Larisa O. Smirnova^a,#

^a The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

^#E-mail: smirnova@hermitage.ru

Keywords: Darwaz, Kala-i Kukhna (Karron), Timurid garden, Mughal garden, chor-bag.

The site of Kala-i Kukhna (Karron) in South Tajikistan was investigated by the Darwaz archaeological team under Yu.Ya. Yakubov in 2012–2014. A significant part of the location flanked by hills with terraces in the north and south presents the remains of a medieval terrace park surrounding the following structures: the central mausoleum (Panjmanor), one more mausoleum (the aiwan building) by the western border, a palace at the top of the southern hill, the lower garden surrounded by stone walls with a staircase down to it, and a winery with stone wine-press near the garden. Individual finds, including coins, allow suggesting that the area was inhabited from the first centuries AD. In general, the park terraces were dated to the upper period of the site functioning; judging by the architectural features of the surviving structures the earliest date of their creation can be the turn of the 15th–16th centuries or the early 16th century AD. The Darwaz terrace park has much in common with contemporary Timurid and Great Mughal gardens.

DOI: 10.31857/S0869606323010191