EUROPEAN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES
ISSN: 2750-8587
VOLUME04 ISSUE12
246
EXPLORING THE SARATEPA FORTIFICATION CASTLE AROUND SAMARKAND
Sultanova Dilshoda Namazovna
Professor Kaf. «Art», DS on architecture, Samarkand State University of Architecture and Civil
Engineering, Uzbekistan
https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0975-2390
Khasanova Xafiza Bakhriddinovna
Professor Kaf. «Art», DS on architecture, Samarkand State University of Architecture and Civil
Engineering, Uzbekistan
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-4073-9889
AB O U T ART I CL E
Key words:
Saratepa Uzbekistan, ancient
Samarkand, new building, construction, castle and
climate, Devori Kiyamat, Dargamtepa, pax blocks,
raw brick, combed layout system, Tirmizaktepa,
Mugtepa, Munchoktepa.
Received:
20.12.2024
Accepted
: 25.12.2024
Published
: 30.12.2024
Abstract:
This article highlights the history of the
unique Saratepa fortress castle in the Samarkand
region, destroyed during the creation of collective
farm fields before construction began in the
1980s.The work is based on the results of the
author's study of the development of the historical
part of Samarkand on the example of the modern
residential area of Sattepo. The significant
contribution of Samarkand archaeologists
Lebedeva T.I. and Buryakova E.Yu. to the study of
the early medieval Saratepa castle is indicated.
Such studies are important in order to find a
balance between preserving the true cultural
values and updating the historical and
architectural appearance of the city of Samarkand
for its further development. It is noted that
defensive castles near water resources, connected
by a chain of long protective walls of the area,
were of great importance in studying the history
of the development of urban fortification in the
early Middle Ages.
INTRODUCTION
VOLUME04 ISSUE12
https://doi.org/10.55640/eijmrms-04-12-45
Pages: 246-254
EUROPEAN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES
ISSN: 2750-8587
VOLUME04 ISSUE12
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Saratepa is the ruins of an early medieval
Sogdian castle located near the village of the
same name on the southeastern outskirts of
Samarkand, destroyed during the creation of
collective farm fields in the 1980s. Central Asian
historians believe that the castle was part of a
group of early medieval fortifications erected in
the 7th century along the defensive wall of
Devori Kiyamat to strengthen its defenses and
was a guard post, which is confirmed by the
characteristic structure of the building: its
premises form two relatively symmetrical
groups on the sides of the axial corridor.
Saratepa Castle was built on a monolithic
pakhsa platform with a height equal to one
block of pakhsa
—
1.2 meters. The total size of the square, slightly skewed building is 18x18m.
The castle was not completed. After the construction of the lower floor, even before the arches of the
ramp were blocked, construction was stopped, and the finished rooms of the lower floor were carefully
laid with raw materials, thus turning them into a solid platform for a new, higher building. However, it
retained the previous planned structure with minimal changes (1, p.288).
The southwestern part of Samarkand, until recently, consisted of cultivated collective farm fields
between the villages of Xoja Sihat and Arab villages. With several hills towering over the landscape. In
recent years, due to the intensive development of suburban lands for a new construction site, the last
houses have begun to collapse.
Almost 40 years ago (1976), a hill was plowed into a mountain type, 5 years later (1981) most of
Saratepa and partially Zargartepa were destroyed. They were located along a powerful plough wall,
which once ran from the southwest and was called the Waterasp (embankment for horses), along which
a carriage of horses was constantly patrolling, according to the older generation of local residents.
Apparently, these are the remains of an ancient wall that surrounded the city from the 8th century AD.
used until the arrival of Russian troops here.
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Now an irrigation ditch has been built in the div of the leveled wall, supplying water to Dargoma and
the surrounding collective farm fields. To the west of it, the channel of the ancient Dargoma channel can
be traced, along which a defensive wall was erected on its eastern side. According to the small remains
of this wall studied in the northern and southern parts of Darvozakhon, we see that the walls were built
of giant gypsum blocks and large-format mud bricks. According to the reports of the eastern
geographers of the 10th century, this powerful wall surrounded an area of 12 farsakhs, that is, a
kilometer, was surrounded by towers and crowned with battlements. And today, 10 centuries later, the
shaft in the preserved part (2, p.121) reaches 4 meters in height and 1 meter in width.
On natural and artificial elevations (3, p.33) in
a chain on the inner side of the city walls at a
small, no more than 0.5 km from each other
distance. These are the guard posts and were
the destroyed redevelopment of new buildings.
On the mountain type, Saratepa and Zargartepa
in the new construction massif of Sattepa.
The issue of castles and castle construction in
Central Asia is the subject of a number of
scientific works by Soviet scientists in the
territory of Zarafshan - the works of A. Yu.
Yakubovsky (1950) and O. M. Smirnova
(1950), in the Bukhara oases of V. A. Shishkin
(1963), in the Surxondaryo Valley - S. K.
Kabanov (1951-1956 a), in Khorezm - S. P.
Tolstoy (1948 a, b, 1962) and E. E. Nerazik
(1966), in Fergana and Semirechye - A. N.
Bernshtam (1940, 1941, 1950, 1951), E. A.
Davidovich and B. A. Litvinsky (1955). Yu.A.
Zadneprovsky (1954) works on Tajikistan - M. Negmatov, Zeymal, U.P. Pulatov, S.G. Khmelnitsky (1959,
1966, 1973) on southern Uzbekistan G.A. Shishkin (1973) T.D. Aminov (1986).
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The partially preserved Saratepa Hill is a 50x50 square feudal castle located on a natural hillock of large
size. By the time the architectural work began, it was half demolished. In the remaining part, as a result
of the work, it was revealed that the monument had undergone at least 2 major construction periods.
A later building was erected on a natural platform above the lower rooms, which were layered from
pakhsa and mud bricks (48.47. 42x30x31. 28x10 cm). The rooms of the 1st construction period were
partially preserved and after filling and filling with mud bricks were used as a platform for the 2nd lock,
shifted by 20x30 cm compared to the walls of the 1st period. The walls of the building were constructed
of gypsum blocks from 1 to 1.5 meters long, with a height of 70 cm, which gave a comb-like layout after
excavation of the backfills (4, p.70). According to preliminary data, life in the castle existed from the 8th
to the 9th century AD.
Architecturally, the monument is a series of parallel rooms located on the left and right sides of the
central axis. The central corridor-shaped room No. 2, running along the c-y axis, is a corridor measuring
1.40 x 8 m. with meter-high openings leading into the room from the west and east sides. The discovered
rooms on the 1st floor were most likely of utility value. We see this in many other monuments, castles
that are better preserved, where the lower floor is of economic importance. With storage barns for food
products, kitchens with small fireplaces, storerooms under the ramp. We observed the same thing in
this case. Room No. 1 branches off to the west side, which most likely had a rectangular layout. In the
preserved part, it is traced in the size of 3x3, with plastered walls. Only the entrance and a piece of the
western and south-western walls have been preserved. Two coins were found in the passage to that
room. One measuring 1x1cm is very poorly preserved, the other with a square hole, possibly Varhuman
(657-675). Fragments of 10th century ceramics were also found here (5, p.3).
Adjacent to
the south is room №4, also with an exit to room №2. It is 1.6x4 in size. Three levels of the
floor were exposed in rooms №2 and №2. On the lowest. In room №2 there are traces of mat remains.
In the two upper ones there are remains of hearths on the western side of the wall.
Three rooms lead to the eastern side. Two of them, measuring 90x4 cm and 5 meters, were used as a
ramp and did not have an exit to room №2.
Room №3 with an exit to room №2 is about 2 meters wide and 4 meters long. It clearly had economic
significance. Here, in the northwestern corner and in the southern part, remains of hearths and a lot of
fragments of kitchen and tableware from the 8th-9th centuries were discovered. then a set of pots,
hums, cauldrons, basins, braziers of various shapes and sizes, along with thin-walled elegant jugs and
mugs.
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Ceramics of the upper layer, mixed here along with materials of the 10th century, presented in the form
of thin-walled bowls and plates with a slightly thickening edge bending inward, where the drawing is
made with dark brown and swamp-green paint on a white background, under a colorless azure (6, p.
26; 7, p. 47) there are chirags (lamps) in the form of a flat bowl with a slightly pulled out, pressed
obliquely on a flat bottom with a trimming thread, clearly of an earlier 8th century time (7, p. 38). All
the dishes, except for braziers and several pots, were made on a potter's wheel - this is handicraft
ceramics made from well-washed, mixed light yellow clay, covered with light engobe on the outside.
Several objects with strokes of red and a cauldron with dark engobe. For thin-walled dishes, clay was
taken without admixture, for coarser ones, finely crushed stone, gypsum and fine sand were used as an
admixture. The variety of dishes made on a potter's wheel is quite impressive. It is clearly divided by
purpose into large groups:
1. Household utensils for storing food and carrying liquids, kitchen utensils for cooking over a fire and
2. Tableware.
Household tableware
. Hums are represented by two fragments of rims of thick-walled massive
unscrewed ovoid vessels with a flat bottom. In the first case, the vessel walls thicken at the top. Forming
a low ridge-shaped neck - 28 cm with the same bottom diameter. The rim of the second hum is sharply
bent outward with a diameter of 42 cm. The third type of hum is represented by one with a stepped
shape for the lid on the inside. They are covered with light engobe, the dough is cream-colored with a
large admixture of uniformly fired chamotte. Tagora - the first is an opening, conical deep basins, where
the walls at the top are slightly compacted into horizontal edges. The diameter of the mouth is from 6
to 36 cm. The dough is well-kneaded, cream-colored with inclusions of ganch. One of them is gray clay
dough with a belt of appliques-handles, finished at the bottom. There are two fragments of basins-bowls
or deep bowls of hemispherical shape with an inwardly curving mouth and a horizontally placed rim,
serving as a stop for carrying. Moreover, the rim is decorated with deep carving in the form of
transverse and horizontal stripes. The outside is covered with red engobe with traces of soot and smoke.
The second basin of the same shape has been preserved with the remains of a powerful loop-shaped
handle attached to the div under the rim (5, p. 5).
Tagore 1st order are found with materials of the 8-10th centuries. Afrosiab and similar to Paykend and
the Bad-Asiya castle dated to the 10th century. (8, pp. 98-99). Wide-necked and narrow-necked jugs are
represented by two types. Jugs with and without a drain. With drains, they most likely belong to
tableware.
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Wide-necked jugs are usually ovoid and decorated with belts of wavy or parallel straight lines scratched
in the upper part of the div, the bottom is thickened, flat, stable. The neck is highlighted and ends
under a triangular rim widening towards the mouth. In some cases, a wide flat handle descends from
the rim onto the shoulder of the div. There are jugs where the rim of the neck is highlighted by a
corrugated ledge, and a strainer descends inside.
Pots and jar-shaped vessels - have a strongly bent rim with a sharp projection along the rim from the
inside. This projection is intended for a lid. Such vessels are found in the upper layer of Penjikent
ceramics (9, p. 22). There they appear as huma vessels with shelves for lids and openings directly under
the rim and are dated to the 7th-8th centuries. This vessel was obviously intended for storing products
that require limited access to air.
Boilers are represented by a spherical div with a rounded bottom, slightly overstated, profiled under
a triangular or square crown. Ear-shaped handles are attached to the upper part of the div. The dough
from which the boilers are made has a lot of impurities, finely ground coarse-grained ceramics in a
fracture of gray clay are only red in color, the walls of the boiler are thin, made on a potter's wheel.
Kitchen utensils include hand-molded braziers with low walls 2-4 cm high, their dough with a large
admixture of coarse-grained sand and crushed ceramics. Tableware is represented by jugs, scythe
bowls, mugs. The narrow-necked jug has a very elegant pear-shaped shape, where the rounded bottom
of the div smoothly merges into a stable flat bottom. In the upper part of the div, there is a remnant
of the handle that connected it to the narrow neck. Most likely, the neck on the opposite side of the
handle ended in a socket- a drain is a convenient form for spilling liquid. Such vessels are found in the
upper layer of Panjikent.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it can be said that studying the archaeology and architecture of this unique Saratepa
castle will provide new material and a task for architects to graphically restore it. This helps to close
the white spots in the urban planning of the historical city of Samarkand.
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