User:Barefact/Kaunchi culture

Kaunchi Culture is an archaeological culture widespread along the middle course of the Syrdarya and its tributaries (Angren, Chirchik, Keles) from the first century BCE to the early eighth century CE. It is named after the ancient town site of Kaunchi-Tepe, first investigated in 1934–37 by G. V. Grigoriev.

The Kaunchi culture is characterized by settlements located near water sources and surrounded by distinct kurgan burials of catacomb type with long dromoses, crypts, and burial vaults, with bone horse trappings and typical nomadic rites. The people of the Kaunchi culture practiced pastoral livestock husbandry (chiefly cattle) and nonirrigated farming (barley, millet, wheat, rice, cotton, melons, and fruits).

Well balanced modeled pottery was typical: khums (large vessels for storing water and food), pots, pitchers, and cups with handles topped with an image of a ram’s head. The proportion of wheel-thrown ceramics increased in the first centuries CE. On certain ceramic objects in the late third century and early fourth century the ram head was replaced by a bull head. During that period in the burials also began to appear weaponry. The settlements in the center usually have monumental oval buildings, possibly temples, sometimes surrounded by supplementary defensive wall. The only large settlement was the city of Kanka, located in the south of the Tashkent region. It was laid out according to a rectilinear square plan in the first centuries CE, was surrounded by a wall with internal corridors, and occupied an area of 150 hectares.

The theory has been put forth that the area where were found the Kaunchi type remains, and which reached as far as Syrdarya in the Otrar region, was the nucleus of the Kangar (Ch. 康居 Pin. Kangju) polity known from the Chinese sources, with Kanka as its capital. The Kaunchi culture exerted considerable influence on the cultures of many regions in the Middle Asia.

Literature

 * Drevnosti Chardary, Alma-Ata, 1968 (In Russian)
 * Grigoriev G.V., Kaunchi-Tepe (excavations of 1935), Tashkent, 1940 (In Russian'')
 * Isamiddin M.,Suleymanov R.Kh., Yerkurgan (stratigraphy and periodization), Tashkent, 1984 (In Russian)
 * Levina L.M. Ceramics of lower and middle Syrdarya//Works of Khorezm Archeological & Ethnographic Expedition, Vol 17, Moscow, 1971 (In Russian)
 * The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition, 1970-1979 (In Russian)