Social Science and Human Research Bulletin

The Afrasiab Historical Museum in Samarkand stands as one of the most significant archaeological museums in Central Asia, bearing valuable traces of the history, culture, and art of ancient civilizations, particularly the Sogdians. This study, based on field data, archaeological excavation reports, and historical text analysis, explores the museum's exhibition methods, wall paintings, ceramic vessels, and other excavated artifacts. Findings reveal that the Afrasiab Museum's collections are not only rich in artistic and architectural value but also convey profound cultural and historical messages. These elements are vital for preserving regional historical memory and transmitting cultural identity. 

Afrasiab, Samarkand, Sogdian Culture, Archaeology, Wall Paintings

Books and Monographs: 

1. Azarpay, Guitty, A. M. Belenitskii, B. I. Marshak, and Mark J. Dresden. Sogdian Painting: The Pictorial Epic in Oriental Art. DGO-Digital Original, 1. University of California Press, 1981. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.8500916. 
2. Halbwachs, Maurice, and Lewis A. Coser. On Collective Memory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. 
3. Vyatkin, V. L. Afrasiab—gorodishche drevnego Samarkanda. Samarkand and Tashkent, 1927. 

Chapters in Edited Volumes: 

1. Akhunbabaev. “Domashnie khramy rannesrednevekovogo Samarkanda (Domestic Chapels of Early Medieval Samarkand).” In Gorodskaya kul’tura Baktrii-Tokharistana i Sogda: Antichnost’, rannee srednevekov’e, Samarkand, 1987, 10–21. 
2. D’yakonov, M. M. “Rospisi Pyandzhikenta i zhivopis’ Sredneĭ Azii.” In Zhivopis’ drevnego Pyandzhikenta, Moscow, 1954, 83–158. 
3. Grenet, Frantz. “L’Inde des astrologues sur une peinture sogdienne du VIIe siècle.” In Religious Themes and Texts in Pre-Islamic Iran and Central Asia: Studies in Honour of Professor Gherardo Gnoli on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, edited by C. Cereti et al., 123–29. Wiesbaden, 2003. 
4. Livšic, V. A. (Livshits). “The Sogdian Wall Inscriptions on the Site of Afrasiab.” In Royal Nawrūz in Samarkand: Acts of the Conference held in Venice on the Pre-Islamic Afrāsyāb Painting, edited by Matteo Compareti and Étienne de La Vaissière, 59–74. Rome, 2006. 
5. Sengupta, Anita. “Image and Influence: The Politics of Nation-Branding in Uzbekistan.” In Historiography and Nation-building Among Turkic Populations, edited by Birgit Nilsson Schlyter, 91–110. Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, 2014. 

Journal Articles: 

1. Arzhantseva, Irina, and Olga Inevatkina. “Afrasiab Wallpaintings Revisited: New Discoveries Twenty-Five Years Old.” Rivista degli studi orientali 78 (2006): 185–211. https://doi.org/10.2307/41913397. 
2. Buryakov, Yu. F., and M. Taguiev. “O kangue-kushanskikh sloyakh Afrasiaba (po materialam arkheologicheskikh raskopok 1968 g.).” Obshchestvennye nauki v Uzbekistane, no. 8 (1968): 58– 60. 
3. Field, Henry, and E. Prostov. “Archaeological Investigations in Central Asia, 1917–1937.” Ars Islamica 5 (1938): 233–71. 
4. Gorshenina, Svetlana. “Samarkand and Its Cultural Heritage: Perceptions and Persistence of the Russian Colonial Construction of Monuments.” Central Asian Survey 33, no. 2 (2014): 246–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2014.916071. 
5. Huang, Bing. “Deciphering the Shi Jun Sarcophagus Using Sogdian Religious Beliefs, Tales, and Hymns.” Religions 12, no. 12 (2021): 1060. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12121060. 
6. Mir-Makhamad, Basira, Pavel Lurje, Vikentiy Parshuto, Abdurahmon Pulotov, F. Aminov, Michael Shenkar, Muminkhon Saidov, et al. “Agriculture along the Upper Part of the Middle Zarafshan River during the First Millennium AD: A Multi-Site Archaeobotanical Analysis.” PLOS ONE 19, no. 3 (2024): e0297896. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297896. 
7. Sims-Williams, Nicholas. “Sogdian Fragment of the British Library.” Indo-Iranian Journal 18 (1976): 43–82. 

Online Sources: 

1. “Afrasiab: The 7th Century BC Cradle of Samarkand’s 2700-Year History.” Travel Guide Samarkand. Accessed June 1, 2025. https://hotelsamarkand.com/afrasiab-the-7th-century-cradleof-samarkands/. 
2. Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. “Samarkand – Crossroad of Cultures.” Accessed June 7, 2025. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/603. 
3. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History. “Sogdians in Their Homeland.” February 19, 2025. Accessed June           7, 2025. https://oxfordre.com/asianhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.001.0001/acrefore9780190277727-e-51. 
4. Pugachenkova, G. A., E. V. Rtveladze, and Matteo Compareti. “AFRĀSĪĀB i. The Archeological Site.” Encyclopaedia Iranica Online. Brill, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1163/23304804_EIRO_COM_4843. 
5. Yarshater, Ehsan. “AFRĀSĪĀB.” Encyclopædia Iranica I/6, pp. 570–576. Updated version available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/afrasiab-turanian-king (accessed March 14, 2014).