Chorasmian Expedition

The Chorasmian Archaeological-Ethnographic Expedition of the Academy of Sciences (also known as Choresmian Expedition, Khorezmian Expedition) of the USSR explored a large area of Central Asia, where between 1937 and 1991, its members found and recorded almost 1,000 archaeological sites. It was the biggest and longest-lasting of all archaeological expeditions of the Soviet Union.

The expedition was founded in 1937 by Sergey Tolstov, initially with the intention of doing ethnographic studies in Central Asia. Tolstov switched to archaeology when his initial work in the Kyzylkum and Karakum deserts revealed extensive ruins and finds. He spent the rest of his life exploring the archaeology of Chorasmia (Khorezm, Khwarezm), the region southeast of the Aral Sea and between the rivers Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya which today is part of the post-Soviet republics of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

For his expedition, he collected a team made up mainly of current and former students of the Archaeology Department at Moscow State University (MGU) where Tolstov himself had graduated. These included A.I. Terenozhkin (specialized in the Saka-Scythian period), M.A. Orlov (an architect) and Ya.G. Gulyamov (a local archaeologist from Tashkent) before the Second World War. After that conflict, he recruited N.N. Vakturskaya (a pottery specialist), Yu.A. Rappoport (a specialist on cult and religion), O.A. Vishnevskaya, M.A. Itina (specializing in the Bronze Age and Iron Ages), E.E. Nerasik (an early medieval settlement specialist), L.M. Levina, B.I. Vajnberg (a numismatist), A.V. Vinogradov (a palaeolithic specialist), and B.A. Andrianov (a specialist on ancient irrigation, and a pioneer in the use of aerial photography).

Tolstov remained the director of the Chorasmian Expedition until his death in December 1976; he was succeeded by Vinogradov and Itina. The expedition was based at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR where Tolstov worked, and where he was also director of the Institute of Ethnography and Anthropology (later renamed Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology) in 1942-1965.

Before the Second World War, the main activities of the expedition consisted of preliminary survey work and small-scale excavations. After the war, work progressed to surveys of extensive areas of Chorasmia, and large-scale excavations of key sites in the region. The latter included the famous site of Toprak-kala (a palace of the 2nd/3rd century AD, with wall paintings, archive etc.); Dzhanbas-kala (a neolithic settlement and Achaemenid fortress); Koi Krylgan Kala (a circular fortress, dated 4th century BC – 4th century AD); several sites of the Dzhetyasar culture (1st millennium AD); and the medieval town of Kunya-Urgench (10th – 14th centuries AD). While settlements made up the bulk of the sites were explored in detail, the expedition also excavated many cemeteries and mausolea, including the rich and important cemeteries of Tagisken and Uigarak which belong to the Saka-Scythian period.

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