The settlement of Dalverzintepa

Among the monuments of the Kushan era, which are numerous on the land of Uzbekistan, the Dalverzintepa settlement, located 60 kilometers north of Termez, occupies a special place. Once there was a large Kushan city, the center of the historical Saganian region, which stood on one of the most important directions of the Great Silk Road and covered an area of more than 36 hectares.

To this day, the ruins of the city's defensive walls with a total length of about 2.5 kilometers and a thickness of up to 10 meters have been preserved. The walls were reinforced with watchtowers, inside of which there were galleries and casemates, and platforms for stone-throwing guns and slingers were built on the crests of the walls. In the northern elevated part of the settlement, the remains of a citadel with an entrance gate have been uncovered. It is noteworthy that in ancient times, the entire settlement and the citadel were protected not only by powerful walls, but also by a water barrier formed by the ancient Karmaki-sai riverbed, an artificial canal and special ditches.

In the center of the settlement there were quarters of residential buildings, ceramic workshops of artisans, as well as large houses of citizens with state rooms and utility courtyards.

Behind the defensive wall of the Dalverzintepa settlement, archaeologists have discovered the ruins of a Buddhist sanctuary, judging by the coins found here, founded around the 1st century AD. It is believed that this is the oldest Buddhist building in Uzbekistan. The rectangular base of the stupa with a bypass corridor for performing a ritual circumambulation has been preserved here. In the northern part of the temple there was an idolatry, in which there were large statues of Buddha, three times human height, surrounded by monks, deva geniuses and very expressive sculptures of nobles, obviously with portrait resemblance. In another room, the "hall of kings", images of the rulers of the Saganian region, of which Dalverzintepa was the capital, were installed. In the images of the Buddha, nobles and rulers, as well as in the preserved architectural details, the Hellenistic traditions are clearly read.

The temple of the Bactrian goddess is located in the northwestern part of the settlement. A mural depicting a cult scene involving priests and infants was discovered there.

In one of the houses excavated by archaeologists with numerous living quarters, a state hall and rest rooms in 1972, a gold treasure consisting of one hundred objects weighing 32 kilograms was found in a ceramic vessel. It included jewelry made of gold, silver and precious stones, as well as chess pieces carved from ivory.

The ruins of Dalverzintep hold many more treasures and secrets of the Kushan rulers.