Trial Trenches at Koj tepa, Samarkand Area (Sogdiana)(Third Interim Report 2011)

The article constitutes the third interim report of the Italian excavation activities in the Samarkand region (Uzbekistan) a Koj Tepa, on the basis of an agreement of archaeological cooperation between the Institute of Archaeology of the Uzbek Academy of Science, Samarkand and the Università degli Studi di Napoli, l’Orientale, first signed in 2009 and renewed in 2012. The main results of the season have been the clear archaeological evidence of the encircling mud wall around the tepe, detected with three different trenches, with a later re-utilization of the same structure, an important archaeological deposit uncovered on the top of the tepe in other trench, with the evidence of structural remains and different material culture, amongst which pottery, mill stones and a terracotta figurine of the Pudica Venus type. The chronological span time up to now recognized are related to 3rd century BC and 3rd century AD.