Sarazm

Sarazm was a settlement in the Zarafshan valley occupied from around the fourth millennium BC, and what makes it important is the evidence of exchange: objects and materials found here came from the Turkmen steppe, the Iranian plateau and the Indus, showing that this was a node in a network long before anything that could be called a city existed. Excavated mudbrick foundations, a fire temple and workshops are shown under shelters. UNESCO inscribed it in 2010.

What you actually see

• The mudbrick foundations - excavated houses and streets under protective shelters.
• The fire temple - the ritual structure identified within the settlement.
• The exchange evidence - materials found here from the Indus, Iran and the steppe.
• The metalworking - the workshops that made the settlement's copper goods.

When to go

April to June and September to October are the most comfortable. Summer in the valley is very hot with no shade. The site museum keeps limited hours.

Honest expectations

The remains are low mudbrick walls under metal roofs and take imagination. Interpretation on site is thin. Finds of consequence are in the museums at Penjikent and Dushanbe.

Nearby

Penjikent is east, and the Fann Mountains are south.