Ancient temple and unique murals were found in Urgut

A temple of the ancient Sogdian culture and unique wall paintings were found in Urgut, as reported by UzA.

Since 2022, the Samarkand Institute of Archeology has been conducting archaeological research at the Qorgontepa monument near the village of Joraptepa in the Urgut district. During these excavations, a temple belonging to the Sogdian culture was discovered.

According to Alisher Sandiboyev, a Doctor of Philosophy in historical sciences, the temple dates back to the early Middle Ages. It has a rectangular layout, and its walls are decorated with religious-themed pictures.

The preserved height of the temple walls is three meters, and it has five doors. The walls feature images of a goddess with an oval face and ears adorned with ornaments. These images also show a winged crown with a crescent-shaped top dome. Additionally, fragments of paintings on the temple walls depict various figures, indicating that multiple deities are represented in the temple.

There are also shelves on the temple walls, one of which contains the arms and legs of a clay statue. Archaeologists believe that this temple was in use during the 7th and 8th centuries but was burned down in 712 when the Arabs marched on Samarkand.

It is worth noting that earlier, in the Surkhandarya region, graves dating back 4,000 years and remains of a 2,000-year-old city were discovered.