About us
Sarmishsai is a river gorge or valley on the south slope of the Karatau mountain ridge belonging to the Zarafshan mountain range (latitude 40 o 15' 47'' N, longitude 65 o 35' 09'' E and 708-891m above sea level). The gorge, oriented north – south is situated ca. 30 km northeast of the city of Navoi, which again is ca. 170 km southwest of Samarkand. The cultural and historical phenomenon of Sarmishsai has been predefined by its geographical location at one of the crossroads of the Central Asian ancient communications stretched along the Silk Road . The high cultural significance of the Archaeological Landscape of Sarmishsai, however, derives from several factors making it outstanding amongst all the most important rock art sites of Uzbekistan . Not the last role in that plays a particularity of its landscape, related to the features of geological and neo-tectonic development of the area of Sarmishsai Valley and Nuratau mountains.
The particular climate and the relief were main pre-conditions predestined the way of life of the local inhabitants and the way of the reorganization of the natural environment. Firstly, the Sarmishsai gorge is distinguished by its favorable conditions for a long-term residing, due to the abundance of springs and stretches of water, pastures reach with vegetation, and the availability of hollow ways and valleys protected from wind and suitable for the settling of small groups of people. In this respect, Sarmishsai represents an ideal landscape for conservation of endangered species of flora and fauna of arid/semiarid ecosystems of Karatau range (Tien-Shan mountainous system) . Same time, some very particular characteristics of the landscape distinguish Sarmishsai from the other similar Rock Art sites of Central Asia, such as Saimaly-Tash (Kyrgystan) and Tamgaly (Kazakhstan).
The pristine mountainous landscape is superior to the average and attracts the attention by its majesty and wonderful harmony. This not made with human hands gallery served as an ideal ground for several thousand petroglyphs created first by the Eneolith artists and then continued by those of all the following historic periods. In his respect Sarmishsai represents a rare site due to its integrity providing a quite full and representative demonstration of the rock art development for the long period of time. In general, the archaeological monuments are well preserved and wonderfully harmonize with their natural environment as the remains of stone structures – dwellings, enclosures for pasturing cattle, burial fences and mounds. Most actively the area was used by the ancient pastoral tribes and later by Uzbeks in the modern time. The present level of knowledge allows to regard the cultural archaeological landscape of Sarmishsai as a bright example of the development, within a limited area, of the traditional forms of husbandry, land use and social organization of the pastoral system in the arid zone of Central Asia .
The petroglyphs, with a total number of more than 4000 thousands, constitute the most important part of the archaeological landscape of Sarmishsai. They are spread actually all over the territory of the site - at the first sight rather spontaneously, wherever the suitable rock material is found, but in fact their location is determined by certain natural conditions of the landscape, and also by the cultural and functional contents of its particular elements. The best examples of petroglyphs of all epochs are concentrated in the picturesque canyon, that has rather limited conditions for the building of settlements, but is most suitable for the rock art activity and, probably, for the collective rituals. The third category is represented by single petroglyphs and simple compositions of the common contents (depictions of animals and scenes of hunting). They are found on separate stones near the sources of water, along the transit mountain routes and on the tops of hills or mountainous stones dominating there. Nevertheless, despite of the high concentration of petroglyphs and other monuments within the complex, the landscape to a considerable degree keeps its desert virgin character.
Due to many reasons, this bright phenomenon still remains poorly studied and little known to the world community. One of the difficult things to understand is the role of petroglyphs as a means of expression of social interconnections and of the interrelations between environments and human activities. Central Asian Rock Art monuments, and Sarmishsai as a particular case are of different level of survival and not equally studied, and still only Tamgaly ( Kazakhstan ) among them has been recently included in the World Heritage List.