Tugunbulak was a medieval city in the Turkestan Range, located in what is now southeastern Uzbekistan near Zaamin National Park. It and the nearby contemporary site of Tashbulak (39°41′46.67″N 68°19′14.83″E / 39.6962972°N 68.3207861°E) were occupied from the 6th to the late 10th centuries CE. Situated at altitudes of 2,000–2,200 m (6,600–7,200 ft), the city was a center of iron mining and production, through which it was connected to the Silk Road trading networks. Tugunbulak's remains occupy an area of approximately 120 ha (300 acres). It contained extensive walls, terraces, and fortifications.[1][2][3]
  Shown within Uzbekistan | |
| Location | near Zaamin National Park, Uzbekistan |
|---|---|
| Region | Turkestan Range |
| Coordinates | 39°42′11.67″N 68°15′56.62″E / 39.7032417°N 68.2657278°E |
| Altitude | 2,000–2,200 m (6,562–7,218 ft) |
| Type | city |
| Area | 120 hectares (300 acres) |
| History | |
| Founded | 6th century |
| Abandoned | 10th century |
| Site notes | |
| Discovered | 2015 |
| Excavation dates | 2022 |
| Archaeologists |
|
Nearby Tashbulak was discovered by a team including American archaeologist Michael Frachetti and Uzbek archaeologist Farhod Maksudov in 2011. While investigating pottery sherds at the site in 2015, Frachetti met a forestry inspector living in the surrounding area, who informed him that he had seen similar ceramics in his backyard. Upon investigating his farmstead, Frachetti discovered the inspector's house was built on the remains of a citadel. Excavations and Lidar scans were made at the site in 2022, revealing the large urban center. After further fieldwork at the site the following year, the discovery was published in Nature in October 2024.[2][3]
References
edit- ^ Frachetti et al. 2024, pp. 1–6.
- ^ a b Parshall 2024.
- ^ a b Clynes 2024.
Bibliography
edit- Clynes, Tom (23 October 2024). "Lost Silk Road Cities Were Just Discovered With Groundbreaking Tech". National Geographic.
- Frachetti, Michael D.; Berner, Jack; Liu, Xiaoyu; Henry, Edward R.; Maksudov, Farhod; Ju, Tao (2024). "Large-scale Medieval Urbanism traced by UAV–Lidar in Highland Central Asia". Nature. doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08086-5.
- Parshall, Allison (23 October 2024). "Lost Silk Road Cities Discovered High in the Mountains of Central Asia". Scientific American.