Tashravata Burial Grounds
Materials from Kairagach are of great scientific value, as they help to address a number of historical issues not only of the studied area but also for Fergana as a whole. The findings indicate that in Kairagach we are dealing not with an ordinary settlement, but with a major center that played a significant role in the cultural and spiritual life of the region. While the administrative and economic center was located in Tagoba, Kairagach had the cult center of the area.
To understand the processes occurring in the region, it is very important to compare the materials from burial grounds and settlements.
Currently, there are two fully excavated burial grounds in Tashravata, and the Kairagach burial ground has also been sufficiently studied (Brykina, 1982). The analysis of the materials allowed us to trace the dynamics of the formation of burial grounds and to distinguish two chronological groups of burials that differ both in the construction of burial structures and in the composition of burial inventory.
The earliest burials are those in the subsoil and in deep extensive catacombs with long dromoses.
Burial structures of this type have been discovered in the burial grounds of Tashravata and at the V and IV sites of the Kairagach burial ground. In the burials, jugs and weapons such as bows, arrowheads, daggers, and swords were placed.
These burials date back to the 1st-3rd centuries AD.
The other group consists of burials in T-shaped catacombs with shallow dromoses and extensive chambers. In these catacombs, there are paired burials. The buried individuals had a rich inventory: various vessels, jugs, bowls, pots, large flasks, and many ornaments.
In three kurgans of Tashravata, small alabaster idols similar to those from Kairagach have been found. All burial materials from this group have direct analogies in the materials from the Kairagach estate, which allows us to date these structures to the 5th-6th centuries AD. Recent excavations in Kairagach and adjacent areas have provided fundamentally new materials regarding the history of the region. For the first time, it has become possible to judge the ideology, cultural connections, ethnic history, and economic activities of the population of the region based on a large and vivid material base.
These materials are also important for understanding the affiliation of the burial grounds of the foothills of Fergana.
The analysis of materials from the kurgans convinces us that a significant part of them should be associated with settled populations. This is primarily supported by the composition of the burial inventory. Most of the pottery was made on a potter's wheel and is of very high quality. There are forms of pottery that are completely unsuitable for a nomadic lifestyle. These include thin-walled large jugs and bowls.
The second, equally important point is that the raw brick used in the construction of the catacombs was of the same size as that used in the settlements. And finally, the topography of the valley; the graves are located in close proximity to the settlements. This circumstance, along with the similarity of domestic pottery from the burials and settlements, suggests that the burial grounds belonged to a settled population living in the nearby settlements.
The similarity of materials from settlements and burial grounds has been noted repeatedly. In his time, Z.F. Gaidukevich, who studied the Shirin-Sai burial ground, noted the similarity of materials from the burial ground and from the lower layers located near the Nunchak-tepe settlement. He noted the synchronicity of these monuments and suggested that they represent a single historical and cultural complex (Gaidukevich, 1952).
Later, this similarity was repeatedly mentioned by S.S. Sorokin (1958) and B.A. Litvinsky (1969). The former explains the similarity in ceramics by the import of pottery from urban centers into the nomadic environment. The latter believes that there was an organic connection between the population that left the settlement and the burial grounds.
Nausy Kairagacha