Monuments of the Middle Bronze Age in South-Western Tajikistan

Vinogradova N. M.

Till recently only monuments of the Late Bronze Age had been discovered and unearthed in South-Western Tajikistan. However, occasional finds in the museums of Danghara, Hulbuk and Kulob made it probable that monuments of the Early and Middle Bronze Age could be found here. Archaeological research at Gelot proved this to be true. Materials excavated at the burial ground of Gelot, especially a stone statuette from a peasant’s grave belonging to the early Sapalli-tepe culture, show that in the late III – early II millennium BC a civilization which developed there combined in its culture Mesopotamian and Elamite models with local Bactrian traditions.

Keywords: culture, settlement, burial ground, burial, ceramics, bronze, chronology, Central Asia