The Uzbek-Italian Excavations at Kojtepa (Samarkand Area) Uzbekistan
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Università degli Studi di Napoli L'Orientale: CINECA IRIS The Uzbek-Italian Excavations at Kojtepa (Samarkand Area) Uzbekistan First results and work perspectives Bruno Genito Abstract: This paper summarises the work of the Joint Uzbek-Italian Archaeological Mission in Ko- jtepa in the district of Pastargom, Samarkand. The project is based on a collaboration between the Università di Napoli “L’Orientale”, Napoli (UNO) and the Institute of Archaeology Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences, Samarkand (IAASU). The project began in 2008–2009, and after several excavations is - tral tepe wateron-going. – is Preliminarycharacterised results by a form have of confirmed agricultural that settlement the site – thatwhich played consists a role of anin controllingalmost conical the nearcen northern surrounded area frequently by a visitedquadrangular by pastoral wall nomadsand beyond on the that Karatyube an outer channelpiedmont originally chain. For filled the withmo- ment, the time span covered stretches from the late Hellenistic era to the Kushan period and beyond! Keywords: Central Asia, archaeology, Samarkand, territory. Резюме: - Данная статья кратко подводит итог работы Объединенной археологической узбек ско-итальянской миссии в Койтепа в районе Пастаргом (Самарканд). В основе проекта лежит соглашение об археологическом сотрудничестве между Университетом Неаполя “L’Orientale” и- Институтом археологии Академии наук Узбекистана (Самарканд). Проект был начат в 2008-- 2009 годах и продолжается до сегодняшнего дня, после семи полевых сезонов. Предваритель ные результаты подтвердили, что памятник, состоящий из центрального “тепе” почти кони ческой формы, окружающей его стены четырехугольной формы внешнего канала изначально заполненного водой, представляет собой поселение, жители которого занимались сельским хозяйством и которое играло свою роль в контроле над соседним северным регионом, где- нередко появлялись скотоводы-кочевники из предгорий Каратюбе. На данный момент речь идет, по крайней мере, о временном интервале от эллинистической эпохи до кушанского пе риода!Ключевые слова: Центральная Азия, археология, Самарканд, территория. 132 Bruno Genito The premises of the project by IAASU and UNO 1 Introduction - Since 2008, the joint Uzbek-Italian archaeological activities of the Institute of Archaeology of the Aca- are strictly related to the methodological and field- demy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, Samarkand (IAA- ologicalwork difficulties horizons alwaysof the Lateencountered Iron Age by and scholars of the SU), and the Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” (UNO) when attempting to define precisely any archae have been carried out in the Pastdargom district in ( 1988; 2005). In particular, the joint ac- the Samarkand area.1 - tivitiesAchaemenid continued Empire, working and innot an only area in west Central of Samar Asia- tivities are to analyse the archaeological consistency kandFrancfort with the aim of singling out cultures related to The scientific aims of these ac the periods of the earliest occupation, and of repre- - senting their differing related stages ( 1996; during the 6th–4th century BCE of an area recorded 1998a; 1988b). oldfor thePersian first timeethnonym in the trilingualor toponym inscription “Sogd/Sugd” of Dar is Genito - explicitlyius the Great used, (522–486 BCE) phonetically and in Bisutun. most probably There, thele- ments with semi-huts clearly started to be replaced xically connected with the Greek-Roman term “Sog- In the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, scanty settle diana”, an area much better known, in a detailed way, in early mediaeval times for its ethno-cultural Theby large studies “sites”, of these among sites them have Koktepe demonstrated (ca. 100 ha) that and ethno-linguistic eastern-Iranian Sogdian back- thealong process the Bulungur of erecting Canal, wallsand Afrasiab and, in (ca. 220 ha). some cas- es, public buildings and/or shrines, also included 2002; 2005).2 large-scale earth works. According to a reasonable ground (4th–7th century CE) (de la Vaissière hypothesis, the irrigation canals in Sogdiana, which UNO, andde lain Vaissière/Trombertpartnership with the Italian Ministry of ForeignThe joint Affairs, field3 providedactivities, the financially basis for supported an archaeo by- at about the same time as the sites, and, with some logical project which, starting from the topographic changes,stretch for they more survive than to100 km, the present were daypossibly ( built- 2003a; 2003b; 2004; Mater) (1999–2006), was basically aimed at inves- 2009; 2016).Mantel tigatingdata collected the archaeological by UsB (Università horizons di Bologna,of the period Alma liniA new stage in the culturalMantellini/Rondelli development in Sogdi- in the Samarkand area, and possibly of the Achae- Marconi et al. Mantellini (ed.) menid period as well. characteristics of the material culture, including ce- ana began in the 7th and the 6th centuries BCE. Some - Parthia, and, somewhat later, in Chorasmia as well,4 torical Sogdiana followed two years (2007–2008) of ramicdid not production, spread beyond in Bactriana, the territories Margiana, in north-east northern 1 These field activities located in a crucial part of the his intensive contacts with the Uzbek colleagues, with the Sogdiana ( 2013a; 2013b). former director of IAASU Timur Shirinov, Shakirdjan Cultural changes did not occur immediately after Lyonnet colleagues already working there, and in particular Mau- Pidaev, the present Amriddin Berdimuradov and Italian Chorasmia provinces were probably conquered by - Cyrusthe territories the Great of andthe future so became Bactriana, part Sogdiana,of the Achae and- stan.rizio Tosi, Director of the Italian Archaeological Mission menid Persian political-state formation in the sec- 2 Sogdianaof Università was diin Bologna,the Late IronAlma Age Mater and (UsB) early inmediaeval Uzbeki period populated by peoples probably speaking and writing in an eastern Iranian language: Sogdian. Accord- ond half of the 6th century BCE. Greek forms in the ing to Greek and Roman authors, the region was located pottery, including “fish plates” and craters, appeared between the territories formed by two rivers, the Oxus rule, not right after Alexander the Great’s conquest only in the 3rd century BCE, during the Seleucid’s border running along the Zeravshan mountain range. It is(Amu not clear,Darya) however, and Iaxartes whether (Syr the Darya), Sogdians with populatedthe southern all andof Sogdiana the Greeks in 320 BCE.also may Differenthave returned nomadic to Sogdiana peoples the lands which Greek and Roman authors attribute to conquered Sogdiana at the end of the 3rd century the region. It is possible that the sources referred only to the nomads took over again. Ancient eastern ele- the early administrative boundaries of the Achaemenid mentsin the firstprevail half in of the the architecture 2nd century; of bythe mid-century, Greek peri- empire, without taking in consideration the real distribu- tion of the villages, towns, regional walls, etc., and the real population in the area. Sogdiana would indicate, thus, the which were built from large mud bricks of a type un- region, including the Zeravshan and Kashkadarya River knownod, a typical in the example Hellenistic being culture the city on wallswhich at the Afrāsīāb, names basins, whose archaeological remains are generally dat- of the makers are written in Greek letters. Sogdians seem to emerge at the historical level. 3 Sinceed to 2015,no earlier UNO-IAASU than the activities 1st millennium BCE, in Uzbekistan when have there- ceived the support of the Attribuzione Riconoscimento Istituzionale per Missione Archeologica/Antropologica Internazionale, which here are deeply thanked by the au- 4 For example, it is the case for cylinder-cone-shaped wheel- thor.of the Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione made pottery and large, rectangular, unbaked bricks. The Uzbek-Italian Excavations at Kojtepa (Samarkand Area) Uzbekistan 133 a b Fig. 1: Kojtepa. a. General view as seen as from the south-east (after Missione Archeologica Italiana (MAI), Università di Na- poli “L’Orientale” (UNO); photo by Bruno Genito). b. General map (drawing by Enzo Cocca 2014). 134 Bruno Genito ity, are similar to a well-known urban settlement 2 The Kojtepa project pattern for sites and cities in the ancient Samarkand and Ustrushana areas, present also in the Karatyube (1999–2006) topographic activities in the Pastdar- range areas, in the historical and Hellenistic period.7 The former joint Uzbek-Italian (IAASU and UsB)- Kojtepa is located in the zone between agricul- gion had drawn attention to different sites, prelim- tural lands and the steppe (Fig. 1). Today, the local inarilygom (Lower dated Dargom) to the period district from in thethe Samarkand Late Iron Age re population refer to the territory around Kojtepa to the early mediaeval period, and possibly to the as far as Chandyr village as dasht (steppe), though Achaemenid period as well. the whole area is cultivated, covered with orchards, The site jointly chosen in 2008 by IAASU and - UNO5 was Kojtepa,6 a known and important set- tion in the written sources is scattered and fragmen- tlement, constituted by a central truncated cone- tary.fields The of cotton most importantand wheat, sources and so abouton. The the informa period shaped tepe 9 m high encircled by an earthen wall in the pre-Arab era are the Chinese authors who vis- and moat. According to the topographic