BRONZE AGE
3rd-2nd millennia BC
Sapalli burial grounds
The necropolises are located in the Sherabad oasis in the south of Uzbekistan. They have
been studied since 1986 by an archaeological team headed by N. A. Avanesova from the Samarkand
State University. The burial grounds of Dzharkutan IV В₁, Bustan VI and VII are monuments of
proto-urban Sapalli culture related to ancient Eastern civilisation. Burial rituals practised at
the complexes are characterised by multiculturality, showing several ways of treating a dead person
(cremation, inhumation, partial and secondary burials and so on) and performing related ritual
acts.
Materials from the burial grounds bear traces of a complex of innovations in the cultural
indicators of the funeral and ritual system, reflecting a change in Sapalli stereotypes, which is
certainly associated with foreign cultural impulses. The new population, immigrants from the steppe
part of Eurasia, significantly changed the lifestyle of Sapalli people, contributing to the gradual
transformation of ancient customs, which resulted in the formation of a new
system of concepts and beliefs. Compared to other monuments of the mentioned culture,
the Bustan VI necropolis shows a wide range of most complex funeral and ceremonial cults typical of
steppe tribes, which were expressed in fire rituals among other practices.
This was the first site where ceremonial spaces with rituals reflected in Vedic and Avestan sources
were recorded. The most interesting of them are remains of structures (eight semi- underground mud
chambers) for the cremation of a dead person and monofunctional clay handicrafts representing a
figurative language used prior to the invention of a script.
The archaeological materials of the Samarkand State University have only partially been studied,
yet they have already been covered in a number of publications, including
foreign ones.
been studied since 1986 by an archaeological team headed by N. A. Avanesova from the Samarkand
State University. The burial grounds of Dzharkutan IV В₁, Bustan VI and VII are monuments of
proto-urban Sapalli culture related to ancient Eastern civilisation. Burial rituals practised at
the complexes are characterised by multiculturality, showing several ways of treating a dead person
(cremation, inhumation, partial and secondary burials and so on) and performing related ritual
acts.
Materials from the burial grounds bear traces of a complex of innovations in the cultural
indicators of the funeral and ritual system, reflecting a change in Sapalli stereotypes, which is
certainly associated with foreign cultural impulses. The new population, immigrants from the steppe
part of Eurasia, significantly changed the lifestyle of Sapalli people, contributing to the gradual
transformation of ancient customs, which resulted in the formation of a new
system of concepts and beliefs. Compared to other monuments of the mentioned culture,
the Bustan VI necropolis shows a wide range of most complex funeral and ceremonial cults typical of
steppe tribes, which were expressed in fire rituals among other practices.
This was the first site where ceremonial spaces with rituals reflected in Vedic and Avestan sources
were recorded. The most interesting of them are remains of structures (eight semi- underground mud
chambers) for the cremation of a dead person and monofunctional clay handicrafts representing a
figurative language used prior to the invention of a script.
The archaeological materials of the Samarkand State University have only partially been studied,
yet they have already been covered in a number of publications, including
foreign ones.
- Avanesova, N. A. New data on theSapalli funeral rite [Novoye v pogrebalnom obryade sapallinskoy kultury] // Archaeologicalnews. St. Petersburg, 1995. No. 4. PP. 63-72.
- Avanesova, N. A. Object writing in prehistoricBactria [Predmetnoye pismo doistoricheskoy Baktrii] / Transoxiana history and culture// Materials of the international academic conference dedicated to AcademicianE. V. Rtveladze. Ташкент, 2004. PP. 16-23.
- Avanesova, N. A. The problem of chronology for ancientagricultural monuments in Northern Bactria in the Late Bronze Age [Problema khronologiidrevnezemledelcheskikh pamyatnikov Severnoy Baktrii v epokhu pozdney bronzy] //Central Asia and Southern Siberia. Issue 1. Moscow, 2009. PP. 68-87.
- Avanesova, N. A.Manifestation of steppe traditions in the Sapalli culture [Proyavleniye stepnykh traditsiy vsapallinskoy kulture] // Civilisations and cultures of Central Asia in their unity and diversity// Materials of an international academic conference. Samarkand–Tashkent: IICAS, 2010.PP. 107-133.
- Avanesova, N. A. Buston VI, a necropolisof fire worshippers in the pre-urban Bactria [Buston VI – nekropol ognepoklonnikovdourbanisticheskoy Baktrii]. Samarkand: IICAS, 2013. 640 pages.
- Avanesova N. Bustan-VI une nécropole de I’âge du Bronze dans I’ancianne Bactriane(Ouzbekistan mérdional): témoignages de cultes du feu // Arts Asiatigues. Tome L. Paris,1995. PP. 31-46. Avanesova, N. Bustan VI, a Bronze Age necropolis in ancient Bactria(southern Uzbekistan): evidence of fire cults // Arts Asiatigues. Vol. L. Paris, 1995.PP. 31-46.
- Avanesova N. Le ritual funéraile de la nécropole de Buston VI // Asie central: transfertsculturels le long de la soie. Paris: Vendemiare, 2016. PP. 35-44. Avanesova, N. The funeralritual of the Buston VI necropolis // Central Asia: cultural transfers along the Silk Road.Paris: Vendemiare, 2016. PP. 35-44.
