Kurgans of the Eastern Kugitang piedmonts
Kurgans of the Eastern Kugitang piedmonts

Preliminary report on an archaeological surface survey in the 2022 season

Summary/Abstract: The eastern Kugitang piedmonts, southern Uzbekistan, have recently shown to be a particularly rich region in terms of archaeology. Among a wide range of archaeological sites spreading chronologically from the Neolithic to Pre‑Modern period, kurgan mounds turned out to be a particularly frequent feature characteristic for the areas surrounding the narrow river valleys. This report presents new data on the occurrence of kurgan mounds gathered by the Czech‑Uzbekistani archaeological mission in the spring season 2022. By means of a targeted extensive surface survey, the Czech‑Uzbekistani team focused on four principal areas: 1) north of the village of Karabag, 2) east of the village of Khojaulkan, 3) the valley of Alamlisay, and 4) the area between the villages of Khatak and Panjob. The survey yielded in total 188 kurgan mounds, not counting hundreds of other various archaeological features identified. The total number of kurgans recorded so far in the eastern Kugitang piedmonts exceeds four hundred, indicating an intensive past exploitation of the highland areas of the nowadays Surkhandarya province. This report focusses on the morphology and spatial distribution of newly detected kurgan mounds and attempts to put them in the context of previous research.

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