THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AT THE AK-BESHIM SETTLEMENT (SITE IV): NEW ARCHIVE DATA AND THEIR INTERPRETATION
The article deals with the L.R. Kyzlasov’s archive on the 1954 excavation of the Christian church with the cemetery (Site IV) at the Settlement of Ak-Beshim, as well as with the archaeological report of V.I. Kozenkova who was a student of the Department of archaeology of the Moscow State University and the head of excavation at the Site IV. She conducted a study of this site under Kyzlasov’s guidance. Studying of Kyzlasov’s and Kozenkova’s field reports, the author revealed that the Christian church was built in two stages. The central room and the yard were built at first, and a side room was attached in the second construction period. Near the east wall of the altar room, at floor level, there was the altar platform intended for the priest and the altar. Similar churches are known in Uzbekistan: the Urgut monastery of the 8th - early 13th centuries and churches of the 9th - 11th centuries at the Ak-Beshim Settlement. The first Christian burials appeared under the walls of the church during its functioning, while the others graves are dated back to the period of its desolation and abandonment. For the territory of Central Asia so far, the only case of burial of the dead under the walls of the church building.