Uzbekistan
Kayrit

Location and research history

Kayrit Oasis is located in the Sherabad district of Surkhan-Darya province not far from the Uzbek-Turkmen border. This border is demarcated by the Kugitang Tau mountains, culminating at 3,139 m, leading into a mid-mountain landscape in the Pashkurt region where the Kayrit Oasis is located. The first surveys in the Kayrit Oasis were carried out by the Czech-Uzbek team from Charles University, led by Ladislav Stančo and Shapulat Shaydullaev. As early as 2014, it identified numerous sites ranging from the Bronze Age to the medieval period: stone mounds reminiscent of kurgans, petroglyphs associated with Andronovo steppe cultures, Early Iron Age villages, ceramic heaps etc. Between 2015 and 2017, this team undertook excavations at the Burgut Kurgan and Kayrit Tepa sites, characterized by fortified agropastoral installations.

In 2018, MAFBAP resumed excavations at the Burgut Kurgan site to gain a better understanding of its architecture and material culture. The general plan is oval, with contiguous rooms set against the surrounding wall. The latter is built with stone foundations and a mud-brick elevation. The remains testify to at least three successive phases of occupation and use of the outer wall, indicating that the site was inhabited over a fairly long period. In 2018 and 2022, MAFBAP continued excavations at the Kayrit Tepa site and opened several test pits at the Gaza Kutan site, revealing the presence of a stone enclosure wall and settlements along the wall at both sites. These excavations were coupled with magnetic prospecting and targeted test pits at other sites, notably Boyqushtepa, as well as surveys of the region, extensive study of irrigation networks, archaeo-botanical and material production analyses (ceramics, lithic tools) and a dating program, in order to better characterize new Early Iron Age settlement sites.

Research issues

The particularity of this oasis is that it is home to the only sites currently known in Central Asia to be located in a mountainous context for the Early Iron Age; the other 300 sites are exclusively located in plains and low valleys. In addition to being located in a particular topographical and environmental context, the sites in this region do not appear to have been occupied in other periods, again unlike contemporary sites. This makes it possible to uncover a clear stratigraphy and consequently to document this period exhaustively through a variety of approaches: the study of Iron Age settlements and habitats, the study of the subsistence economy and the characterization of material culture.