Preliminary Reports on the Excavations at Burgut Kurgan and Bobolangar in 2017

Abstract

The current report presents the results of the 2017 excavations of two prehistoric sites in, or in the vicinity of, the Zarabag Oasis, South Uzbekistan. In the Yaz I settlement of Burgut Kurgan, the 2017 excavation season focused on a small portion of the stone wall and was not able to confirm the presence of a gate hypothesised during the 2016 excavations. A trial excavation consisting of three trenches (BBL01–BBL03) was conducted at the site of Bobolangar, which was discovered during a previous field survey in 2016. The pottery sherds collected on the surface of Bobolanghar were from the Late Bronze Age and the date of the site was confirmed by the presence of Late Bronze Age pottery in secure stratigraphic contexts. Moreover, two burials were found in trench BBL03. Based on the characteristics of the burial traditions, it is likely that both individuals were interred during the Middle Ages and the graves were cut into the Late Bronze Age layers of the site. The human skeletons were exceptionally well‑preserved and preliminary details of the bioarchaeological analyses are presented here.

Keywords

• Central Asia
• Sapalli culture
• Yaz I culture
• Late Bronze Age
• Early Iron Age
• burial
• anthropological analysis