RUSSIAN ARCHAEOLOGY - RESIDENTIAL STRUCTURE OF THE 16TH-CENTURY AD IN THE KALA-I KUKHNA (KARRON) GARDENS IN DARVAZ

L.O. Smirnova

The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

Keywords: late medieval Darvaz, Kala-i Kukhna (Karron), “Red Hall”, “astrological hall”, layout of residential space, ethnography of the Pamirs, paintings, decor, clay bowl.

The article develops a series of publications considering the materials collected in 2012–2014 in Darvaz, Tajikistan. This paper features one of the architectural objects excavated in the late medieval layers of Kala-i Kukhna (Karron). The author presents a description of the room conventionally called the “Red Hall”, describes analogies to its layout in the ethnography of the Pamirs, and analyzes the decor and function of the room. The article provides arguments in favor of dating the room within the chronological boundaries of the last period of habitation of the site, i.e. the 14th – early 17th century AD, as well as arguments refuting the interpretation of the room as an “astrological hall” proposed earlier by Tajik researchers. In addition, the paper considers the existence of forms of dishes similar to the shape of the clay bowl found in the “Red Hall”.

DOI: 10.31857/S0869606325010093, EDN: BGRFRY