Research in the Dzhetyasar tract
The detachment of the Khorezm expedition continued to work in the lower reaches of the Syr Darya in the Dzhetyasar tract. The main object of research was one of the early settlements of Dzhetyasar 2 (according to S.P. Tolstov, it is also Tompak-asar, according to the map of B.V. Andrianov). Excavations at this monument, which has a three-member division, began in 1973. At the same time, the thickness of the cultural layers in different parts of the monument was established (up to 15 m on the central site), part of the fortifications with bypass corridors and about 40 rooms belonging to four construction periods. The works of 1976 confirmed the complex picture of the life of a multi-layered monument.
The season's work was concentrated on the southern half of the central site (terrace) and the southern and western sections of the second site (terrace), covering the central one from three sides. In addition to a large stratigraphic excavation (4) in the southern part of the second site, the excavations unearthed parts of the fortress steppes and bypass corridors and 35 rooms dating back to five construction periods. The layout of the upper construction periods has been unearthed over almost the entire area of the southern section of the upper terrace (most of its northern section is occupied by late Muslim graves). A vaulted room on the second floor and part of the fortifications of the lower construction period, which were reused in later construction periods, were also cleared here. Unfortunately, due to the huge volume of earthworks, it was not possible to open the lowest layers (more than 5 m) of the central platform, but now we can talk about the presence of vaulted rooms on the first floor, connected by stairs with fortress towers and rooms on the second and third floors.
Excavations on the second terrace revealed the ratio of the ancient fortifications of the central platform and the northern part of the settlement, the ratio of the same ancient fortifications of the central terrace and the fortress walls with bypass corridors of the second terrace, as well as the layout of the premises of a part of the second terrace. Everywhere on the monument, separate rooms, like fortifications, were repeatedly rebuilt and within the limits of the existence of each building period.
Among the season's finds, we note a large number of animal bones, fish, fragments of various ceramics, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images, beads, polished bone arrowheads, and wooden items. Despite the mixed material, the finds of 1976 do not yet contradict the previous preliminary dating of the exposed layers (the second half of the 1st millennium BC - the first centuries AD).