The daily Sabah reports that archaeologists have unearthed a new settlement on the Great Silk Road in the Fergana Valley.
As a result of two years of excavations near the village of Ming Tepe, employees of the Institute of Archeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the Institute of Archeology of Uzbekistan in the Fergana Valley discovered an ancient city the size of Monaco (about 2 square kilometers).
Before starting excavations, archaeologists using drones equipped with Real Time Kinematic technology recorded the height of the relief in and around the site. This made it possible to identify the remains of a tomb and a craft workshop within the city walls. Their presence proved that the monument had a permanent local population, and was not just a stand.
In the light of the research carried out, it is clear that 2000 years ago the found settlement was an important city associated with the Kingdom of Daiyuan. A state that is known for its thoroughbred horses and staging points on most of the Great Silk Road. Today, it is the most promising place for studying the process of mutual influence of Chinese and European civilizations at the turn of our era.
Natural earth
The Great Silk Road is an extensive network of caravan roads that crossed Europe and Asia from the Mediterranean to China. Its development had a tremendous impact on the formation of the political, economic, cultural structure of the countries of Western Asia, the Caucasus, Central Asia and China. In Central Asia, along its routes, cities emerged: Merv, Samarkand, Bukhara, Termez, Khiva and other cities, which later became centers of science and culture.
It is now gaining more and more attention as China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013. Chinese politicians proposed to "revive" the infrastructure network of the Great Silk Road, starting with the construction of three trans-Eurasian economic corridors: northern (China - Central Asia - Russia - Europe), central (China - Central and Western Asia - Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea) and southern (China - Southeast Asia - South Asia - Indian Ocean).
Elizaveta Vlasova
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