ROCK IMAGES OF KHOJIKENT

Abstract

The limestone rock with petroglyphs in the village of Khodzikent (Uzbek: Xo'jakent) is one of the most well-known and accessible rock art sites of Uzbekistan, with a rich history of discovery and study. The first mentions of signs on the rock have been known in print since 1879, but the systematic study of rock images has been organized by many researchers since the middle of the 20th century, such as H.A. Alpysbaev, G.V. Parfenov, G.V. Shatsky, D. Kabirov, M.M. Khuzhanazarov, etc. In addition to the published data, this work includes unique archival materials that shed new light on the research of the Khodzikent petroglyphs by the Bostandyk archaeological team led by G.V. Parfenov. The analysis of historiographical materials reveals a number of controversial issues related primarily to the quality of fixation of pictorial sources and discrepancies in their chronological attribution. A continuous survey of promising sites and a documentation technique, developed taking into account the specifics of the Khodzikent petroglyphs (the smoothness of their contours), allowed the authors to obtain qualitatively new results: to identify a previously unknown surface with the image of a “rosette”, fix 119 rock images on the “central” rock and determine the sequence of their creation using palimpsests and planigraphy analysis, reflect in digital drawings an integral image of the site of rock art. The relative chronology and analysis of iconography and the pictorial series indicate a possible broad chronological framework for the creation of Khodzikent rock images: from the Eneolithic to the early Middle Ages.