MESOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC

6-4 thousand BC

The Sazagan Culture

The collection of items representing Mesolithic sites in the Archaeological Museum of the
Samarkand State University is small and is based on the research into the Sazagan Neolithic
culture. The study of this culture began in 1964, with the findings of O. I. Ibragimov, a student
of the Samarkand State University from the village of Sazagan.
The monument is located on the second terrace of the left slope of the Sazagan valley in the
southern part of the village of Sazagan – 27 km south-west of Samarkand. The history of the study
of the Sazagan sites can be divided into two periods:

1) archaeological explorations and study of geological layers (1966-1968 – D. N. Lev; 1969- 1970 –
M. D. Jurakulov;

2) stationary research (1971-1986 – M. D. Jurakulov). The field research was carried out at the
sites with the same name as the village: Sazagan I (total excavation area - 96 m2) and Sazagan II
(total excavation area - 800 m2).

The site of Sazagan I dates back to the Mesolithic. The very first studies already revealed some
chronological and local features, the evolution and continuity of cultures in the region. The
resulting collection consists of about 2,300 items, mainly stone tools and their production waste.
The archaeologists identify the stone collection as flakes and plates, with a very high proportion
of microblades (36.3 %). The material culture of Sazagan I is archaic, which is associated not only
with the presence of Mesolithic items, but also with the absence of ceramics and traces of
domestication in faunal remains. The site belonged to sedentary hunters.

Sazagan II is located 2 km south of the village on the left bank of the Sazagan, on a terrace above
the floodplain. The remains of material culture were concentrated in the hollow of the slopes of
the artificial terraces, which were formed as a result of later human activities, so the cultural
layers were partially eroded, but still remained in some areas. The geology of the sites was
studied by S. A. Nesmeyanov and E. D. Mamedov.

The cultural layer of the sites 10 to 90 cm thick is a concentration of stone and bone items,
traces of red ochre, fires, hearth stones and ceramics. High scrapers, scrapers with a «spout»,
scaled and wedge-shaped tools and arrowheads define the character of the Neolithic tools.
Ceramics is quite expressive and ornamented, but has survived as small fragments.

M. D. Jurakulov believes that, in general, the monuments of the Sazagan culture in ancient times were multi-layered, covering a period from the
Mesolithic to the Late Bronze Age. This continuity is also supported by the materials from the
Ochilgor cave site located above Sazagan II. There, Mesolithic stone tools were also found in the
lower layers of the monument. The discussed monuments are dated from the 8th to the 4th centuries BCE. Researchers associate the genesis of the culture with the Samarkand Upper
Palaeolithic site.