JANDAVLATTEPA

The Excavation Report for Seasons 2002–2006

VOL. 1

Editors

KAZIM ABDULLAEV

LADISLAV STANČO

Karolinum

Jandavlattepa

The Excavation Report for Seasons 2002–2006 (Vol. 1)

Editors

Kazim Abdullaev

Ladislav Stančo

Reviewed by:

Mgr. Alžběta Danielisová, Ph.D.

Mgr. Karel Nováček, Ph.D.

Published by Charles University in Prague

Karolinum Press

www.karolinum.cz

ebooks@karolinum.cz

Cover by Jan Šerých

First edition

Charles University in Prague, 2011

© Ladislav Stančo (ed.), 2011

ISBN 978-80246-1965-1

ISBN 978-80-246-2468-6 (pdf)

ISBN 978-80-246-3045-8 (ePub)

ISBN 978-80-246-3046-5 (Kindle)

Contents

1. Cover Page

2. Title Page

3. Copyright Page

4. Contents

5. Acknowledgements

6. Introduction

7. 1. The site and its environs

1. 1.1: General remarks and description of the landscape

2. 1.2: General description of the site, history of research

3. 1.3: Jandavlattepa: complete bibliography (–07/2010)

8. 2. Excavations

1. 2.1: Excavations in Sector 20, the so-called “Citadel”

2. 2.2: Excavations in Sector 04 – Preliminary report

3. 2.3: Excavations in Sector 08

4. 2.4: Excavations in Sector 30 – preliminary research in the nearby environs of Jandavlattepa

9. 3. Special studies

1. 3.1: Textile production at Jandavlattepa

2. 3.2: Metal, stone and bone weapons and implements

3. 3.3: Personal ornaments, jewellery and cosmetic implements

4. 3.4: Terracotta figurines, appliques and gem imprints

5. 3.5: Numismatic finds (2002–2006)

10. 4. Concluding remarks

11. 5. List of small finds from Sectors 04, 07, 20 and 31

Acknowledgements

Introduction. Ladislav Stančo

1. The site and its environs

1.1: General remarks and description of the landscape Kazim Abdullaev

1.2: General description of the site, history of research Ladislav Stančo

1.3: Jandavlattepa: complete bibliography (–07/2010)

2. Excavations

2.1: Excavations in Sector 20, the so-called “Citadel” Ladislav Stančo

2.2: Excavations in Sector 04 – Preliminary report Shapulat Shaydullaev

2.3: Excavations in Sector 08 Ladislav Boháč – Ladislav Stančo

2.4: Excavations in Sector 30 – preliminary research in the nearby environs of Jandavlattepa Kristýna Urbanová

3. Special studies

3.1 Textile production at Jandavlattepa Kristýna Urbanová

3.2: Metal, stone and bone weapons and implements Jan Kysela

3.3: Personal ornaments, jewellery and cosmetic implements Petra Belaňová

3.4: Terracotta figurines, appliques and gem imprints Kazim Abdullaev

3.5: Numismatic finds (2002–2006) Kazim Abdullaev

4. Concluding remarks. Kazim Abdullaev – Ladislav Stančo

5. List of small finds from Sectors 04, 07, 20 and 31

1. 1

2. 2

3. 5

4. 6

5. 7

6. 8

7. 9

8. 10

9. 11

10. 12

11. 13

12. 14

13. 15

14. 16

15. 17

16. 18

17. 19

18. 20

19. 21

20. 22

21. 23

22. 24

23. 25

24. 26

25. 27

26. 28

27. 29

28. 30

29. 31

30. 32

31. 33

32. 34

33. 35

34. 36

35. 37

36. 38

37. 39

38. 40

39. 41

40. 42

41. 43

42. 44

43. 45

44. 46

45. 47

46. 48

47. 49

48. 50

49. 51

50. 52

51. 53

52. 54

53. 55

54. 56

55. 57

56. 58

57. 59

58. 60

59. 61

60. 62

61. 63

62. 64

63. 65

64. 66

65. 67

66. 68

67. 69

68. 70

69. 71

70. 72

71. 73

72. 74

73. 75

74. 76

75. 77

76. 78

77. 79

78. 80

79. 81

80. 82

81. 83

82. 84

83. 85

84. 86

85. 87

86. 88

87. 89

88. 90

89. 91

90. 92

91. 93

92. 94

93. 95

94. 96

95. 97

96. 98

97. 99

98. 100

99. 101

100. 102

101. 103

102. 104

103. 105

104. 106

105. 107

106. 108

107. 109

108. 110

109. 111

110. 112

111. 113

112. 114

113. 115

114. 116

115. 117

116. 118

117. 119

118. 120

119. 121

120. 122

121. 123

122. 124

123. 125

124. 126

125. 127

126. 128

127. 129

128. 130

129. 131

130. 132

131. 133

132. 134

133. 135

134. 136

135. 137

136. 138

137. 139

138. 140

139. 141

140. 142

141. 143

142. 144

143. 145

144. 146

145. 147

146. 148

147. 149

148. 150

149. 151

150. 152

151. 153

152. 154

153. 155

154. 156

155. 157

156. 158

157. 159

158. 160

159. 161

160. 162

161. 163

162. 164

163. 165

164. 166

165. 167

166. 168

167. 169

168. 170

169. 171

170. 172

171. 173

172. 174

173. 175

174. 176

175. 177

176. 178

177. 179

178. 180

179. 181

180. 182

181. 183

182. 184

183. 185

184. 186

185. 187

186. 188

187. 189

188. 190

189. 191

190. 192

191. 193

192. 194

193. 195

194. 196

195. 197

1. Cover Page

2. Begin Reading

3. Copyright Page

4. Contents

5. Acknowledgements

6. Introduction

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all those who have contributed to the appearance of this publication, and who have also permitted the research project itself to take place – in particular, those institutions that provided finance. This was in large part Charles University, which financed the project for its duration, through the following grants: GA UK 292/2001/A-HN/FF “The influence of Hellenistic art in Asia on the basis of archaeological sources” and 473/2004/A-HN/FF “Bactria in the age of the Greeks, Sakas and Kushans.” In addition, the Faculty of Arts of Charles University contributed by awarding numerous grants to students taking part in the project, as well as by financing the preparatory work for this publication in 2007 (an internal grant for a research paper entitled “Late Ancient Bactria in the light of evidence of the material culture.”) The Faculty of Arts, specifically the Institute for Classical Archaeology, also provided institutional support, including part of our technological equipment, while the institute’s directors, Jan Bouzek and Iva Ondřejová, provided their full support to our endeavours. In 2004 the Fund for the Development of Higher Education funded student participation in the project through the grant no. 1827/2004 “Continuity and discontinuity in the settlement of northern Bactria in ancient times.”

We are also very much indebted to the staff of the Archaeological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan in Samarkand for their support and aid, above all to the former director of the institute, Timur Shirinov. We are also very appreciative of the help and kindness to our hosts and friends in the village of Akkurgan, to Shadmon Ergashev, caretaker of local museum, his daughter, who was occasionally our doctor and his granddaughter Dilbar, our truehearted cook. The same gratefulness deserve those people from the villages of Saitabad and Akkurgan, who assisted us in the exhausting fieldwork.

We would like to thank Mr. Škoda and Mr. Sanytrák from the company Foto Škoda, who supported us in the initial phases of the project, above all by providing photographic materials and holding promotional exhibitions. We are greatly indebted to Mr. Haruštiak, the director of the company Eriell, who provided us with significant support in 2006. Throughout the period of the research he lent us a new all-terrain vehicle and helped us in all sorts of ways. We should also like to convey our thanks to the representatives of the Czech Embassy in Tashkent – the Consul, Mrs. Deňková, for her help in 2002–3, and above all the Ambassador, Mr. Aleš Fojtík, and his wife for their availability, frequent help and significant contribution to the success of the expedition in 2006.

We would also like to thank those who helped us with the final work on the publication, including Valerie Talacko for translating texts from Czech into English, and Antonio Arias, who corrected the texts submitted in English. Beside the editors mentioned on the front page, Jan Kysela helped much both with preparation of this volume and of the online database.

Finally, the Czech participants would like – from their part – to thank our closest colleagues and friends, Kazim Abdullaev, who first initiated this joint project, and Shapulat Shaydullaev for all the care he lavished on us, and both of them for the large amount of advice with which they provided us as they introduced us to Central Asian archaeology. We can never sufficiently thank our friend and colleague Alisher Shaydullaev, for all his dedication and hard work.

Introduction

Ladislav Stančo

After the long period of almost exclusively Soviet scholarly interest caused by the political situation, Central Asia became a forefront of international archaeological research early in the 90’s. Several respected archaeological teams have established gradually their projects throughout post-Soviet republics of Central Asia, including Uzbekistan. In 2002 this effort was joined by a small Czech-Uzbekistani team aiming to start archaeological investigation of northwestern part of ancient Bactria, particularly the area of Sherabad oasis. The preparatory season 2001 led to the decision to start the trial excavations on the Jandavlattepa, the major site of the oasis, located close to the town of Sherabad itself (Maps 1 and 2). This stage of our research was intended as initial step for gaining detail knowledge of the settlement structure and chronology of the Sherabad oasis as a whole.

The main goals of our project on the site of Jandavlattepa were as follows:

1. to refine the chronology of the site as well as of the region (Sector 02)

2. to obtain archaeological material sufficiently complex to enable us to study various aspects of culture and society of Late Kushan a and Kushano-Sasanian periods (Sectors 06, 07, 08 and 20)

In this respect, one of the main concerns of the present publication is to present some freshly gained data in the field of Bactrian archaeology of Pre-Islamic periods and to shed some more light on different aspects of understanding its material culture especially during transitional period between Kushan period and early medieval times.

During the process of excavations on Jandavlattepa a large amount of archaeological material and data was unearthed and accumulated. Both coeditors decided early at the beginning of the joint work to publish all the material as soon as possible and the term of five years after termination of the excavations was firmly set as the deadline. Herewith we try to fulfil, at least partly, our erstwhile undertaking. The present title, however, is far from being complete publication of our results. It represents just a pilot volume, which will be ensued by two other books in the near future. This one presents primarily the description of the process of excavation in the Sector 20, the Citadel, and its results, as well as several thematic studies of concrete groups of artefacts (see Structure of the publication below). The reader can expect a similar description of the Sector 07, i.e. upper Shakhristan, (L. Grmela, J. Halama, L. Stančo et alii) as well as a thorough study of ceramics from the Sectors 07, 08 and 20 in the second volume (M. Odler and L. Stančo) and a complete publication of vast material from the Sector 02 (stratigraphical trench, K. Abdullaev) and final conclusion in the third volume respectively. As the site of Jandavlattepa representing the core of the settlement structure in the Sherabad oasis did not function in a vacuum, we would like to analyse its position, spatial relations with the other sites of the oasis and dynamics of the oasis’ settlement structure in general in yet another volume.[1]

Structure of the publication

This publication has been divided into three parts. The first part contains a brief general description of the site and the history of its excavation, as well as geographical and topographical notes. The second, core, part contains a description of the archaeological situations in the various sectors. These descriptions have been grouped into three units, corresponding to their physical distribution over the site. The first unit is the area of the so-called Citadel, or sector 20. The second is the area of the lower town, or Shakhristan, comprising sectors 04, 07 and 08. Sectors 02 and 06 ought to be included here, but the material from sectors 07 and 02 in particular is extremely extensive, and the plan is to publish it in separate volumes. The third is a description of sector 30, an area outside the tepa itself, where preliminary exploration took place. The overall map shows the location of the sectors in the site (fig. 1).

The third part of the publication consists of studies devoted to various groups of finds: coins, textile-making implements, weapons and tools, jewellery and clay figurines.

At the end of the book, in addition to a bibliography, is placed a list of all small finds, with references to depictions of them in drawings and photographs, and to the places in the text where special attention is paid to these finds.

[1] We focused on this aspect during our subsequent project, for some preliminary notes on this subject cf. Stančo 2009 and Danielisová – Stančo – Shaydullaev 2010.

1. The site and its environs

1.1 General remarks and description of the landscape

Kazim Abdullaev

Southern Uzbekistan is characterised by alternating mountain ridges and river valleys (Maps 1, 2 and 3). The valley of the river Surkhan Darya (after which the whole region – Viloyat – is named) is exceptional in terms of both its dimensions and the landscape variability. It begins roughly in the district of the modern village of Dekhanabad where the Great Uzbek Highway passes along the river Kan (a left-bank tributary of the river Kichik Ura Darya).

In this tract, the road rises steadily up to the Chakchak pass (near Akrabat). Beyond the village of Akrabad, there is a watershed between the basins of the river Guzar Darya and that of the river Sherabad Darya, one of the important tributaries of the Amu Darya. Here, the mountains – the southwestern spurs of Baysun Tau – do not attain extraordinary heights but have fairly sharp outlines. The picturesqueness of the mountains is enhanced by the presence of variegated rocks – white, greenish and red. A particularly striking visual effect is produced by the slightly inclined yellowish-white limestone slopes. Easily eroded by torrents of mud and water, they have been shaped into deep and narrow valleys. The main road hugs the slopes of the Sarymas ridge and subsequently emerges into the Shurob Say valley.

After the confluence of the salt-water river Shurob Say (“Salty Water” in Tajik) and the fresh waters of the Machay Darya, which rises in the Baysun Tau Mountains, the waters of the Sherabad Darya become salty. The Sherabad Darya valley, stretching from north to south, is shaped by one of the principal tributaries of the Amu Darya, which rises in the southern spurs of the Hissar mountains, in Baysun Tau. After passing through picturesque foothills (fig. 1.1, 1), the river enters the plain after the Kangi foothills approximately in the outskirts of the modern regional centre, the town of Sherabad.

Archaeologists have detected human habitation in this region since the upper Palaeolithic era. The finding of remains of Neanderthal boy in the cave of Teshik-Tash near the Machay district is one of the earliest testimonies to human presence.

The archaeological sites located in the river’s alluvial plain (fig. 1.1, 2) can be dated to various periods, and testify to human settlement in the territory from the most ancient times. The territory of the Sherabad oasis formed part of the ancient historical and cultural region of Bactria. Without entering into details of the question of the borders of Bactria mentioned in cuneiform rock inscriptions from the 6th century BC, it should be noted that the northern limits of Bactria included the territory north of the river of Amu Darya – Oxus.[1]

This is confirmed by basically all categories of artefacts, which show cultural development along common lines, with common tendencies and, it appears, from common sources (both north and south of the river). In any case, the territory north of the river Amu Darya/Oxus up to the spurs of Baysun Tau (i.e. the southern spur of the Hissar ridge) is considered by more and more scholars to be a uniform cultural region.[2] At Baysun Tau a system of defensive constructions has been identified by archaeologists, including a monumental fortification wall near modern Darband. Archaeological surveys of the sites within the Sherabad oasis testify to the presence an advanced culture in the area as early as the Bronze Age. It is in this region that monuments such as those at Sapallitepa and Jarkutan were unearthed and investigated. Excavations by Uzbekistani archaeologists indicate ancient societies with complex and particular forms, and a highly developed material and spiritual culture.

At the site of Jarkutan, in particular, excavations of the ancient settlement revealed the initial stage of development of proto-urban cultures and traces of cultural ceremonies of which elements would reappear subsequently in a religious doctrine close to Zoroastrianism. So, for example, the sacred terrace discovered at Jarkutan, with its precise lay-out composed around the Chokhortag, makes the complex comparable to well-known monuments in Iran (Bard-e Nishande, Takht-e Suleyman, Nush-e Jan).

One of the interesting features of the Sherabad oasis is the continuity of settlement, with sites surviving from one archaeological period to another. So for example, the final phase of Jarkutan, in the late Bronze and Early Iron Ages, apparently continues in a number of other neighbouring sites in the oasis (Talashkan 2, Kuchuktepa, Pshaktepa etc.). It is therefore likely, going by excavations of the lowermost levels of Jandavlattepa (with fragments of painted pottery), that the beginning of human presence in the site is connected with a period of dwindling human activity in a number of other sites, including Jarkutan.

The history of archaeological research into this period in Central Asia may be subdivided into four stages. In the archaeological literature the first stage is traditionally connected to the pre-revolutionary period (before 1917) and is characterised by the investigations of military topographers and engineers, and also local history amateurs.

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Table of Contents

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. The site and its environs

1.1: General remarks and description of the landscape

2. Excavations

3. Special studies