The medieval cities of Otrar oasis, Kazakhstan. Kuik-Mardan Excavation 2018 (original) (raw)
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Journal of Islamic Archaeology, 2020
A joint Kazakh-British archaeological initiative undertook a survey and excavation of the city of Kuik-Mardan, one of the largest of the seventy or so known settlements in the Otrar oasis on the Syr-Darya river, Kazakhstan. Several complimentary field techniques were employed including unmanned aerial vehicle photomapping and an extensive programme of radiometric dating. The radiocarbon dates obtained are the first for any city in the oasis and allow more confident interpretations of the experience of the city to be ventured. Also undertaken was a geoarchaeological investigation of the surrounding irrigation and water supply canal system. Key results include its wholesale destruction during the 6th to 7th century and the form of the later occupation of the city.
e present article summarizes the methods and results of archaeological research initiated in the autumn 2015 in the Zarabag Oasis (Sherabad District, South Uzbekistan). e main goal of the research was to obtain basic data on the seelement dynamics in the given area. e fieldwork methods comprised both extensive and intensive surface survey. e extensive part of the survey focused on detecting visible structures and morphological features in the landscape, detecting poery scaers and other finds and mapping water sources. As an intensive part of the project we carried out a systematic surface survey at a selected field in the oasis. ese works resulted in the detection of 20 sites, six water springs, and 16 pits belonging to karez systems. According to our surveys, the Zarabag Oasis has been continuously seeled by a mixed agricultural and nomadic population since at least the High Medieval Period, sporadic earlier occupation comprises not only the Early Medieval and the Late Antique Periods, but also the Late Bronze and the Early Iron Ages.
Excavations, Surveys and Restorations: Reports on Recent Field Archaeology in the Near East
2010
In the chairmanship of Asst. Prof. Dr. Şengül Aydıngün from Kocaeli University, after getting the permission from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey in 2007, a scientifi c team begun a survey to gather more information about the prehistoric periods of Istanbul/Turkey. The fi rst survey point was the Küçükçekmece Lake environment. Küçükçekmece lake is situated 20 km West of the Bosphorus, İstanbul. To the North there are small rivers feeding the lake. The two most important ones are Sazlidere and Eskinoz. The banks of these rivers near the lake had to be the most probable settlement places. The West Bank of Küçükçekmece Lake remains within the boundaries of the town of Avcilar-Firuzkoy. Our investigations brought us very important fi ndings concerning pottery and stone tools. These were similar to the Low and Upper Paleolithic stone tools and Neolithic pottery as yet unseen anywhere near Küçükçekmece. The vases were poorly fi red, hand made from black clay containing different minerals. The lack of straw in their texture made us think that these pieces might belong to a time even previous to the beginning of agriculture. The second survey point was Silivri-Danamandıra village. We found there a cave including chalcolithic pottery and some rock carvings with a man and some graffi tis at the mouth of the cave.
This preliminary report summarizes the results of the archaeological research in the oases in the Kugitang Piedmont after the second season (summer 2016). The field survey in the Zarabag Oasis, which was the subject of our interest in the first season, was accomplished and the research continued in the oases where the villages of Karabag and Kampyrtepa are situated. The prospection led to the detection of new archaeological sites in both of them. Moreover, the examination of the sites previously known from earlier works was conducted. Besides this we focused on the the mapping of the water sources. The collected data have been processed in GIS and the finds were analysed and dated. Preliminarily, we observe basically a similar dynamic in the settlement patterns of all the researched oases.
The paper advances the typology of Samarqand Soghd archeological monuments on the basis of archeological study of Durmen settlement (the ancient Isbisket) and archeological survey undertaken by Central Asian expedition of State Museum of The East Nations Art in 1986–1991 in Pastdargom District of Samarqand Province in Uzbekistan. Twenty two types of monuments are identi ed, including dwellings, military architecture, worship buildings, burial monuments, hydraulic facilities, arable land and excavation facilities, etc. Key words: Central Asia, Soghd, archeology, aerophotography, monument typology,
Early Stages of Archaeological Study of the Kashkadarya Oasis
CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HISTORY, 2021
The article analyzes the first stages of studying the archaeological sites of the Kashkadarya oasis from a historical point of view. Beginning in the 18th century, Europeans began to record information about the Kashkadarya oasis. Their main focus is on highlighting the lifestyle of the population, as well as information on historical monuments. In particular, in memoirs, reports and brochures, A. Burns, N. Khannykov, V.V. Bartold, N. Maev, V. Krestovsky, B. Litvinov, D. Logofet, A. Validov, I. Kastane, L. Zimin, you can get a lot of information on this topic. Despite this, the first studies were mostly brief. Most importantly, the attention of architects and art critics is focused on the history of architectural structures in Shakhrisabz, built during the reign of Amir Temur and the Temurids. However, attempts to shed light on the history of the cities of Karshi and Shakhrisabz based on written sources consisted in a collection of the first archaeological observations, historical a...