The First Settlers
Southwestern Fergana is a mountainous area that is part of the Turkestan Range and occupies its northern slopes. The region is divided into several landscape zones. The southern part features a high-altitude zone with alpine relief, while the northern part consists of parallel mountain ridges separated by longitudinal depressions or wide intermountain basins. There are two strips of depressions in the area. The northern strip includes the Tashravat depression. The southern strip includes the Isfanin, Tuy-Dzhailou, Chorku-Laylak, and Batken depressions. The terrain of the region is characterized by fragmentation. As a result, the nature here is extremely diverse. Climatically, the region is characterized as transitional from subtropical to the climate of desert and temperate latitudes. Large areas of the region are occupied by arid, heavily dissected mountain ridges, valleys, or plateaus, which are poorly suited for habitation and remain undeveloped to this day.
The natural and geographical conditions have influenced the topography of settlements and determined the direction of economic development in each of the natural zones.
Archaeological research in this mountainous area began only in the 1950s. The first researcher was A.N. Bernshtam, who examined several burial mounds and settlements here in 1951, including the ruins of an ancient settlement in the village of Karabulak. By this time, expeditions led by A.N. Bernshtam had surveyed almost all areas of Fergana and the adjacent mountainous regions. A.N. Bernshtam was particularly interested in the history of the nomadic world. Consequently, the main focus of the expeditions was on studying the routes of nomadism and burial mounds. Cities (Akhsiket, Kasan, Uzgen, Kuva, Marhamat) were studied to a lesser extent. The materials obtained formed the basis for the first periodization of Fergana's culture from ancient times to the late Middle Ages. A.N. Bernshtam's work opened a qualitatively new stage in the study of Fergana, distinct from previous ones. For the first time, the problem of the ancient history of the region was presented widely. A.N. Bernshtam was the first among archaeologists to pay attention to the uniqueness of Fergana's cities and attempted to trace the genesis of the medieval oases in this area (Bernshtam, 1952).
More than thirty years have passed since A.N. Bernshtam's last expeditions. During these years, hundreds of new monuments have been discovered. Extensive excavations have been conducted at many of them. New materials have allowed for significant corrections to the established understanding of the development of culture and the dynamics, especially in the mountainous and foothill areas of Fergana.
The materials obtained in southwestern Fergana are very important, as this extensive area is located at the intersection of the two ancient states of Ustrushana and Fergana and is currently the most thoroughly studied. The settlement of the southwestern foothills of Fergana began in the late 1st millennium BC - in the first centuries AD, when there was a mass migration from the valley to the foothills. This is confirmed by findings in the Laylak and Batken districts of the Osh region (Zadneprovskiy, 1960; Baruzdin, Brykina, 1963; Brykina, 1982) and in the Isfarin district of the Leninabad region (Davidovich, Litvinskiy, 1955). E.A. Davidovich and B.A. Litvinskiy believe that the movement of settlers into the southern foothills of Fergana came from the north and northeast (Davidovich, Litvinskiy, 1955). The newcomers from the plain Fergana settled the valley of the Khodja-Bakirgan River, the Isfarin and Batken depressions. This is evidenced by the great similarity of material culture items with those found in the foothills and in plain Fergana (Brykina, 1982). This migration was driven by purely economic reasons: in the late 1st millennium BC - the first centuries AD, the irrigation network in the valley developed rapidly. The areas cultivated for arable land sharply increased. This led to a reduction in pastures and contributed to the development of livestock farming.
The first settlers who came to the foothills were shepherds. Until that time, as S.S. Sorokin believed, the foothills were inhabited by small communities that engaged in primitive agriculture and livestock farming (Sorokin, 1958).
History and Archaeology of Ancient Tien Shan