Rock art survey and documentation mission in the Zeravshan valley (Uzbekistan)
Team: Ani Danielyan, David Sarmiento-Castillo (ANR FRONTIER / CNRS, UMR 7041 ArScAn, “Archaeology of Central Asia” team) & Azbiddin Kholmatov, Hikmatullo Hoshimov, Timur Ruziboev (Ja. Guljamov Institute of Archaeology, Samarkand)

Survey
In 2024, as part of the ANR FRONTIER project (dir. Olivier Bordeaux), under the responsibility of the French Archaeological Mission in Central Asia / MAFAC (dir. Frédérique Brunet) and in scientific partnership with the Institut d’Archéologie Ja. Guljamov Institute of Archaeology in Samarkand (deputy director: Azbiddin Kholmatov), a rock art (petroglyphs) prospecting and documentation mission was carried out in the Zeravshan river valley in Uzbekistan.
This region had been prospected by MAFAC between 2018 and 2022, resulting in the discovery and inventory of around thirty previously unpublished rock art sites (more than 3,000 petroglyphs), attesting to the significant archaeological potential of this region. For the 2024 campaign, surveys were continued by a Franco-Uzbek team from the ANR FRONTIER project in previously unexplored areas of the Zeravshan valley. Following remote sensing using satellite imagery and consultation of Soviet topographic maps containing detailed information on the local geography, three main areas were selected for this year’s surveys. They are located in three of Uzbekistan’s administrative provinces: Navoi, Samarkand and Djizak.
In addition, certain areas of interest were identified on the spot, often through discussions with the local population, who generally have an in-depth knowledge of their environment.
The aim of these surveys was twofold:
- to continue exploring the Zeravshan valley, in order to identify traces of mobility along these routes and to retrace the dynamics of occupation of the region, paying particular attention to the occupations of Antiquity, the key period of the project;
- to identify rock art sites, with particular reference to Antiquity, with a view to systematically documenting them for in-depth study.
The fieldwork took place between August 12th, and September 9th, 2024. Depending on the day, the team consisted of between 3 and 5 people (four archaeologists, including two rock art specialists, and an Uzbek doctoral student working on the Zeravshan petroglyphs). This teamwork enabled tasks to be shared out, optimising the systematic application of the protocol put in place for the documentation of rock art. Based on the multi-scalar approach of the Himalayan Rock Art Database (HiRADa) project, it consists of the following steps:
- exploration of the rock art sites/areas identified and delineation of their boundaries according to the spatial distribution of the engraved rocks, topography and/or distance;
- marking with flags the engraved rocks to be documented;

- geo-referencing of the sites/areas visited and of each engraved rock or other archaeological object/structure identified;
- systematically filling in the standardised forms drawn up for the documentation of the main characteristics of each rock art site/area and each engraved rock/surface;

- photographic record of each level of rock art study (site, area, rock, surface, motif, scene) with a slate (indicating the name of the site, the number of the area and of the rock/surface), a scale and a North arrow;

- photogrammetric survey of the most remarkable engraved rocks or groups of rocks.

Preliminary results
The route covered during the surveys, including the areas explored and the movement between areas, totalled 1,500 km.
This mission enabled us to explore and document 10 rock art sites, generally located near rivers and pastures (at around 800-1000 m altitude), in the foothills and valleys of the Zeravshan. Most of these sites were previously unknown. In addition to discovering new sites, our survey also enabled us to systematically document previously known but unstudied sites that had been exploited as quarries.

To help organise the fieldwork, the sites surveyed have been divided into 28 zones. They contain 354 rocks (mainly horizontal slabs, often of considerable size, but also relatively vertical walls) with numerous engraved surfaces, containing more than 2,000 petroglyphs.
This is essentially animal art, the corpus being dominated by zoomorphic representations (ibex, camels, horses, antelopes, canids, bovines, felines, deer, etc.), followed by anthropomorphic figures (archers, horsemen, etc.), geometric signs (circular shapes, quadrilaterals, etc.), objects (chariots, etc.) and a number of indeterminate images. The main themes evoke different scenes from the life of animals (group/ herd, predation, confrontation, etc.) and human activities, the latter often linked to the animal world (hunting, equestrian scenes, etc.).
Although our particular aim was to study the ancient world, in the interests of completeness we wanted to document all the sites and rock engravings that we were lucky enough to locate. The dating of rock art is generally a delicate issue. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of dating elements (different degrees of patina, superimposition of petroglyphs, certain motifs, scenes, styles and techniques), at least to define the major chronological phases. The petroglyphs inventoried cover a wide chronological spectrum, from the Bronze Age to the medieval period, as well as contemporary graffiti.
Often located close to inhabited villages, most of these sites are exploited as quarries (recovery of rocks for building houses) and are in danger of disappearing. Systematic recording of this historical heritage is therefore urgent and particularly important, as it will at least enable it to be preserved digitally.
This mission also included a training component in systematic rock art documentation methods, from which a local doctoral student assisting with the surveys was able to benefit. All in all, this rock art prospecting and documentation campaign was very fruitful, as it enabled us to enrich and complete the archaeological map and the corpus of petroglyphs in the Zeravshan region, an essential prerequisite for any interpretative study. The processing and detailed analysis of all the documentation collected will contribute to a better archaeological understanding of this region and to the reconstruction of the ancient settlement, thus meeting the objectives of our mission.

OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Ani Danielyan, David Sarmiento-Castillo, Azbiddin Kholmatov, Hikmatullo Hoshimov, Timur Ruziboev (4 octobre 2024). Rock art survey and documentation mission in the Zeravshan valley (Uzbekistan). ANR FRONTIER project. Consulté le 10 mai 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/12mv2
