Archeology of Termez
The investigations of monuments related to the Antique period were begun in 30s. The most important became a discovery of a sculptural frieze at the Airtam settlement (1932) and excavations at that site in 1933 performed by Masson M.E. The Termez complex archeological expedition headed by Masson M.E. (1936-1938) did much for the development of the Bactrian sector in the archeology of the Kushan period. It fixed the Kushan layers at the site of Old Termez; began the wide excavations of the Buddhist complex at the Kara-Tepa site. In 1938 Okladnikov A.P. investigated the Teshik-Tash cave, where were found the traces of Mousterian culture and burial of a Neanderthal child. In 1938-1942 Parfenov G.V. revealed a cave used in the Mesolithic period that is located between Urta and Yukari-Machai kishlaks. In 1940, 1943-1945 he investigated the Zaraut-Kamar grotto. The investigations made by local archeologists in 30s much enriched the exposition of the museum established in Termez. In 1948 within the Uzbek archeological expedition of AS UzSSR was established the Surkhandarya group headed by Albaum L.I. It revealed and performed total excavation at two big sites, Balalik-Tepa and Zang-Tepa. In 1959 the Institute of Fine Arts named after Khamsa began the investigations at the Khalchayan settlement in the Denau district. In 1960 at the same institute was established the Uzbek Art Study Expedition (UzIskE) headed by Pugachenkova G.A. Amongst its members were Rtveladze E.V., Sagdullaev B.A., Turgunov B.A., Khakimov Z.A. 60s were marked by wide-scope systematic excavations at the Khalchayan settlement. In 1961 the joint expedition of the State Hermitage, the State Museum of Oriental Peoples' Art and All-union Scientific Research Institute of Restoration headed by Stavisky B.Y. renewed the excavations at the Kara-Tepa site in Old Termez. The International Conference "History, Archeology and Culture of Central Asia in the Kushan period" (Dushanbe, 1968) became an important event in the science. From 1969 a group of the Institute of Archeology of Uzbek AS headed at first by Askarov A.A. and then by Shiriniv T.I. began investigations of monuments related to the Bronze Age, Sapalli-Tepa and Djarkutan. Leading scholars of Uzbekistan, Rtveladze E.V., Sagdullaev B.A., Khakimov Z.A., Zapparov Sh.H., Belyaeva T.V. revealed and studied over two tens settlements dated to the Bronze Age. Totally the groups of UzIskE discovered up to 300 archeological monuments of different periods. At the beginning 70s Islamov U.I. continued excavations at the sites in the Surkhandarya province going back to the Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods. In 70s a rich contribution to the study of Antique settlements had been done by the joint Soviet-Afghan expedition, which excavated sites southward from the Amu Darya (Pugachenkova G.A., Kruglikova I.T.). In 70s in the study of early medieval and medieval monuments in southern Uzbekistan were involved UzIskE of the Institute of Fine Arts named after Khamsa, joint Bactrian expedition of the Institute of Archeology of AS UzSSR and Leningrad Department of the Institute of Archeology of AS USSR, and from 1979 - the Surkhandarya complex archeological expedition of the Institute of Archeology of AS UzSSR (chief Askarov A.A.). In 80s - begin. 90s the work of major expeditions in the Surkhandarya province continued: wide-scope excavations at the Dalverzin-Tepa by UzIskE (Pugachenkova G.A., Rtveladze E.V., Turgunov B.A., Voskovsky A., Iliyasiv Dj., Rusanov D.); excavations at the Zar-Tepa site by joint group of Uzbek and Leningrad scholars headed by Masson M.E. (till 1985); at the Djarkutan-Tepa - by the Sherabad group of the Institute of Archeology of Uzbek AS; at the Kara-Tepa site - by the expedition of the State Hermitage. The wide-scope excavations were being performed at the settlement of Kampir-Tepa (Savchuk S.). In Old Termez Albaum L.I. revealed a medieval Christian temple. The Termez Regional Folk Museum (Kozlovsky V.A., Sheiko K.P.) held independent investigations. The works of all these expeditions resulted in the discovery and study of outstanding monuments Bactrian-Tokharian town-planning, architecture, monumental and applied arts. From early 90s the foreign scholars joined their efforts with Uzbek archeologists. Now the cooperation with Japanese and German scholars is the most fruitful. The joint expeditions work at the sites of Dalverzin-Tepa, Kampir-Tepa and Djarkutan. Uzbek (the Institute of Archeology of Uzbek AS) and French archeologists started systematic investigations of the ancient settlements at foothills of the Giessar mountains. In 2002 the archeology of the Surkhandarya province will celebrate its 75th anniversary.
