Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introductory Remarks*
* Special thanks are due to Gianluca Bonora, Francesca Franceschini and Bernardo Rondelli
(Department of Archaeology – University of Bologna) for their assistance during the topo-
graphical investigations of the site. We are also grateful to Prof. Pierfrancesco Callieri and Prof.
Maurizio Tosi who have kindly revised earlier versions of this text.
1
The preliminary presentation of the Project is in Shirinov, Tosi 2003, 13-40.
2
In particular the topographical studies by M.E. Masson, who prepared the first detailed map
of the area (Masson 1928) (Fig. 10), and the excavations carried out throughout the Soviet
period by G.V. Grigor’ev (Grigor’ev 1941, Grigor’ev 1946), G.V. Shishkina (Shishkina 1961,
Shishkina 1969, Shishkina 1987) and V.A. Nil’sen (Nil’sen 1965, Nil’sen 1966) must be men-
tioned. The contemporary exploration phase was inaugurated by the Institute of Archaeology of
the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan soon after Independence as part of an overall effort by
Similar to Afrasiab, Kafir Kala rests in the midsection of the Zeravshan val-
ley, the agricultural heartland of ancient Sogdiana. This vast alluvial corridor,
the largest in Central Asia, is irrigated by the criss-crossing channels of nat-
ural and artificial watercourses.
These are the Greek Mesopotamia, known in Persian as doab or “two
waters” or jazira “island” in Arabic: they represent the most fertile lands in
the arid region of south-western Asia. Here they are formed by the splitting
of the Zeravshan River, at its exit from the Turkestan Mountains, into the
Karadarya and Akdarya branches, extended by the two artificial doabs formed
by diverging water into the Bulungur Canal to the north and the Dargom
Canal to the south (Fig. 1). Together these four parallel trunk collectors feed
the alluvial sediments to form an almond-shaped stretch of irrigated farmlands,
40 km wide north-south and 100 km long east-west. At least since the middle
of the first millennium BC this area represents the largest oasis in the whole
of Central Asia, at the centre of the Eurasian continent. The total extension of
the farmlands is ca. 515 km2, a size comparable to other alluvial heartlands of
civilization, like Southern Iraq or Sindh (Fig. 2).
Kafir Kala lies 11.75 km south-east from Afrasiab, if measured between the
centres of the two sites:3 approximately two-three hours on foot from the cap-
ital. If we consider a city as a dynamic entity of market and government,
placed at the hub of a system of exchanges composed by suburbs, factories,
bazaars, shrines and cemeteries, aggregated into a single functioning organism,
the position of Kafir Kala is evidently that of a sentinel structure. Spatially, it
stands on the “outer” edge of the system, to control not only its main south-
ern access but also the trunk lines for irrigation and water supply, as well as
the transit of caravans and payloads between the urban centre and the south
(Figs. 3, 4, 5). Only a few miles further down from Kafir Kala the Silk Road
had its major junction in Sogdian times: South through the Takhta Karaga
Pass and the Kashkadarya towards Bactria and India, West along the Zerav-
shan to Bokhara and the Amudarya crossings, on towards Iran (Fig. 6). Many
Fig. 1. Sections of the Zeravshan valley, marked on a LANDSAT 5 mosaic of images. It is possible to recognize the entire valley by making
109
horizontal and vertical zone partitions. In the first case the jazira-system is really clear along each section (High-Middle-Low), in the second
one the Karatyube relief acts as a watershed between the Zeravshan valley to the north and Kashkadarya to the south.
110
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Fig. 2. Jazira-doab divisions in the Samarkand region. While Jazira 1 is natural, enclosed by the Karadarya and Akdarya, the others are
the result of intense works of water-drainage and canalization realized along the Bulungur watercourse in the north and the Dargom water
course in the south.
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Fig. 3. Localization of the main Sogdian sites to the south of Samarkand systematically visited during the Archaeological Map Project.
The representation shows the sites spatial characteristics in relation to a “buffer zone” model. Around these sites, chosen according to their
dimensions and importance, a 15 km long theoretical radius of pertinence has been considered and divided into three bands, each 5 km
long. Reading the results, it is possible to assume a feudal-hierarchical model, with defensive sites surrounding the main centers.
111
112
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Fig. 4. Starting from the reconstructed model of the southern Samarkand area, it is possibile to assume, according to the “Central Place
SIMONE MANTELLINI, AMRUDDIN BERDIMURADOV
Theory”, a general model which considers Afrasiab as a pricipal center of hierarchy, connected to a series of secondary centers, in their
turn at the hub of smaller systems. If we consider Afrasiab as the principal regional center, Kuldortepa, Aktepamitan and Koktepa can rep-
resent secondary sites, themselves catalysts of important sub-regional systems. In this model Kafir Kala has a prominent position, since it
is geographically placed in the sub-regional system of Kuldortepa-Urgut, in the southern Samarkand area, but by its dimension and loca-
tion it appears more connected to Samarkand itself. According to these considerations, Kafir Kala can be considered the neuralgic node of
a vast net of logons (Net theory). Its strategic position (crossroads, control position, etc.) emphasizes its political importance. This location
also determines an improved development of the settlement in comparison with other sites of similar geographical weight, which can be
read as nodes of lower aggregation.
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Fig. 5. The aforementioned concept is further confirmed by the position of Kuldortepa in this rank-size diagram.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN KAFIR KALA
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114
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Fig. 6. In the light of these appraisals, we can consider Kafir Kala one of the greater administrative centers of the state system developed
in the Middle Zeravshan Valley since the 3rd century A.D., intersecting the general land division. The geographic position of control on
the main communication axes made the site a direct counterfort of Afrasiab, the node of primary aggregation with the sub-regional
Kuldortepa-Urgut system. Moreover, from the current work, there are two different variants for the passage of the Silk Road in the Middle
Zeravshan. The first (hatched white line), which crosses the Zham corridor and comes to Afrasiab through the piedmont steppes, seems to
have been active in the Kushan period; the second (black broken line), coming to Afrasiab across the Takhta Karaga pass (1788 m asl),
seems to develop subsequently, together with the rising feudal pattern, when Kafir Kala appears as the last great outpost before entering
the Royal Capital.
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4
This efficient drainage of all surface waters has kept the topsoil very dry all year round.
The fortress was raised with pakhs® walls to a total elevation of 22 m. The clay was directly
extracted from the dry silt underneath, lowering the original ground surface by an average of
4 m. The combined effects of drainage and elevation determined that almost no water would
have percolated upwards into the fortress mass from underneath. Berdimuradov has claimed that
this particular condition has made the unique preservation of organic materials at the site pos-
sible (wood, leather, textiles, dyes, grains, peach stones and a very large number of whole
walnuts have been among the finds of the early excavations). The resulting great expectations
for parchment and paper are the obvious motivation behind future investigations.
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Fig. 7. The fortress of Kafir Kala seen in a satellite image LANDSAT TM-7 of 1999 and represented in the DEM (Digital Elevation
Model) formed by 1 m contour lines. It is possibile to see how the site is naturally surrounded by different watercourses: Ilon sai (east),
Yatanzhar sai (west) and Dargom (north).
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Fig. 8. The fortress of Kafir Kala seen in an aerial photo in 1973. The moat dug in order to
connect the Ilon sai to the Yatanzhar sai, improving the southern protection of the site, is
clearly visible.
present: over the years the low area surrounding the site has been deeply dis-
sected by the overlapping courses of natural and artificial channels, not to
mention the ploughing of gardens and fields, increased by the relentless anxi-
ety of the local farmers to extract some profit from their lands floating between
collectivism and capitalism. Undoubtedly, in the vision of our Uzbek colleagues,
the Kafir Kala Project should promote an overall recovery of this spoiled land-
scape, once preferred by the Great Emperor for his leisure and rest.
Like all other ancient agricultural heartlands across arid South-Western
Asia, the alluvial lowland of the Middle Zeravshan Valley is strewn with hun-
dreds of mounds and other archaeological sites. Of the lands behind Samar-
kand the lowermost sections of the Karatyube drainage and the Dargom
corridor have mostly been transformed by the extensive amelioration works
carried out mainly through the 1960s and 1970s in order to extend cultivations
and to adjust landforms to intensive cotton plantations. Levees, terraces and
mounds were equally razed or heavily undercut by large earth-moving machines
directed on a massive scale by the Soviet Power in order to level any uneven
areas across the alluvial countryside.
In order to recover pre-amelioration landscape forms, and hence allow the
reconstruction of the settlement history, a multi-disciplinary procedure was devised,
integrating the diversified sets of data available into a single GIS Archive per
spatial unit from survey work, air photos and old maps.5 The amount of data
to scan through is truly gigantic: undoubtedly, without GIS the procedure of
analyses would have been too costly for an effective management.
The data base has been created by the systematic correlation of the early
U.S. spy images from U-2 aircraft reconnaissance (1957-67), the panchromatic
images from the CORONA satellite program (1964-1972), now available
through the web, combined with reference readings on the 1:10,000 maps
issued by the Soviet Authorities in the 1950s.6 This work is producing the first
significant results for the reconstruction of the original landscape.
The territorial reconnaissance of mounds and other archaeological sites
across the landscape has to be complemented by the recovery of disappeared
5
We have employed 1999 LANDSAT TM 7 images with 25 m of spatial resolution and
CORONA series of 1968-72 with 8 to 3 m of spatial resolution.
6
Glavnoe Upravlenie Geodezii i Kartografii Ministerstva Vnutrennikh Del SSSR (Main Committee
of Geodesy and Cartography of the USSR Ministry for Internal Affairs).
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sites from a systematic scrutiny of the old satellite images and the low-scale
1:10,000 map. The most radical destructions have taken place in the low areas
south of the Dargom Canal, once reached by the piedmont streams of the
Karatyube. The strategy devised by the central planning organizations was to
wedge the irrigated cotton fields between the lowermost chul pasturelands and
the fruit and vegetable orchards along the Dargom. So far the systematic
analyses of images and maps have recovered about 20 sites (Fig. 9). On aver-
age the detected sites are small in size, low in elevation, with different forms
and without other special structures like moats, earthen ramparts and towers.
They are listed hereafter in Table 1:
Fig. 9. The use of 1:10,000 scale maps has been of basic importance in site localization, especially for those sites that have been destroyed
or altered by the land recovery projects of the 1960s and 1970s. One of the most significant places is the Kafir Kala graveyard, still visible
in satellite images CORONA (1968).
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In 1918 Masson began to survey what was locally known as the “Ruins of
Misr Shaar”.7 The aim was to find the archaeological remains of the gardens
built by Timur, known traditionally as Davlet-abad, as first sugested by Yaku-
bovskii.8 Indeed, a lot of recreation gardens were created around Samarkand
in Timurid time, where the Emperor and his court spent most of the time
between military campaigns, at leasure in all kinds of celebrations. Masson
based his assumptions on the only direct witness: the Spanish Ambassador
Ruy Gonzàlez de Clavijo who provided a description of the Kal’bet garden.9
He wrote that the place was very close to Samarkand, rich of water with
streams flowing all over, fed by six different reservoirs. The garden was
enclosed by an earthen rampart, surrounded by extensive vineyards and in the
middle stood a pavillion-palace of many rooms, covered with golden tiles.10
We have to admit that this description would comply with the general layout
of the Kafir Kala ruins rather well. Masson thought that a monumental garden
of this kind would have been an appropriate setting for Timur and his
entourage, when Samarkand was the capital of his empire and hence of the
world.11 Masson published two detailed plans illustrating both the archaeolog-
ical area of Misr Shaar (Fig. 10) and the supposed royal garden of Davlet-
abad, i.e. the Sogdian fortress of Kafir Kala (Fig. 11). The first one is a fairly
precise contour map, where Masson has positioned the most conspicuous sites
with their names: the supposed palace of Davlet-abad (Kafir Kala), Khisht
tyube (Gishtepa),12 Naimantepa, the two sites called Kurgantepa13 and a name-
less one, now no longer visible on the surface. Their physical characteristics
are detailed in the following Table 2, measured directly from his plan:
7
Masson 1928, 43.
8
Yakubovskii 1925, 156.
9
Masson 1928, 43.
10
Masson 1928, 44.
11
Masson 1928, 45.
12
For a detailed description of Gishtepa see Alimov 1974, Alimov 1984.
13
As Belenitskii wrote (Belenitskii 1975, 16), “In Central Asia the major part of sites are
named by local people on the base of their outward appearance (for example: Kattatepa = big
mound; Karatepa = black mound; Mozartepa = Cemetery mound; Kurgantepa = nomadic grave-
yard)”, but generally the term tepa is used to indicate any median-to-large even-sided mound.
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Fig. 10. “Misr Shaar Archaeological area” plan by M. Masson (1928). The five biggest sites of
the area are clearly visible, as well as the remains of ancient Misr Shaar and its great defensive
embankment.
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Table 2: Sites mapped by Masson and their main information retrieved from
topographical maps and survey observations.
Kafir Kala 16 20 6 2 1
Ghishtepa 0,91 11 NO 1 NO
Naimantepa 0,13 10 NO NO NO
Kurgantepa-1 1,83 12 2 1 1
Kurgantepa-2 0,13 11 NO NO NO
Nameless (destroyed) 0,12 5,7 NO NO NO
For the fortress area we have the plans left by Masson, Nil’sen and
Askarov.15 Each one of them can be correlated with the existing structures.
The site’s state of preservation is in general quite good (Figs. 13, 14). The
monumental compound extends for about 16 ha, with a few parts invisible
from the present surface. The area has been divided into three parts by
Askarov: citadel, city and suburb (see DEM in Fig. 7).16
14
Nil’sen 1966, 23-25.
15
Masson 1928, plan 2; Nil’sen 1966, 24 and Askarov 1995, plan 11.
16
Askarov 1995, 67.
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17
Pakhs® is the typical building technique of Central Asia, typified by unbaked clay-blocks
of different sizes. For the building techniques in Central Asia during the Middle Age, especially
from 5th to 8th century, see, Nil’sen 1966.
126
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Fig. 13. Kafir Kala seen from the south. In the foreground the southern towers (2001).
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naturally protected on three sides.18 Only the South is open and here Masson
suggested the presence of a large earthwork rampart, 1500 m long and 750 m
wide, with the ruins of Misr Shaar standing in its south-eastern corner (see
Fig. 10).19 The amelioration works have destroyed most of the ancient struc-
tures in this part of the site and now there are no element to describe these
later structures. However, we certainly know, that the graveyard (see Site 21
in Fig. 6), was visible in the 1:10,000 map of the 1950s and is evident on the
1968 CORONA images. At present just a small part remains in the west to be
recorded (see the details in Fig. 9).
A first detailed plan of the Kafir Kala complex, based on some 1600 points,
was produced in October 2000 by E. Menghi, E. Cirelli and A. Berdimuradov
in order to sketch a first reference map (Fig. 15).
For a more systematic analysis of the complex work facing us in the future,
we began planning by dividing the area of investigation into an extra-site one,
extended to cover for the whole surrounding territory to an approximate radius
of 8 km, and an intra-site one including the fortress of Kafir Kala and its sur-
roundings for 0.18 km (2,5% of whole area). Later, we discovered, that our
arbitrary limits for the exploration area correspond quite precisely to those
drawn by Masson, before the modern destructions had taken place.
Judging by the pottery so far collected, the great majority of the structures
date between the 4th and the 8th century AD. Both earlier and later sites are
rarely recorded from surface evidence along the Dargom and across the whole
countryside south of the Karadarya or from the hilly territory of the Urgut
Province. This can hardly be a surprise: while the sediments of the Zeravshan,
together with those from the Karatyube drainage have buried ancient and pre-
historic sites, the later ones are probably enclosed within the present towns
and villages in all piedmont areas. Scattered occurences of Islamic pottery
indicate the continuity of a few Sogdian sites after the Arab conquest.20 Only
larger towns and major centres, structured as high mounds by their massive
fortifications and the platforms they contain, still stand above the alluvium to
witness the occupation from Achaemenid, Greek or Kushan times.
18
On the defensive system of Kafir Kala, see Berdimuradov, Askarov 1992, 57-58.
19
Masson 1928, plan No. 2.
20
Grenet, de la Vaissiere 2002, 155.
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Abbreviations