Yerkurgan Central Temple in the Light of Archeological Works and Zoroastrianism Temple Architecture

Abstract

In this article, the data obtained from the archaeological excavations carried out in 2018 with the partnership of Uzbek and Turkish scientists in the Yerkurgan City Ruin, developed in the Iron Age, near the Kashkadarya River in the South Sogdiana Region of Central Asia were evaluated. The ruin of the Central Temple, unearthed in the middle of Yerkurgan City Ruin, one of the oldest and largest cities in Central Asia, located on the Silk Road between the historical cities of Bukhara- Nahsheb (Nasaf), was probably dedicated to the water-river and fire deities associated with Zoroastrianism. Probably, the temple was centrally planned when it was first built, but later it was converted into a sacred open-air platform with an altar of fire. The Great Central Temple and the small Eastern Temple next to it, and the altar base used in open-air religious ceremonies between them, formed an official religious complex associated with Zoroastrianism, like the Penjikent temples. This religious complex was probably formed in Late Antiquity. Presumably, before the temples, the middle of the city was a sacred space, where open-air official religious ceremonies associated with the cult of fire were held.