Navekat or Nevkat [1] was an ancient Silk Road city that flourished between the 6th and 12th centuries. It lies near the modern village of Krasnaya Rechka, in the Chüy Valley, present-day Kyrgyzstan, about 30 kilometers east of Bishkek. It was one of the most important trading centres of the region.[2] Navekat was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2014[3] as a part of the site "Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor".
Archaeological site
Navekat had two walls: the first around the Shahristan, the traditional administrative center of this type of city; the second wall was more than 18 kilometres (11 mi) long, with public buildings, markets, gardens and even farms inside. There was a citadel (Persian: كهندز, romanized: kuhandiz) in the northeastern part of the city built on a massive earthen platform. The volume of this platform was about 13 million cubic meters, probably the largest man-made mound in the world.
During archaeological excavations, artifacts uncovered included a golden burial mask and an 8-meter-long reclining Buddha statue in one of the two Buddhist temples.[4] other artifacts demonstrate the presence of Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Eastern Christians, and Manicheans.
See also
References
- ^ http://www.himalayanresearch.org/pdf/2012/vol16n1-2012.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Nevkat – An Ancient Silk Road City Retrieved 22 May 2018
- ^ "UNESCO World Heritage List".
- ^ Guides, Insight (April 2017). Insight Guides Silk Road (Travel Guide eBook). ISBN 9781786716996.