Tours over architectural places of interest of the Kashkadarya provice.

“A narrative story always suffers from inaccuracy, but it is a portrait. Statistical history will always be just a mechanical impression”

Frans A.

Photo tours in Kashkadarya region.

Еру пemma was discovered during archaeological work on the rural settlement Kundzhutlitepa located 1.5 km east of the settlement Yerkurgan (Kashkadarya region). It is a cabochon 2,1 x 1,8 x 0,5 cm with a carved image (intaglio). 
It is oval in shape, color of the stone is close to the black, to the light purple-red - the sort of pomegranate. The composition of the triumphal procession, picturing an elephant in profile facing right with drover sitting at the base of the head and rider on the croup, fits neatly into the oval shape of the stone.
An angel flying behind the rider's head is crowned by wreath adorned with long flowing ribbons. There is a spear stick with a curved end in the hand of the herder (Karnak) - ank \ the central character is holding long curved bough above his head, his left hand is raised above shoulder level.
Faces are shown in profile, the details are clearly traced - the hair of the rider is twisted, the nose is constituting a straight line from the forehead, the eyebrows are thick, a mustache. A character dressed in a long tunic girded at the waist with long sleeves.
The bottom of the garment side forms an acute angle, underlined with the relief lines that transmit the form of folds. The tight-fitting trousers and soft shoes, bound by strap at the ankle, can be also noted.
The figure of the herder is transmitted in a smaller scale. His hair consists of straight hair gathered in a round beam on the crown, naked torso, bound with two relief bands at the waist and hips, one band lower at hip level (apparently part of loin-clothes) - all these signs say about the Indian form of character.
The hand position is the same as in the previous figure, the left leg is covered with an elephant ear. On the elephant croup there is a round saddle, he lowered his trunk and slightly turned between long tusks, right front leg is elevated and exposed forward, his eyes are disproportionately large.
The contouring of the body is soft and plastic. The high degree of realism in the transmission of the figures speaks about the impeccable mastery and a good knowledge of nature. In the images, despite the smallest details, one can see and some conventionality, in particular, the disproportionate increase of the head of the central character, and especially in the figure of a flying angel, made by several confident touches.
The position of his body is almost upright, his hands, holding a wreath, are raised, and his head is also raised, the shape of the wing is only partly visible (there is a damage on this place), the legs are spread and slightly bent. The head of the angel is decorated with ribbon.
The left side of gemma there is an inscription, running along the image and filling the space from the end of the elephant trunk to herder's ankh, ie vertically. The inscription was read by V.A.
Livshits and contains a single word that conveys, in all probability, the proper name of the owner: (3u'p (3gu (less likely py'nprz), literally "fruit of the gods» (Vayanvare); for py'nprz the possible interpretation could be "the sublime (thanks) gods », Vayanparz. According to V.A. Livshits, this gemma is the oldest of the few monuments of Sogdian glyptics known so far. 
Although the dating of archaeological complex, where the gemma is found, is early medieval period, the latter based on its iconographic attributes refers to an earlier time. This is indicated by details of the picture and the composition as a whole.
The central character of the composition is clearly a noble origin dressed in a suit, known in Saka-Parthian world. Long loose tunic with pointed angles on each side - one of the most characteristic details of the costume of nomadic Saks, designed, apparently, for the freedom of movement of the rider.
The attribute of the main character is of particular notice. Upraised hand transmits traditional gesture of patronizing government, commonly known in the art of the Hellenistic East. This is the image of royal riders with arm stretched forth, holding a symbol of power, in some cases, it is a short object with a curved hook at the end, reminiscent of the ankh. 
Scenes of the king's wedding is one of the favorite subjects in Parthian art. Such scenes are commonly observed in Parthian coins. 
At the same time, the iconographic features of gemma raise  a number of issues related to the nature of the artistic culture of Southern Sogd (Kashkadarya region), where the individual plots in the monuments of the fine arts are at first glance not traditional for this region and are associated most of all with the complexes of neighboring Bactria and Parthia. The range of monuments, raised as an analogy to the composition ob gemma chronologically closes at the time from I AD to I - II BC.

Authority:
Candidate of Historical Sciences Raimkulov A.A.http://welcomeuzbekistan.uz