A lost city of Silk Road may have emerged on the uplands of Uzbekistan
The ruins of a mediaeval lost city have emerged on the uplands of Uzbekistan, which researchers believe may be identical with the mediaeval iron-smelting town known in historical sources as Marsmanda, once possibly one of the most important industrial centres along the Silk Road.
During recent archaeological excavations on the Uzbek uplands, researchers uncovered traces of a long-lost city that can be identified with the mediaeval iron-working town of Marsmanda. The settlement, inhabited between the 6th and 11th centuries, is believed to have played a key role in the commercial network of the Silk Road, reports Smithsonian Magazine.
Four sectors uncovered
The remains of the settlement lie some 2,000 metres above sea level. During the excavations, archaeologists surveyed an area of roughly 300 hectares, which they subsequently divided into four clearly distinguishable sectors.
Of particular note is a 52-hectare area containing three fortified buildings linked by a terrace. Taken together, the architectural remains suggest that the town may have been continuously inhabited for as long as 500 years.
Iron-working gave the lost city its importance
The central buildings of the settlement were constructed from rammed earth, with walls more than a metre thick, and in several places they contained large furnaces and slag left from metallurgical processes. Radiocarbon analysis dates the earliest layers to the 6th century, with later alterations made during the 7th–8th centuries.
Based on the iron- and steel-processing facilities discovered, it is highly likely that the town functioned as a major industrial centre. Weapons, agricultural implements and horse tack were manufactured from iron, all of which were of great significance to the empires of the Central Asian steppe, including the Scythians, Huns and Mongols.
Iron production in Marsmanda played an outstanding role in the development of the Silk Road, a trade route extending from China to the Mediterranean and from Sri Lanka to Siberia. The town’s industrial products and local commerce supplied not only nearby major cities such as Samarkand, but were also vital to the entire commercial system of the region.
The settlement was likely inhabited by Muslims
The lost city contained more than 150 buildings, and its population could double during the summer, when nomadic shepherds stayed in the area temporarily. The excavated cemeteries contain roughly 650 graves, one of the most significant burial grounds among mediaeval upland settlements.
The arrangement of the graves and the various burial rites indicate that most of the inhabitants were Muslim, although traces of earlier religious traditions can also be detected.
A horseman’s grave caused the greatest astonishment
Among the archaeological finds are metallurgical tools, arrowheads, knives, daggers, bronze earrings, and porcelain and ceramic vessels, but the most important discovery proved to be the grave of a mounted warrior.
Alongside the soldier and his horse, various objects – including coins, weapons and buttons bearing clan symbols – were buried, suggesting that a well-organised, hierarchical society existed in the town, where iron- and steelworkers, herdsmen, farmers and merchants lived in close symbiosis.
The discovery of the lost city is particularly significant because it challenges the traditional image of Central Asian nomadic shepherds as marginal communities. The example of Marsmanda shows instead that upland communities were integrated and highly developed societies that played a vital role in the Silk Road’s economic and industrial networks.
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