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Area 7 |
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The 'mausoleum' is a monumental structure built almost at the precise geometric centre of the upper enclosure. The entire area is raised above its surroundings and has been partially investigated. The remains visible on the surface comprise two towers, roughly 10 metres square, apparently of solid mud brick. The towers were once linked by a central vault. A ramp leads up to the western side of the building. The west flank was reinforced at one stage by a buttress and mud brick fill. A deep sounding on the exterior of the west flank uncovered the foundations and various structural alterations which suggest a long period of use. Collapsed mud brick rubble and weathered stone column bases indicate that there was once a columned hall on the upper storey. The form of the building finds its best parallels in funerary architecture and so has been provisionally identified as a mausoleum, although this attribution remains to be fully confirmed with further excavation. If this hypothesis is correct, the monument may contain the bones of the first rulers of ancient Chorasmia. |
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