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Archaeologists have discovered evidence of a Bronze Age settlement, as well as rock paintings that may be thousands of years older, in the Nurota Mountains of Uzbekistan’s Samarkand Region. The discoveries were made during an October survey of Qo‘shrabot district by archaeologists Azbiddin Kholmatov and Timur Ruziboyev of the Samarkand Archaeological Institute. The paintings, found on the walls and ceilings of rock shelters in the Oqchobsoy area, were made using ochre, a natural pigment. Archaeologists believe they may date to the Mesolithic or Neolithic period. The team also explored the nearby Pangat area, finding pottery fragments believed to date to the Bronze Age. At one site, about 700–800 meters east of Qumoloqli village, archaeologists dug a small test trench measuring two meters by one meter. They uncovered a layer of archaeological deposits about 60 centimeters thick, containing pottery fragments and numerous bones. The institute said further excavations were needed to investigate the settlement. In another archaeological discovery in southern Uzbekistan earlier this year, an Italian-Uzbek team found what may be the earliest known evidence of surgery in Central Asia. The remains, discovered at Djarkutan near the Afghan border, belonged to a child who died at around five years old approximately 4,000 years ago. The skull showed signs of trepanation, a procedure involving the deliberate opening of the skull, possibly using stone or bone tools.
An explorer’s sketches of deer and wild goats have led archaeologists back to ancient rock carvings, or petroglyphs, in Kazakhstan, 170 years after he recorded them. A team from Kazakhstan and Russia identified the carvings in the valley of the Koksu River on October 13, according to an expedition account published on October 20 by the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Russian geographer and statistician Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky recorded the carvings during his 1856 journey toward the Tian Shan mountains of Central Asia. After hearing about a rock bearing figures or inscriptions, he left his carriage and rode downstream along the Koksu River to investigate. His memoir’s August 26 entry describes deer and wild goats. At the site, archaeologists found his sketches and landscape descriptions remarkably accurate. They attribute the animal figures to the early Iron Age and the medieval period, identifying the largest deer, with its branching antlers, as an example of early Saka art. The Saka lived in what is now Kazakhstan during the first millennium BC. Gold ornaments recovered from their burial mounds include deer designs used to decorate clothing and horse equipment. The researchers compare the Koksu deer with animal designs in early Saka jewelry. The expedition is part of a Russian Geographical Society program retracing Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky’s journeys through present-day Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in 1856 and 1857. Researchers are returning to the places he studied ahead of the 200th anniversary of his birth in 2027. His route led to Lake Issyk-Kul, in what is now Kyrgyzstan, where he investigated the course of the Chu River. European geographers had believed it flowed out of the lake, but he established that it turned away through a mountain gorge. In 1906, 50 years after his first journey, Emperor Nicholas II recognized his exploration of the Tian Shan by authorizing him to add Tyan-Shansky to his surname. Underwater excavations at Issyk-Kul’s submerged medieval settlement of Toru-Aygyr form another part of the anniversary program. Recent finds there include medieval coins dating to the 10th and 11th centuries. Archaeologists are investigating why the settlement ended up beneath the lake. The team that located the Koksu carvings mapped sites along the Kazakhstan route and took aerial photographs. Researchers now plan to create three-dimensional models of the monuments and an interactive map of Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky’s route through southeastern Kazakhstan, to be published on the society’s website.
Kazakhstan has been granted observer status in the Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia, an organization established at China's initiative. The Ministry of Culture and Information announced the decision on October 18 following a meeting in Hangzhou. Representatives from more than 20 countries attended. Kazakhstan hopes to pursue joint archaeological research and use new technologies to preserve historical monuments. The alliance was established in 2023 and is headquartered in Beijing. It has operated as an intergovernmental organization since 2024. It focuses on preserving Asia's historical heritage, supporting archaeological expeditions, restoration projects, and the exchange of scientific data. Kazakhstan has joined as an observer for now, with the possibility of full membership remaining open. At the meeting in Hangzhou, Kazakhstan's Vice Minister of Culture and Information, Aibek Sydykov, proposed joint research into the Silk Road, training for restoration specialists, and the use of digital technologies and artificial intelligence to assess the condition of historical sites. Silk Road heritage sites are of particular interest to Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is home to the remains of ancient settlements and archaeological complexes associated with this trade. Some are part of the UNESCO World Heritage property Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor, a transnational designation encompassing sites in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and China. The three countries already share obligations under UNESCO to preserve the Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor. In 2025, the World Heritage Committee called for outstanding management plans for the heritage sites to be completed and requested a joint report on their state of conservation by December 1, 2026. In March 2026, Kazakhstan announced that the Zharkent Mosque and Almaty's Ascension Cathedral had been added to UNESCO's Tentative List, an inventory of sites being considered for possible nomination to the World Heritage List.
Fortress walls destroyed by fire, remains of ancient buildings, and a rare ceramic bird figurine with a rattle inside were discovered by Kazakh archaeologists during excavations at the Kalzhyr settlement in the country's east, near the border with China. Archaeological evidence and radiocarbon analysis date the site to the 6th–7th centuries CE, when the first Turkic states were emerging in Central Asia. An expedition from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University studied the settlement in the Zaysan Basin, between the villages of Kalzhyr and Boran. Researchers uncovered the remains of fortifications in the southern part of the 25-hectare site and found evidence that many had been destroyed by fire. The finds include plaster bearing traces of decorative patterns, ceramic vessels, and charred grains of wheat and legumes, giving us an insight into crops available to the settlement's inhabitants. According to the researchers, construction of the fortified settlement may date to the period of the First Turkic Khaganate. This state emerged in the mid-6th century and extended its influence across vast areas of Eurasia. Archaeologists also discovered a much older burial monument – a khirigsuur, a funerary and commemorative structure dating to the Late Bronze Age. Similar complexes are known primarily from Mongolia and Xinjiang in northwestern China. In studying the sites, archaeologists used aerial and thermal imaging alongside other surveying methods. Based on the data collected, they plan to develop three-dimensional models and a geographic information system for the region. The work is being carried out as part of a project studying the archaeological landscapes of the basin. The Times of Central Asia previously reported on the discovery of two rare bronze knives, believed to be associated with the early Saka, in Bayanaul National Park in the Pavlodar region. Other research conducted at the ancient Karakabak settlement in the Mangystau region has provided new evidence of trade links between East and West.
Archaeologists have discovered rare coins dating to the 10th–11th centuries at the bottom of Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan. The coins, from the Karakhanid period, may contain as much as 90% lead, an unusual composition that researchers believe could reflect a shortage of copper. Their discovery is particularly valuable for understanding monetary circulation in medieval Central Asia. The coins were found during underwater excavations at the Toru-Aygyr archaeological complex in northwestern Issyk-Kul. The site contains the remains of a large medieval settlement on the northern branch of the Silk Road. According to the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the settlement existed from at least the 10th to the 13th centuries and was submerged in the 15th century. Expedition co-leader and archaeologist Maxim Menshikov said the coins were poorly preserved. The metal is brittle and porous, with inclusions resembling sand, making the inscriptions difficult to decipher. Their precise composition has yet to be confirmed through laboratory analysis. Archaeologists also discovered part of a cast-iron cauldron, believed to be among the earliest finds of its kind at the site, and large fragments of ceramic vessels. Seven medieval structures built from fired bricks have been discovered at Toru-Aygyr. According to Menshikov, only about six comparable buildings are known from other archaeological sites in Kyrgyzstan. Research at the settlement resumed in 2023, with the latest round of fieldwork taking place in September 2026. Archaeologists are studying remains at depths of around four meters, using underwater imaging and specialized equipment. So far, only 15–20% of the site has been surveyed. One of the expedition's main objectives is to establish why the settlement was submerged. Researchers are investigating two possible explanations: an earthquake that caused part of the shoreline to collapse, or a gradual rise in water levels due to tectonic changes. The remains of a 7th–8th-century Buddhist temple were discovered at the Ak-Beshim archaeological site, the location of ancient Suyab in Kyrgyzstan's Chuy Valley. Suyab was a major Silk Road center and the capital of the Western Turkic Khaganate.
Archaeologists in southern Uzbekistan may have identified an exceptionally rare Hellenistic military camp at a site previously thought to be a small rural settlement. Dating back around 2,200 years, Iskandar Tepa may have functioned as a temporary base for Greco-Bactrian troops and could be the first such camp identified in Central Asia. Alexander the Great conquered Bactria and Sogdiana in the late fourth century B.C., bringing Greek armies deep into Central Asia. After his empire fragmented, Greek-ruled states continued to control parts of the region for centuries. Iskandar Tepa is located in the Sherabad District of Surkhandarya Region, within the ancient borderlands between Bactria and Sogdiana. A Czech-Uzbek archaeological expedition identified the site in 2017. At first, it was interpreted as a Greco-Bactrian settlement, with later research suggesting it may have been a watch post. The mound had no known local name when archaeologists discovered it, so they gave it the working name Iskandar Tepa. Iskandar is the local form of Alexander, making the name equivalent to “Alexander’s Hill.” The latest research suggests the site had a different function altogether. Geophysical surveys and excavations indicate that Iskandar Tepa was probably occupied only briefly, perhaps as a temporary military camp. The findings were published in June 2026 in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. The authors place the site in the Hellenistic period, while Archaeology Magazine dates the proposed military camp to the second century B.C. Iskandar Tepa’s layout supports the military interpretation. The site occupies a naturally protected hilltop. A perimeter ditch about 400 meters long enclosed an area of roughly 1.2 hectares and measured between 4 and 7 meters wide. However, researchers found little evidence of permanent buildings inside the enclosure. That combination is more consistent with a temporary fortified camp than with a permanent settlement. Coins associated with Hellenistic rulers help date the site. Considered alongside the site’s layout and other finds, the coins also support the interpretation that a military unit may once have occupied it. Supplying water to the people stationed there would have been a separate challenge. Archaeologists found large ceramic storage vessels, known as khums, buried in the ground. They also identified what appears to have been a canal, up to 1.1 meters wide, that carried water from several kilometers away. Researchers suggest that the vessels may have been used to store water for a temporary garrison. Geophysical surveys also revealed around 90 elongated pits. Many are interpreted as graves in a burial ground that developed after the main period of occupation at Iskandar Tepa or partly overlapped with it. Temporary military camps from the Hellenistic period are extremely difficult to identify archaeologically because, unlike cities and fortresses, they left relatively few permanent structures. Iskandar Tepa could therefore reveal another side of the Hellenistic presence in Central Asia by showing how relatively small military units stationed far from major urban centers secured water and monitored the surrounding territory. Southern Uzbekistan has also yielded evidence from a much earlier period. In 2025, researchers reported that...
