Last weekend, the Kyrgyz-Japanese archaeological expedition studying the Ak-Beshim settlement concluded, led by Bakyt Amanbaeva from the Kyrgyz side and Kazuya Yamauchi from the Japanese side. Upon completion of the excavations at the site, restoration and reconstruction of several excavated rooms were carried out.
Now everyone interested can visit and see the site!!!
The Ak-Beshim settlement is located near the village of Ak-Beshim, 6 kilometers southwest of the city of Tokmak (Kyrgyzstan).
It emerged in the 5th-6th centuries as one of the easternmost settlements of Sogdian merchants on the Silk Road. In 629, it was visited and described by Xuanzang. He noted the fertility of the soil, particularly favorable for growing millet and grapes. At that time, Sogdian traders paid tribute to the Turkic khagan.
With the establishment of the Western Turkic Khaganate, Suwab became its capital. In the summer, the khagan moved to his camp in Navaket in the Talas Valley. The Turks ensured the security of the state, while the Sogdians provided its economic prosperity.
From 648 to 719, Suwab served as one of the westernmost fortresses of the Tang Empire. Thanks to the Chinese, Buddhism became the main religion, coexisting with Nestorianism and Zoroastrianism until then. It is possible that the great poet Li Bo was born here.
In Suwab, traces of the oldest Christian monument in Kyrgyzstan have been discovered—a small Nestorian church from the 7th-8th centuries.
After 719, Suwab was handed over by the Chinese to the allied Turgish. During the mid-century Sino-Tibetan wars, a Tang garrison was reestablished here. After 766, it passed to the Karluks, who became part of the Uyghur Khaganate.
The Chinese traveler Du Huan, who passed through Suwab in the mid-8th century, found it in ruins, although a Buddhist monastery continued to operate. After the Chinese retreated eastward in 787, there are few written records about the city. In the treatise "Hudud al-Alam," it is mentioned as a city with a population of 20,000.
Suwab was finally abandoned due to the construction of Balasagun in the 11th century. In the late 19th century, Vasily Vladimirovich Bartold mistakenly identified its ruins near Ak-Beshim as the remains of Balasagun. The archaeological zone of ancient Suwab occupies 30 hectares. Excavations indicate the presence of numerous cult buildings in Suwab, both Christian and Buddhist.
Source: Nasledie
