Archaeologists found the remains of two medieval cities on the grassy hills of eastern Uzbekistan. This discovery could change our understanding of the Silk Road.
Long believed to link lowland cities, trade routes are known for their exchange of ideas and goods between East and West.
Archeologists discovered two cities in the highlands using remote sensing. These cities were located at a major crossroads of trade routes.
Tugunbulak was one of those cities, which covered at least 120 acres and sat over 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) above sea level, an altitude that is considered inhospitable today.
The archaeologist Farhod Maksudov who was part of the research team said, “The history and culture of Central Asia has changed with this discovery.”
The team believes that Tugunbulak as well as the smaller city of Tashbulak were bustling settlements during the Middle Ages when the area, controlled by a powerful Turkic Dynasty, was ruled.
Today, only 3% of people live above this elevation. Lhasa, in Tibet, and Cusco, in Peru, are two rare examples.
Drones and lidar, a remote sensing tool that uses reflected light for three-dimensional mapping of the environment, made it possible to make this discovery.
The research has been published this week in the scientific journal Nature. Experts who were not involved have praised its importance in providing insight into the lifestyles and cultures of nomadic groups.
In 2011, the team discovered Tashbulak while hiking in the mountains. The team found thousands of pottery fragments, burial sites, and other evidence that the area was once inhabited.
He said that historical records mention cities in the area, but his team didn’t expect to find an ancient medieval city measuring 12 hectares at 2,200m above sea level.
“We were a little blown away,” Mr Frachetti said.
He said that even the trek up was difficult because they faced strong winds, storms, and logistical difficulties.
Four years later, the local forest administrator alerted the team to another study site near Tashbulak.
The official told me that I might have some of these ceramics in my backyard.
“So, we went to his home… and discovered that his house was built upon a medieval citadel. “He was living in a city the size of a small town,” Mr Frachetti said.
It was difficult to convince the academic community of these cities’ existence.
“We would tell people we found an amazing site and they would be skeptical, saying it might not be so large, or that it is just a mound or a palace… That was the biggest challenge, to document this city scientifically to show what it was,” said Mr Frachetti.
The team returned in 2022 with a drone fitted with a lidar, which allowed them to peel back the surface of the walls, guard towers, and intricate architectural features, as well as other fortifications at Tugunbulak.
Researchers suggest that communities could have settled in Tugunbulak or Tashbulak to harness strong winds for fueling fires to smelt the iron ores, which were abundant in this region. The preliminary excavations also revealed production kilns.
Maksudov stated that anyone who had iron in his hands during medieval times was very powerful.
He said that this could have also led to the downfall of these communities. The area was once covered in dense juniper wood, but this could have been cleared to make way for iron production. He said that the area had become unstable due to the avalanches and flash floods.
Scholars had expected to find settlements in the valley’s lower reaches, so these discoveries are “remarkable”, according to Peter Frankopan. He is a professor of global history at Oxford University.
He said: “What an incredible treasure trove… it shows the deep connections crisscrossing Asia as well as links between the exploitation of resources more than a thousand years ago.”
Zachary Silvia is an archaeologist from Brown University. He said that high-altitude urban sites were “extraordinarily” rare in the archaeological record. This is because communities faced unique challenges when settling in these areas.
In a Nature commentary, he said that the team’s research “provides an immense contribution to study medieval urbanism of Central Asia”.