The settlement of Sarazm is located in the Penjikent region, 1.5 km from the regional center. The settlement was discovered in 1976. Its area is 90 hectares. Archaeological excavations have been carried out since 1977. During this period, 3 objects were excavated, where work is still ongoing. As a result of excavations, a significant amount of painted ceramics, stone and metal products was found.
The name "Sarazm" comes from the ancient Tajik word "sarizamin" - (beginning of the earth).
The microoasis of Sarazm divides the Zarafshan valley into two parts - flat and mountainous. In the flat part, to the west of Sarazm, there are the world-famous cities of Samarkand, Bukhara and dozens of towns, which were written about by medieval Tajik-Persian, Arab historians and geographers. The Sarazm microoasis can be considered the beginning of the lands of the lower reaches of the Zarafshan.
Bronze hatchet. More than ten years have passed since the inhabitants of the Penjikent region reported about their discovery of a bronze axe. According to the results of the excavations, it can be concluded that Sarazm was the center of the early agricultural cultures of Penjikent.
Fragments of ceramics, stone grain grinders, terechniks, etc., found on the surface of the plowed soil, indicate that farmers, cattle breeders, and artisans lived in the Sarazma settlement. The first object was a small hill, on which archaeologists managed to find the remains of seven dwellings with two courtyards. They were built of mud, carefully plastered with clay. The most ancient material from this excavation is a fragment of multicolored ceramics. The collected fragments point to the 4th millennium BC. At a distance of 400 m to the north-east of the site, a second excavation was laid, where it was possible to unearth a whole residential area. This settlement was inhabited for one and a half thousand years, from the middle of the 4th to the end of the 3rd millennium BC.
When studying the ways of development of society and its social culture, the palace complex excavated in Sarazm with an area of more than 250 square meters is of great interest. meters, differing from ordinary houses in layout, monumentality and splendor. Ceramics and the method of its production has always been considered one of the determining factors in the level of development of primitive communities. According to its technological data, it is divided into two groups - stucco and easel. In Sarazm, almost all ceramics were made in stucco. But at the end of the third millennium BC. e. the potter's wheel was invented, which made it possible to increase the number of products and diversify their shape. Glasses, goblets, bowls, pots, jugs and other miniature vessels appear in everyday life.
Metal was produced by collective labor. Judging by the fact that a large number of various metal products were found in the settlement, it can be argued that Sarazm was the only ancient metallurgical center in the region. Among the finds are gold, silver, lead, bronze and copper items. Among them, 48 gold beads stand out, as well as a twelve-petal gold rosette with a turquoise insert in the center.
Of great importance are bronze items, of which more than a hundred copies were found. Deposits of copper, tin, arsenic, lead, antimony discovered by Tajik geologists, which are important components in the production of bronze, indicate the local development of metal products.
Stone products of Sarazm have analogues among the finds of the Middle Eastern monuments of the Bronze Age. The Sarazmians used stone bowls, weights, mortars, pestles, burnishers, chisels, chisels, grain grinders, rut bearings of paired circles and doors in everyday life. In the early stages of the formation of culture, stone arrowheads and spears, sickle inserts, and knife-like plates were widely used in everyday life.
Numerous toilet articles testify to the degree of development of the art of stone processing. These are pendant beads made of agate, onyx, obsidian, beads made of beads, lapis lazuli, turquoise, carnelian and other precious stones.
Two unique finds stand out from the series of clay stone products: a clay stamp and a stone wand with a beak-shaped head and a hole for the rod. The stamp is typical for the monuments of the ancient agricultural culture. Similar seals have been found in individual sites in Mesopathamia, Iran, Balochistan and India.
Among the rarest finds are sea shells, processed in such a way as to serve as decoration.
Tomb. Perhaps the most interesting discovery is a round burial ground enclosed by a stone wall with five burials. In this peculiar collective burial vault, a burial place with unusually rich burial utensils for that time stands out. The deceased woman, 19-20 years old, was showered with beads made of lapis lazuli, turquoise, carnelian and white chalk stone. One gets the impression that the clothes were embroidered with beads. The wrists were adorned with two massive bracelets made of sea shells. Gold and silver threads, like a fan, diverged at the head. Four stone pins, a bone awl, a bronze mirror and two terracotta figurines were also found.
The mentioned houses, religious and palace buildings, weapons and decorations were created at a time when mankind was just mastering metal and stone tools still prevailed in everyday life.