International archaeological expedition in the low part of the Amu Darya

International archaeological expedition to study Kerder culture that was formed in the second half of VII – beginning of VIII centuries AD in the Aral delta of Amu Darya will start its work on May 23 in Nukus district of the Republic of Karakalpakstan (Uzbekistan). Its center was the urban settlement Kerder, that was located at the archaeological site – Khayvan-Kala settlement.

The archaeological expedition was organized by the Institute of Archaeology named after A.H. Khalikov of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences together with the Kazan (Volga region) Federal University and Nukus State Pedagogical Institute (Uzbekistan).

The first examination of the Khaivan-Kala settlement was held in 1947 by the Karakalpak ethnographic team of the Khwarazm archaeological and ethnographic expedition. Surface finds made it possible to date the site to the VII-X centuries and localize in this place  the urban settlement Kerder, known in the medieval Arab-Persian historical and geographical literature. In the following years the site was repeatedly investigated by the Institute of History, Language and Literature of the Karakalpak branch of the Academy of Sciences Uzbek SSR and by the archaeological team of the Nukus State Pedagogical Institute. During the study four relatively chronological periods were revealed, corresponding to the same number of building horizons into which the cultural layers of Khaivan-Kala were divided. However, there is still insufficient evidence to establish absolute dates for each of these periods.

The tasks of the International expedition, which will last until June 10, are accurate definition of the relative chronology of the layer of Khayvan-Kala settlement; study and fixation of household objects on the monument; filling up the collection of objects of material culture and sharing of experience in a wide range of problems of multidisciplinary study of non-contemporary archaeological materials.

The results of the field seas

on in Nukus district of the Republic of Karakalpakstan (Uzbekistan) will be considered at the round table and summed up at the VI International congress of archaeology of Eurasian steppes.