OASES. jit 
its bazaars recite the feats of Iskander (Alexander), Genghis Khan, and Timur; 
and from the foliage of Samarkand, once capital of that last world-conqueror, 
still rise glittering faience domes and towers, the earthquake-shattered ruins of 
his colleges and tombs. 
AFROSIAB. 
Just to the east of this old city of Timur and on a loess plateau about 70 
feet above the big Obu Siob, bounding it north and east, lie the ruins of Afrosiab, 
still more ancient Samarkand. Tradition tells us this was founded by a Persian, 
Prince Afrosiab, while some believe it to have been the Maracanda cf Alexander. 
Its great areas of ruins have crumbled to a barren surface of low mounds with 
several depressions connected by canals and moats, the remnants of a water-system. 
Water entered from the south and split into secondary canals, two of which ran 
just outside the inner walls, those south of its citadel, to supply various neigh- 
boring basins. The surplus of these two emptied into the Obu Siocb on the north, 
at a level about 15 feet higher than the Obu Siob water of to-day, as though the 
canal had deepened 15 feet since these tributaries were abandoned. It was hoped 
CULTURE DEBRIS ZOFEEr DEEP DRY CANALS 


VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL SCALE 
2 800 1000 FEET 
Fig. 473.—Profile of Afrosiab. 
that some light on the antiquity, and especially on the introduction, of glazed 
ware might come from a study of gully sections through its culture remains. This 
work proved difficult, if not impossible, without excavation. In the gullies two 
habits have conspired against reliable sections; first, creeping down of muddy 
débris during wet weather; and second, refilling cf narrow parts choked up in 
various ways, after which reexcavation leaves sections of washed-down débris in 
which all horizons of the culture-strata are mixed together. Some gullies, 30 feet 
in depth, are so narrow from top to bottom that when a wall caves in, refilling 
takes place behind. The large gully running to the Obu Sicb canal opposite the 
mill widens and deepens downwards with several terraces, and has been artificially 
dammed across at regular intervals, thus refilling to form cross-terraces that are 
cultivated. Reexcavation of this valley would leave sections of most unreliable 
data. But though unreliable in general, there are a few gully sections in Afrosiab 
that give clean exposures of undisturbed strata. In two or three, through its 
central plateau of débris there appears to be a total depth of 30 to 35 feet of 
culture-strata resting on the original loess foundation. Through its northern wall 
along the Obu Siob cliff a tunneling gully shows the culture débris thinning out 
to but a few feet in thickness. 
HIGH-VALLEY (TYPE III) OASES OF THE UPPER ZERAFSHAN. 
So often conquered and swept by migrating hordes, the lowland oases of the 
Zerafshan now present a mixture of races, though according to the ethnologist 
there is still a predominance of Tadjik, excepting perhaps in Bokhara. And this 
mixture continues some way up into the mountain valley, where for about 16 
