of the lining were strongly heated. There was a lot of ash inside.

Fig. 20. R-4. Remains of dwelling (?) at the level -5.45 m

     

 

This structure is probably the remains of a light dwelling made of poles or reeds covered in clay. The bottom of the walls may have been reinforced with mud bricks for greater stability.

From a level of -5.45 m to a level of -6.50 m, the layers on the site did not open evenly horizontally across the site. From west to east, approximately to the middle of the site, the upper level of light, medium-density clay, with many lumps of dense mass of building material and lenses of ash gradually descended. In the eastern part below the -6.00 m level from the zero reference point, layers of ash did not cover the entire surface. From this level, the upper parts of the earthen buildings and their ruins began to be cleared.

In Area C-114, at -6.50 m, the upper part of a brick lining of a dwelling such as the one described above was excavated (Fig. 21). The 40-50 cm wide lining was made of large fragments of adobe bricks and framed an oval space up to 1.5 meters wide. It was impossible to ascertain the length of the dwelling. The southern edge of the dwelling is ruined and goes down into the cliff. The maximum length of the cleared part is 2.5 meters. The dwelling stretches in a NW-SE direction. There was a floor at -6.50 m to the outside of the dwelling. Inside the dwelling, the floor was at -6.70 m from the zero point level.

Fig. 21. R-4. Dwelling (?) at the level -6.50 m. Views on south and east  

  

  In B-114 and C-114, the floor at -6.50 m adjoined the adobe wall, the top of which was found at -5.95 m from the zero reference point. The 80 cm thick wall extended in a NW-SE line. It was made of large-size mud bricks, the dimensions of which have not yet been determined. The facade of the wall is opened on the west side for 4.5 m.Two further walls may have adjoined it from the east, extending under the eastern edge of the excavation. They are three meters from each other. However, at the level where work was halted, they are in a very poor state of preservation. This is why their presence is presumed and will need to be checked next season.

Fig. 22. R-4. Wall in the squares В-113, 114


Fig. 23. R-4. Wall in the squares В-114 and С-115

 

 

Section of another wall laying 1.10 m west from the first, 2.50 m long and 80 cm thick, was recorded in B-113,114 (Figs. 22, 23). The wall was earthen, rising 55 cm above the floor at -6.50 m. Also, like the first, it was oriented in a NW-SE line. But with a more deviation to the NW. Below the -6.50 m level, no work was carried out on the site this season.

Fig. 24. R-4. Southern part of excavation after finishing of this year works

 

Thus, as in the last season, layers of considerable thickness were revealed on R-4, which did not contain regular architectural remains. Apparently, for quite a long period of time there were separate dwellings of the type of light huts or yurts. However, after further excavation and clearing of the remains of two walls and changes in the structure of the layers, it became clear that we should reach the lower layers with earlier permanent buildings, provided that we continue the work.

 

Excavation 8 (R-8)

During three field seasons of works on R-8 it was possible to present in general outline the course of building on this site (Fig. 25, 26). It is established that in the last stages of its life the central object of this site was room 1. Other rooms – 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 played a secondary role. Room 1 played the role of a large refectory, which is primarily indicated by the sufas located not only along the three walls, but also in the middle of the room.

Fig. 25. R-8
 

Fig. 26. R-8, plan

 

The main objective in 2023 and beyond is to extend the R-8 excavation to the east, west and south. To the east, some sort of wall running south is visible in the topography. It would be interesting to trace how it relates to our excavation and what kind of space it encloses. Widening to the west would allow a connection to the R-3 excavation. This would provide important data for the planigraphic study of Qarshovultepa.

In 2022 the works were conducted in the eastern part of the excavation, in squares PP-107, 108 and 109, HO-108 and 109, NN-108, 109, 110, MM-108 and 109, 110, LL-108,109, 110, KK-108, 109, 110. In the course of works, it was once again confirmed that squares OO-109 and partly 108, NN-108, 109 and partly 107, MM-107, 108, 109 had no architectural development, and ash deposits were accumulated in this area (yard). At the last stage of life on the site, when Room 1 was already in operation, this area was covered with a thick clay coat, which was recorded at -1.65 m from the zero point. It was up to 0.45 m thick. In the northern part, this grout came to the wall which was the common southern wall for rooms 1, 2 and 4. When we continued to clear the wall to the eastern direction, it turned slightly to the north-east. A pit with a diameter of 1.40 m was detected at a distance of 0.4 m from this wall and a second pit at a distance of 0.8 m to the east, with a diameter of 2.30 m. The very first level in which these pits were dug up was at -1.65-1.68 m from the Qarshovultepa zero point. On this area, in the south-eastern corner of the excavation, the remains of pakhsa wall, which was raised from this level and has a height of no more than 32-40 cm, were recorded. It should be noted that the remains of this wall have been heavily destructed and, due to erosion, completely collapsed in some places. To the south, the area is bounded by this wall, which has a slightly curved plan.

 
Fig. 27. R-8. Earring and dividing chip

 

      

This entire area (approximately 40 square meters) was excavated to a mark of -1.64 m, i.e. to the level of the first blotting. Here, in square MM-110, at a depth of 0.6 m, a fragment of an earring made of yellow metal and a bronze object ornamented on both sides, which is called both a coin divider (?), or a button (Fig. 27), were found.

 

Fig. 28. R-8. Layers of mud coats in the eastern part of excavation

 

Here, on the first coat level, which is related to the time when the above-mentioned premises were built, the largest number of coins was found, which are related both to the life of the town during its functioning and to the period when it was abandoned, but the ruins were visited for some reasons. For example, 3 coins belonging to the Umayyad dynasty were found under the turf layer at a depth of 0.20 m in square QQ-108. The fourth similar coin was found in the square NN-109 at the depth of 0.50 m (see Table of coin finds, Nos. 1-4). A silver coin belonging to the Bukharhudat mint was found in the square NN-110 at the depth of 0.25 m, other two similar coins were found in the square PP-109 at the depth of 0.32 m and in the square OO-110 at the depth of 0.15 m (Table of coin findings, Nos. 5-7).

A second layer of clay coat was found at -1.98 m depth. It is separated from the first (upper) coat by a small layer of a fill. A little deeper, at -2.23 m, there is a third layer of coat. Apparently, underlain by loose fill in the form of ash layers, the floor levels had subsided and heavy clay grouting was supposed to reinforce and level the dwelling surfaces.

In the eastern part of the excavation, two rooms numbered 10 and 11 were uncovered in 2020 under the aforementioned coat levels. In the reporting field season, the R-8 excavation was extended eastwards by 10 m, allowing two more rooms, numbered 12 and 13, to be partially excavated. As with rooms 10 and 11, they extend from southwest to northeast. Because of the lack of time, only the western part of them was partially delineated.

Let us give them a brief description. Room 12 is to the north-east of Room 10 and has a common wall. This one is 2.55 m long and its preserved height is 1.10 m. The southeast wall, which was common to rooms 10, 6 and 8, was only traced in Room 12 for 1.09 m, which was then reduced by a pit with clearly identifiable facets.

During the cleaning of the pit, the area adjacent to the pit on the south side was examined and a ceramic lamp of a specific shape was found (Fig. 29). It was made in the form of a wide-necked jug, the mouth of which is sealed tightly with a saucer with a small round hole for a wick. The lamp is 12.9 cm high with a diameter of 4.5 cm at the bottom and a diameter of the opening of 1.3 cm. The vessel is made of well-drained reddish-brown clay, evenly fired. The entire vessel is covered with dark red engobe and glossing. Vessels of similar shape and purpose were repeatedly found at Qarshovultepa, but the quality of clay and processing may be simpler (Fig. 29, left).

Fig. 29. R-8. Oil lamps: find of year 2021 (left) and 2022

 

   

Next to the lamp at a depth of 3.02 m, another special ceramic object was found. It is a rounded rattle with a small hole (0.5 cm) near the handle (Fig. 30). The body is 7.9 cm in diameter and the handle is beaten off. The rattle could serve as a child's toy and as a musical instrument.

Fig. 30. R-8. Ceramic rattle

Fig. 31. R-8. Ceramic plate with rounded bottom, Room 12

 

The north-west wall is poorly preserved, surviving to a height of 0.60 m; the north-east wall appears to have been destroyed during the levelling of the site and laying of clay layers.

Fig. 32. R-8. Mug with tamgha under handle

The fill of room 12, which was excavated to a depth of -2.69 m, contained fragments of adobe bricks and a small quantity of pottery. Several fragments of a round-bottom plate, small cauldrons, jugs and the rim of a khumcha were found at this level. Of the complete forms, we note the round-bottom plate, made of light brown clay and covered with light red engobe (Fig. 31). Remnants of a tamga are preserved on the outside of the bottom. The rim is 16.5 cm in diameter, and hight is 4.5 cm. At the south-western wall, a mug with a loop-shaped handle and orange engobe with burnishing was found (fig. 32). It is 8.3 cm high, the diameter of the rim 6 cm, and the diameter of the bottom 4 cm. Under the handle, a tamga depicting two vertical lines intersected by four horizontal ones is scratched before firing (it resembles an image of a ladder).

Four coins were also found here in the filling of room 12. The first and the second were found closer to the southwest wall. The first one was a coin of the Turgesh dynasty rulers (see the Table of coin findings, no. 8). The second belongs to the coins of the Chach ruler Tarnavch (Table, no. 9). The third coin was found near the south-eastern wall, closer to the west corner (Table No. 10). The fourth coin is found at the northwest wall in the rubble (Table No. 11).

We must note the discovery in room 12 of a copper or bronze seal found in the middle of the room in the rubble from the collapsed wall. It is round and has a diameter of 1.5 cm. On the front side, there is an in-depth image of a deer (Fig. 33). On the reverse is an eyelet for threading a lace. The animal is shown running, with its legs and body showing the dynamics of the movement.

 

Fig. 33. R-8. Bronze seal with a stag image and sealing

Room 13 is to the north of room 12 and is not fully excavated also, as most of it goes under the common southern wall of rooms 1, 2 and the north-eastern edge of the excavation. The south-west wall was excavated to a distance of 1.20 m. The south-east wall was 2.90 m long. The filling of the room was similar to that in Room 12.

Of the finds, we note the handmade mug (Fig. 34). It is 14 cm high and the rim has a diameter of 10 cm. The bottom is missing. The dough is coarse, with sand and chamotte added. The outside of the mug is heavily smoked from direct exposure to fire, apparently it was used to heat water and other liquids.

 

Fig. 34. R-8. Vessel from the Room 13

 

A terracotta figurine depicting a dog was found next to the mug (Fig. 35). The animal is rendered very schematically, without detail, with the front and hind legs as a solid column. One ear is broken, the other ear and the tail stick out upwards.

 

Fig. 35. R-8. Dog image, terracotta

Of other finds, we note two coins found in the upper rubble of this room (Table, nos. 12, 13), as well as a copper heart-shaped belt buckle (Fig. 39: 3).

Room 14. It was situated in south-eastern corner of R-8 and its south-western wall was found at -1.64 m from the zero mark. It is built of pakhsa and clad in bricks measuring 41-42×23-24×10 cm. It is traced for 3.4 m to the north-west, where it turns to the north-east. The wall is 0.65 m thick. The southern part of the adobe lining has collapsed and pakhsa blocks masonry is clearly visible here. The room has been partially excavated and its eastern and southern parts are under the berms. The room was filled in with large pakhsa blocks and fragments of adobe bricks from the collapsed walls. A wind-blown layer had already accumulated in the middle of the room after it had collapsed.

Fig. 36. R-8. View on the south-western part of the Room 14

Two coins were found in the upper layer. One was in the south-eastern corner of the excavation at a depth of 1.80 m from the zero point (Table, no. 14). The second coin was found near the south-west wall at the location of a collapse of the brick lining (Table, no. 15).

 
Fig. 37. R-8. View on the north-western part of room 14

 

Fig. 38. R-8. Fill of Room 14: А – turf and inflatable layer; В – layer of ash with bones and charcoal; С – collapsed walls

 

A bronze button (or divider chip for coins) and a belt tip, also of bronze, were also found here. The bronze chip/button has a cut conical shape with a height of 0.6 cm and a diameter of 2.3 cm (Fig. 39: 1). There is a 0.5 cm round hole in the middle of the chip. The weight is 10.12 gr. The face of the chip has an ornament in the form of plant shoots, into which are fantastic figures resembling animals. The tip of the strap has a wavy outline, with a longitudinal projection in the middle (Fig. 39: 2).

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	Fig. 39. R-8. Divider/button and belt tips, bronze

Below this layer a large fragment from a ceramic dastarkhan (table) was found (Fig. 40).

 

Fig. 40. R-8. Fragment of a dastarkhan

Below was a level, which we can attribute to the last floor of this room. Four coins were found in the middle of the excavated room. The first of these, like the one found above, can be classified as Group 5 (Table, no. 16). The second coin was found at a distance of 0.40 m closer to the eastern edge (Table, no. 17). The third and fourth coins belong to the coinage of ruler Satachari/Sochak/Satuk, similar to the coin from room 12 (Table, nos. 18, 19).

A round hearth/tandoor with powerful calcined walls, excavated in the floor, was excavated in the southeast corner of R-8, to the southwest of Room 14, at -1.96-2.03 m from the zero point (Fig. 41).

Fig. 41. R-8. Tandoor in south-eastern part of excavation

 

It is 0.6 m from the southern edge of excavation and 1.30 m from the eastern edge. The diameter of the tandoor's rim is 0.71 m, the preserved height is 8-9 cm. To the north of the tandoor runs the southern wall of Room 8.

During excavations in this area, there were fragments of ceramic vessels, mainly of domestic use: cauldrons, khumcha (storage jar), jugs, a few fragments of a small pan. Part of a rounded-bottom plate, archaeologically intact, found (Fig. 42: 1).There is an embossed rosette at the bottom of the plate. On the outside, a tamgha, of which two short lines remain, carved before firing on the bottom. The plate is 15 cm in diameter and 5 cm high. From this layer, we could mention two fragments of rims from a cauldron (Fig. 42: 2), a fragment of ornamented lid and the upper part of an oil lamp of the type mentioned above (Fig. 42: 3).

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	Fig. 42. Fragments of plate, cauldron and oil lamp

 

A coin depicting two characters found near the hearth (Table, no. 20). The other two coins found near the southern wall of the room 8, closer to the tandoor, but below its level. The first coin worn heavily, on the front side a portrait of a bearded male ruler in frontal view (Table, no. 21). The second coin found to the east of the tandoor at the south-west wall of room 14, on the outer side of the wall (Table No. 22).

A copper/bronze ring found at the southern edge opposite the tandoor, at a depth of 0.73 m from the day surface. Judging by its size, it was woman/child ring. There is an image of a cross with an arc connecting its two ends on the shield (Fig. 43).

Fig. 43. Copper/bronze ring with a cross depiction

Thus, works at R-8 yield the greatest number of coins, ceramics and other artefacts of interest for studying and understanding the material, economic and cultural life of the town's inhabitants. Extension of this excavation would allow better understanding of the structure of the town's residential quarters, its layout and building features.

 

Excavation 9 (R-9)

The main aim of this excavation is to study the town's fortification (Fig. 44). Therefore, the northern area of the excavation widened by 2.5 m to the south-west and to a depth of -5.20 m from the zero reference point. From this level, large clay lumps up to 30 cm in diameter found as a fill of newly excavated area. In addition, on the northern section in the square B-124 the facades of the southern defensive wall of the settlement and the eastern wall of the "citadel" were partially uncovered.

The east wall of the citadel was demolished in its final stages, and a one-meter wide pathway can be traced on top of what remains of it, leading from the town into the citadel. This wall was built to the corner between the south wall of the city and the east wall of the tower. It is about three meter thick on this level, while the outer wall of the citadel is only two meter thick. The above-mentioned lumpy clay deposit found to the west of the corner between the eastern tower wall and the southern town wall was also recorded to the south of the dividing edge between the northern and southern parts of the excavation.

 

Fig. 44. R-9, plan

 
Fig. 45. R-9. The corridor between the east wall and the wall to the west of it and the wall facade above it  

    

 

The 1.29 m wide corridor was laid 2.5 m south of the dividing edge to the laid passage in the eastern wall of the tower (Fig. 45).

Fig. 46. R-9. A corridor and a walled-in passageway

       

 

The corridor was filled with 29×20×10 cm of adobe bricks. The same brick was used for the passage (Fig. 46). The 90 cm wide passage was cut in the eastern wall of the tower from a level of -5.75 m and led to the surface of the original annex on the outer corner between the southern defensive wall of the town and the eastern wall of the tower.

Several floor levels were found in the corridor – a lower one at -6.50 m, then at -6.20 m, higher at -5.75 m and upper at -5.20 m. At the same heights, stages of rebuilding of the western wall of the corridor were recorded also. It was 1.10 m thick at the lower stage, 1 m thick at the middle stage and 80 cm thick at the upper stage.

To the west of the west wall of the corridor, work was carried out up to the floor at a depth of -5.75 m. Only one 1 m thick wall was excavated at this level, extending perpendicular to the west wall of the corridor from square D-123 to square C-122. It is 8 m long along the southern façade to the cliff. The northern façade, especially its western part, is poorly preserved. The southern façade of the wall continued the line of the southern end of the western wall of the corridor. Continuing that line eastwards, a right angle is formed between them. However, between the western wall of the corridor and the end face of this wall, a 1 m wide passage was cleared.

We have not yet reached the virgin soil in any part of the excavation. Consequently, complete data on the stages of fortification construction at this site may be obtained by further excavation of this unit of the Early Medieval town defense.

 

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