Tour Guide, Dushanbe, Tajikistan
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The ancient agricultural settlement of Sarazm is located on the left bank of the Zarafshan River, 15 km west of the city of Penjikent of the Republic of Tajikistan, 500 meters north of the Penjikent-Samarkand highway.
The settlement is located on an elevation stretching from west to east for about 1.5 km, with a width of 400-900 m. The territory of the monument occupies more than 100 hectares. Geographic coordinates 39°30'28.4" N, 67°27'31.4" E, mean absolute height 910 m above sea level.
In ancient times, Sarazm had an important strategic location in Central Asia, being a contact zone between nomadic tribes and the first agrarian settlers of Traxoxania (the area between the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya), which was the key to its unique development during the IVIII millennium BC. Through the organization of trade between these two groups, Sarazm contributed to the improvement of these relations and became more significant locally and regionally. Gradually, Sarazm became the main trading center in Central Asia, establishing relations with the settlements of the Eurasian steppe zone and the Aral Sea in the north, Turkmenistan and the Iranian plateau in the west, and the Indus Valley in the south. This was largely due to the presence of minerals in the vicinity.
Sarazm, thanks to which it became the first large center for the extraction of copper, tin-lead and other metals in the Central Asian interfluve in the IVIII millennium BC. Thus, Sarazm becomes the main center for the production of paleometal in the region and develops as a proto-urban center. In addition, industrial goods were produced here.
- jewellery and objects made of bronze, lead, silver, gold, steatite and semi-precious stones (turquoise, agate, lapis lazuli). The advent of improved production processes and improved technology has led to many social changes. The beginning of specialization in the production of goods contributed to the emergence of social hierarchies and the completion of urbanization. In addition, the mountainous zone and a wide part of the valley in the vicinity of Sarazm were favourable zones for farming and raising livestock, and the nearby "tugai" (jungle) in the coastal area of Zarafshan also allowed the population to engage in gathering, hunting and fishing.
It is not known for certain when ancient humans discovered that they could shape and use metal tools. Presumably, it occurred in the Neolithic Era, when craftsmen could already process stone and create tools and weapons from flint. These processes required well-honed skills and abilities. Flint is a strong but fragile rock, and one had to know how to hit the stone with another stone in order to construct a tool of the needed shape and sharpness.
Perhaps one of the ancient people noticed that some pieces of stone do not crack when they are hit, but instead are deformed and from friction heat up and become more ductile. This is one explanation of how people discovered the properties of metal ore.
First, people mastered the technology of cold forging. They struck a piece of copper with a stone and shaped it. The finished product was soft and quickly became blunt, but it was still better than a flint scraper.
After craftsmen built the first primitive forge, the ancient metallurgists began to melt and forge hot metal, experimenting with alloys. By adding tin and arsenic to soft copper, bronze was created – a more durable metal and stronger metal. Thus began the Bronze Age. In Sarazm, archaeologists found numerous copper and bronze objects from copper and bronze, as well as stone tools, pestles, and hammers for processing metal ore.
Among the findings were bronze spears, knives and daggers, spearheads, mirrors and pins, fishing hooks, and tools for working with stone. However, the Sarazmians did not need so many weapons. They were a peaceful people and, judging from the lack of defensive walls and fortifications in the city, did not often suffer from enemy raid. The walls of houses inside the settlements were thin and could not withstand a siege. Most of these items were likely for exchange with other pastoral and agricultural tribes.
The Princess of Sarazm
One of the most famous findings from the settlement is a rich burial ground. Among other burials, archaeologists found the skeleton of a 36 or 37-year-old woman inside a large circular ring, 15 meters in diameter and made of stones. Inside the burial ground, there were also several additional single, paired, and collective graves.
Some of the graves had objects, such as a marble dish, buried next to the skeletons. Although some were buried with nothing, the richest grave was lavishly decorated with many objects. The woman’s body was covered with a veil richly embroidered with beads of lapis and white limestone, and she became known as the “Princess of Sarazm”.
Archaeologists have counted more than 10,000 of these beads, which were painstakingly and thoroughly crafted. Gold beads were found at the head of the grave of the “Sarazm Princess”, apparently threaded through the hair of the deceased. Two massive bracelets carved from sea shells were found on her hands, and a copper mirror and a statuette of a female deity made of unburned clay were placed next to her.
A whole carcass of a ram was placed 50 centimetres from the body. This burial is dated to the first period of the settlement’s existence, known as “Sarazm I” or 3,500-3,000 B.C. For comparison, the first Egyptian pyramid—the Step Pyramid of Djoser—was built around 2,800 B.C.
The burial ground in Sarazm was discovered at the level of the first layer of the Bronze Age monument. In later periods of the settlement, residential and utility rooms were built over the necropolis. Some excavations showed signs of all four layers of the settlement’s existence, while in others, only one.
Throughout the entire period of archaeological work, several burial grounds were discovered, although not enough to support a settlement which existed for almost 1,600 years. This means that either the necropolis was located outside of Sarazm or archaeologists have yet to find it.
The Mystery of the Sarazmians
The “Princess of Sarazm” gave researchers valuable knowledge into the lives and culture of the Sarazmians. For instance, her lavish burial shows that in the society of the late Eneolithic and Bronze Age, property, and social inequality, and class systems already existed. She was buried with the most valuable objects from that time period. Probably, she was the wife of a ruler, or may have been a ruler or priestess herself.
Little is known about the beliefs of the ancient inhabitants of Sarazm. Due to lack of written sources, we do not know anything about their religious beliefs or rituals. It is clear that people already believed in the existence of the afterlife, which they perceived as a continuation of the human world. Otherwise, why would they put in graves jewelry, mirrors, and dishes that were expensive and valuable to people.
People believed in the existence of evil and good spirits and in gods. This encouraged them to ask for patronage and protection through the ritual of sacrifice. The carcass of a ram, laid down with the deceased, was probably a payment to the other world. The remains of charred cereals and animal bones that were discovered in the altars could also be evidence of sacrifices.
In Sarazm, as in any other agricultural civilization, the cult of fertility, the deification of nature, and concept of Mother Earth was widespread. Phallic pestles for grinding ore, or grain grinders, statuettes of female deities with unnaturally large sexual features, are proof of this. The development of metallurgy and pottery led to a cult of fire, the fear of which was inherent in primitive man since the dawn of time.
The decline of Sarazm
In the fourth and last period of Sarazm’s history, the settlement declines—products that were discovered in the newer layers are not of the same high quality as before, the ceramics are not as picturesque, the settlement area is reduced, and people have migrated south to more fertile regions.
Scientists have advanced two theories on the decline of the settlement. The first suggests an invasion of pastoral tribes from the north, possibly by Aryans. The second theory is related to climate, and it hypothesis a period of drier weather and less precipitation, leading to a decrease in agricultural production.
Most historians are inclined to believe the second version. The climate became more humid again only from the first millennium B.C., during the Iron Age. By this point, Sarazm was already long forgotten and buried under a layer of soil and clay.
A Bronze Age village may not make a huge impression on a modern visitor. One will see only the remains of clay walls, stoves, and altars. However, even modern day Tajik villages can feature houses with mud walls. But only through study of this unique settlement of ancient farmers and artisans can we discover what life was like many centuries ago.
In 2010, Sarazm was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Six years prior, in 2004, the U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan, through the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation, implemented a project to conserve the collections of the Sarazm Archaeological Museum in Panjakent at a cost of more than $19,000.
Thanks to this project, the Sarazm collection of ceramics, stone tools, and jewelry was preserved, and the museum renovated its facilities to provide adequate storage and support for the artifacts.
Bibliography
Bezenval, R. & Razzokov, A.I. The search for sources of raw materials and the settlement of Paleometal Epoch in the Upper Zeravshan Basin, Tajikistan.
Isakov, A.I. Sarazm. On the origins of early agriculture in Zeravshan Valley. Excavations of 1977-1983. Dushanbe, Donish, 1991
Isakov, A.I. A rich female burial from Sarazm.
Razzokov, F.A. (2016). Construction complexes of the ancient agricultural settlement of Sarazm in the IV-III millennium BC. Saint Petersburg.
Rasul-zade, T. Where the land began. Retrieved from https://fergana.agency/articles/109900/
Sarazm. In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%BC