Archaeology and Etno-Cultural history the first opened caravanserai, rabat (ribat) of Central Asia

Abstract

Aultepe is one of the well-studied monuments of the early middle ages of Central Asia. The excavation author S. K. Kabanov, based on the data obtained suggested that it was the ruins of a castle of a local landowner. Many Central Asian architecture experts supported the author's findings on the purpose of the monument. After these studies, for many years Aultepe was considered a reference monument of the early middle ages, with which newly discovered monuments were compared. But large-scale archaeological excavations conducted in recent years in Central Asia have provided new materials on the architecture of the region. These data allowed us to turn again to the conclusions of the author. Until today, many scholars of the history of architecture, the emergence of caravanserais, ribat or rebates associated precisely with the spread of Islam in Central Asia. New studies of the materials of the monument to Aultepe made it possible to put forward the assumption that the construction of caravanserais, discounts or ribates dates back to an earlier time. Most likely, the origins of the discounts and caravanserais, who played an important role in the development of trade in the middle ages, reflect the increased role of the Great Silk Road. The article also raises the question of the origins of the tradition of building discounts in Central Asia, which played an important role in the development of trade on the Great Silk Road.