This chapter examines the history of the establishment of cities in Bactria. It explains that the creation of cities in Bactria is represented by Ai Khanum for the Hellenistic period and Termez for the Great Kushans. These two exceptional cities were deliberately created to integrate an ancient centre and they assumed the role of capital for a new age. The chapter suggests that their establishment was significantly influenced by political power and that they negatively affected other towns.
This chapter discusses the latest developments in the work concerning the first periods of the existence of the ancient city of Termez. It explains the history of Temez in antiquity and during the medieval period, based on written sources. The chapter describes the site of ancient Termez as consisting of four distinct elements: the citadel or kokendoz, the medieval lower town or shahristan, the fortified suburbs or rabats, and an area covered by archaeological remains.
Termez, an antique city of north Bactriane which had become one of the capitals of the medieval Tokharestan, is situated at the far south of Uzbekistan, along the Amou Darya river. This huge archaeological site (about 500 hectares) has been excavated soon after the First World War. Its citadel, about 10 hectares, has antique architectural vestiges made of unfired bricks and large fortifications of burned bricks ; this latter material was used principally during the islamic ages (VIIeth-XIVth centuries).
Dating indicators of the citadel are provided by ceramic typology and architectural connections, but they did not allow us to determine a chronology for all the constructions, and that's why a thermoluminescence dating programme has been set up. This technique the time of the last heating of the material, and then the burned bricks production is dated. Thermoluminescence can give judicious informations about the chronology of citadel constructions since the site contains a huge quantity of bricks, a second use of the building material being very unlikely.
Thermoluminescence results on burned bricks taken from a strongly destroyed circular tower at the east of the citadel are ranging from the XIIth to the XIVth centurie. New informations about architectural and political history of the site during the Middle Ages are then obtained, and notably the permanent use of the citadel even after the destruction of the city by Gengis Khan in 1220.
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