Kiuzeli-Gyr
Kiuzeli-Gyr
(also Kiuzelikyr), a site of an ancient Khwaraz-mian fortified town located in an ancient delta of the Amu Darya River on a monadnock of the same name (in present-day Ta-shauz Oblast, Turkmen SSR). It was discovered in 1939 and excavated in 1950 and 1953–54. The site of Kiuzeli-gyr contains the ruins of a fortress of the sixty-fifth century B.C., the greatest monument of early classical Khwarazm. The fortress was surrounded by a wall with a flat-roofed battlement and semicircular towers. A complex of public buildings was in the center of the site. The population engaged in stock raising and irrigated farming. Excavations revealed pottery made on the potter’s wheel, tools, ornaments, and Scythian-type bronze arrowheads.