Examining archaeological objects on the territory of the Uvek fortified settlement in 2014 (preliminary report)

The article presents some new information on historical topography of the Uvek fortified settlement, based on the available archive data, museum collections and 2014 field archaeological research. The fortification structures marked in the plan outline the central part of the town, which is a massive cultural area. The 2014 survey was conducted in the southern, northern and northwestern outskirts of the settlement. Islamic necropolises from the southern outskirts occur alongside with pottery kilns and melting furnaces. Numismatic finds date the period of active development of the territory in 1310-1360s, while the earliest elite burials are dated by late 13th ? early 14th centuries. Some earthwork on the western outskirt in the early 20th century uncovered a necropolis with inhumations in bricked vaults, and the museum thus acquired a gravestone from a Muslim burial of late 13th century. In 2014, the same site yielded Muslim burials with fragments of fabric and cornelian embedding. A prospecting pit in the northern outskirt discovered a redeposited cultural layer with a worn copper coin dated by the first half of 14th century. The highest point in the north-western outskirt (Kalancha Mount) had no cultural layer; however, earlier it used to give some stray copper coins dated by 14th century, as late as 1350s. Debris of a surface adobe-brick dwelling was found downhill, with coins dated by 1360s. These studies are the first stage in the process aiming to produce a complete modern map of the Uvek fortified settlement.