Archaeological research on the settlement of Bol’shoy K’irk-K’iz in the Right-Bank Chorasmia in 2021
Abstract
The article summarizes the preliminary results of the research conducted at the settlement of Bolshoy Kyrk-Kyz in 2021. The stratigraphic excavation within the citadel of the settlement revealed three construction horizons corresponding to the most intense period of the monument's life - the first half of the I millennium AD. This date is determined by a very characteristic ceramic complex obtained during excavations. There is a group of ceramics made by hand from clay with admixtures of chamotte and crystalline gypsum. This ware has numerous analogies in the ceramic complexes of Khorezm dated to the II–IV centuries AD. In the northern part of the fortress, where the contours of a large building were traced, a new excavation was laid. After the sweeps, this assumption was confirmed. A part of a large building was discovered during the excavation, in the center of which was a vast courtyard paved with mud bricks. Perhaps it was a large city estate built at the final stage of the monument's life. According to the accompanying material, the building dates from the VII – first half of the VIII centuries AD. As a result of these works, a preliminary periodization of the life of the monument is proposed, which was founded as the center of a small agricultural oasis no later than the IV–III centuries BC. The final stage of the existence of the fortress dates back to the VII–VIII centuries AD. At this time, an extensive suburb with developed handicraft production was formed to the east of the fortress.