Nuzket (Kara-Balta)
Various surviving Arab and Chinese sources indicate that along the Great Silk Road in the VI-VII centuries AD, trade and craft settlements began to emerge in the Chui Valley due to favorable circumstances, which grew in significance into major trade centers and cities. The names of these settlements have been preserved in Arab sources: Taraz (Jambyl), Kulan (Merke), Nuzket (Kara-Balta), Kharon (Belovodskoye), Jul (Sokuluk), Saryg, Suayab, Navkat...
Due to its location, where caravan routes converged from the plains to the west and north, and through mountain passes from the south, from the Osh direction, Nuzket became one of the largest medieval settlements in the Chui Valley. Here, dozens of merchant caravans found shelter and protection from robbers, trade and exchange of goods took place in the market square, and hundreds of craftsmen worked for such mutually beneficial sales and exchanges, with their products traveling far away along the Silk Road. The city of Nuzket became a strong link in the chain connecting our mountainous region with the wider world.
Archaeological research shows that Nuzket (later known as Shish-Teppe, Shish-Debe) was a vast city, consisting of a citadel and a shahristan with a total area of about 1 km², located where the current lower markets are. The citadel rose above the rest of the settlement. It housed the ruler's castle, the most important state institutions, and economic buildings for the ruler's family and those living with him. The shahristan, surrounding the citadel, concentrated the estates of the nobility and officials, the congregational mosque, and markets. Rabat, where industrial suburbs were usually located in ancient settlements, was absent in Nuzket, as in other fortresses of the Chui region. Craftsmen coexisted in the shahristan with farmers and herders. A mixed population lived throughout the rest of Nuzket.
The total area of the city was about 6,000 hectares, encompassing the current villages of Alexeyevka, Kalininskoye, Fedorovka, Novonikolaevka, Dzheken, Iri-Suu, Sary-Koo, and the northern part of the city of Kara-Balta.
The city was surrounded by a long rampart in the shape of an irregular polygon with a perimeter of over 12 km. Part of this rampart was destroyed during the construction of reservoirs and settling ponds for the sugar factory. There was also a second rampart encompassing an area of about 50 km².
The ramparts were fortified with powerful towers, and the entrance was protected by a drawbridge.
The city was divided into streets, where estate-type buildings rose, as well as irrigation canals directing floodwaters.
Four construction horizons of the walls indicate that the city was built up four times.
Nuzket was a center of culture. Many household items were produced here. In particular, ceramic products were made both by hand and on a potter's wheel. They were distinguished by high quality and intricate ornamentation, confirming that their maker was a skilled artist. Notable in this regard are the found items with lid handles in the shape of birds, animals, humans, etc.
Ceramic products served both for cooking and for irrigating fields.
Unlike other cities in the Chui Valley, household vessels found in Nuzket have surfaces covered with a thick red slip, which was then carefully polished. This coating had such density that it resembled lacquer in appearance. Such pottery was ceremonial.
All these historical details were indicated by archaeological research conducted by scholar Kozhemyako P.N. in 1954.
There are also earlier studies of the city of Nuzket left in the works of the outstanding Russian orientalist, academician Bartold V.V., who visited Central Asia in 1893-94. He noted that the city walls were made of adobe bricks, the fortress was surrounded by a rampart with swamps, and was known to local residents as Shish-Teppe. During excavations nearby, gold and silver items were found in the turtkul. Along the road leading to the fortress, stone "babas," i.e., statues, were erected.
Judging by the two large hoards found, containing over 7,000 coins during excavations conducted by scholars Bershtam A.N. and Kozhemyako P.N., along with the remains of residential buildings, clay pottery, glass items, bone and stone tools, and Buddhist cult objects, some of which are exhibited in the local history museum of the village of Petropavlovka, established at the initiative of the enthusiastic local historian teacher Vasily Afanasevich Lapko, the city had extensive trade connections and was the main settlement in the valley for almost 6 centuries.
Where the new Orthodox church now stands, students of Petropavlovsk Secondary School - members of the local history club "Bars" - under the guidance of Lapko V.A. found a statue of the Indian Buddha, 120 cm tall, made of red granite, dating back to the 7th century AD. Young archaeologists excavated the walls of ancient Nuzket, which retained a height of 0.75 m instead of 2.5 m. Nuzket reached its peak in the 11th-12th centuries during the era of the Karakhanid state.
But the fates of cities, like the fates of people, are changeable. Nuzket could have stood, like ancient Osh, to this day, but life had its own plans. In 1218, the hordes of Genghis Khan invaded Central Asia. Nuzket shared the common misfortune of the peoples inhabiting it. The two-ring defensive structures could not withstand the conquerors, nor could the resistance of the warriors and residents. Settlements and peoples that did not surrender without a fight were not spared by the Mongols. The population was completely exterminated, the city was burned and destroyed, and goods and valuables were looted.
Travelers passing through the Chui Valley in the 13th century noted in their travel records that only ruins and ashes remained at the site of the great city, and for many tens of kilometers around, there was complete desolation. For more than six centuries, nomads avoided this place, no settlements arose on the site of Nuzket, and only with the formation of the Kokand Khanate under Khan Madaly was a military fortress Shish-Debe built here. In the 1830s, a new Kyrgyz name emerged for the settlement literally rising from the ashes - Kara-Balta.
Kara-Balta