The ruins
Mud walls and house foundations.
upyernoz from Haverford, USA — CC BY 2.0 · upyernoz from Haverford, USA — CC BY 2.0 · upyernoz from Haverford, USA — CC BY 2.0 · upyernoz from Haverford, USA — CC BY 2.0 · upyernoz from Haverford, USA — CC BY 2.0
Ancient Panjakent is the ruin of a pre-Islamic Sogdian town on high terraces at the edge of modern Panjakent, on the Zeravshan River in western Tajikistan. It lies about 14 km in a straight line from the Sarazm archaeological site. Panjakent was a small but flourishing Sogdian town that grew in the 5th century AD, home to merchants and landowners. It was a vassal of Samarkand, about 90 km away. In 722 it came under Arab rule, and towards the end of the 8th century the town on the upper terraces was abandoned and relocated, leaving the ruins that remain today. The ruins spread across an earthen plateau, where mud walls, house foundations and streets show as rolling mounds, with the Zeravshan mountains beyond. From the edge of the site you look down on the modern town and the green valley. The site is open with almost no shade, so visit in the morning, bring water and wear shoes for rough ground. Do not walk on the fragile mud walls.
Mud walls and house foundations.
The modern town and valley.
The Zeravshan range beyond.
Outskirts of Panjakent, Sughd Region, Tajikistan
An Iranian people of the Zeravshan valley and around Samarkand before Islam.
The Sarazm archaeological site, about 14 km away.