Complex
Mizdahkan
Mizdahkan
The entire hill is occupied by the settlement of Gyaur-kala. It dates back to the 4th century BC to the beginning of the 13th century. The area is about 8 hectares.
Gyaur-kala is a city mentioned in Arabic sources of the 10th century under the name “Mizdakhan”. V.V. Bartold was the first to identify the settlement of Mizdakhan, based on information from Arabic geographers who equated the size of the city to Gurganj (the capital of the state of Khorezmshahs, the modern settlement of Kunya Urgench).
southern part of the eastern hill
V.V. Bartold (3.10.1869—19.08.1930)
Archaeological ruins
of Mizdahkan
Interesting facts
The fortress wall is made of adobe bricks and pakhsa also surrounds the city along the perimeter. The preserved height of the wall is 10 m. The city gates, located on the eastern side, are reinforced with gate structures.
The city existed in one place from the 4th century BC to the beginning of the 13th century. The thickness of the cultural layer is 10 m. The topography of the city has not been studied.
In the southeastern part of Gyaur-Kala, two independent architectural complexes were excavated. Researchers interpreted them as citadels
In the southeastern part of Gyaur-kala, two independent architectural complexes were excavated.
Researchers interpreted them as citadels. The eastern citadel dates back to the 9th – early 10th centuries.
The western citadel, which is considered a palace building, dates back to the 11th – early 13th centuries. At the beginning of the 13th century, the city ceased to exist. Its desolation is associated with the Mongol conquest of Khorezm (the capture of neighboring Gurganj, the capital of the Khorezmashakh state, by the Mongols in 1221). Probably, at this time, the city's water supply was disrupted.
Juma Mosque
Golden Horde city
The absence of a fortress wall makes it difficult to determine the area of the city. The approximate area is about 80 hectares. The specifics of the stratigraphy - the thickness of the cultural layer of the settlement is small - two cultural layers. The following have been excavated in the city - residential quarters, a street, an alley; the remains of craft production (ceramic production, wine production, etc.); The remains of a quarter mosque from the 14th century.
Ceramic kilns (round in plan, two-tiered, with vaulted ceilings) and wine production workshops were found on the territory of the Golden Horde settlement. Along with residential and utility rooms, a public building (rectangular in plan - 9.8 x 11 m with a flat ceiling, supported by columns) was excavated in the area of the so-called "Southern Settlement". Researchers interpreted the building as a quarter mosque.
A feature of the stratigraphy of the Golden Horde city is the small thickness of the cultural layer. Thus, in particular, according to the observations of the authors of the excavations, "life on the territory of the "Southern Settlement" functioned for a short time - from the end of the 13th to the beginning of the 14th centuries."
At the same time, during excavations (1987-1989, 1994-1997, 2006-2007) in various places of the Golden Horde Mizdakhkan, buildings and samples of material culture from the Timurid period were discovered.
panorama of the ancient settlement of Mizdakhkan
The territory of the settlement
There is a settlement on this territory, which dates back to the beginning of the 13th century - the end of the 14th century. In the 10th-11th centuries, there were estates on
this territory. After the desolation of Gyaur-kala, the city of Mizdakhan moved to this territory.
In the beginning of the 13th - 14th centuries, the city was part of the Ulus of Jochi (Golden Horde). The desolation of the city dates back to the end of the 14th century. This is due to the general crisis of the Golden Horde state and a change in the water supply system of the region. There are traces of settlement in the city at the beginning of the 15th century. The area is about 80 hectares.
Eastern Hill
Jumart-kassab
In the southern part of the Eastern Hill
In 1962, 1964, 1965, an archaeological expedition of the detachment of the Karakalpak branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR under the leadership of V.N. Yagodin carried out work on the territory of the southern part of the Eastern Hill. As a result of the excavations, a significant number of burial structures and burials of different periods from the 3rd to the 14th centuries AD
were revealed. Two large typological groups were identified.
Judging by the stratigraphy, these groups represent two chronological stages and reflect the religious views of the inhabitants of the city / region: the first stage - Zoroastrianism; the second stage - Islam (Yagodin, Khodjayov. 1970, pp. 30-31, 127, table).
In the 1980s, excavations at the Mizdakhkan necropolis were continued in small areas
In the northern part of the Eastern Hill
Archaeological work in the northern part of the Eastern Hill was mainly devoted to the study of various architectural religious buildings - mausoleums, khanaka
. A complex of buildings, called "White Khanaka" due to the presence of ganch plaster, was excavated on the northern edge of the Eastern Hill. The construction of the complex dates back to the 12th century. In addition to the khanaka, it includes a domed structure (mausoleum?), two mosques located to the west of the khanaka, and several utility rooms. Judging by the correspondence of the layouts of the buildings, the first mosque was erected at the same time as the khanaka. The mosque was called "winter". It is a rectangular room with a flat ceiling resting on columns. The entrance to the mosque was from the north. In the center of the southern wall there is a mihrab niche. The mosque dates back to the 12th century.
Gyaur-kala.aerial photo
excavations of Caliph Eredzhep
A second mosque was added to the winter mosque from the west - a larger one, which was called the "summer" mosque. It is a large courtyard, the flat ceiling of which rested on wooden columns with stone bases. In the "summer" mosque, on the southern wall, a mihrab was cleared, which is decorated with a carved clay frieze with an Arabic inscription. The handwriting of the inscription clearly dates the mihrab, and accordingly, the construction of the "summer" mosque to the 12th century.
Suburban area with traces of buildings
An irrigation network with traces of agro-irrigation planning extends to the east and southeast of the hills at a distance of up to 1.5 km.
Archaeological study of the Mizdakhan area has not been conducted.
In 2018, during restoration work, the mausoleum was completely destroyed and a new building was erected in its place.
Currently, archaeological work on the Eastern Hill is not possible, as it is almost entirely occupied by a modern cemetery.
Juma Mosque