It was located on high ground for defensive reasons, south of a river valley and north of a large fertile area which has now become part of the city of Samarkand.

In the 1920s, it was extensively excavated by the archaeologist Mikhail Evgenievich Masson who placed artifacts found at the site in the Samarkand museum.

So, it means that a lot of place was occupied by reservoirs, the biggest of which had a capacity of about a million gallons of water and was located near the southern wall.

A bathhouse of Afrasiyab consisted of cisterns, baths, pipes supplying heat and water, dressing rooms, massage chambers, warm and cold halls and open courtyards.

In 1924 in Afrasiyab Viatkin made his research, at the place where a Buddhist fresco and a richly molded alabaster panel were found on the wall of an ancient room.

This house had a domed hall luxuriously panelled with carved gypsum stucco, which covered both inside and outside parts of the walls.

During the 1930s excavations by Viatkins there was found at the ruins of a palace complex with traces of splendid frescoes related to the Karakhanid period (from eleventh to twelfth centuries A.D.), which was located in the shahristan area.

The minaret was faced with bricks stamped with the Persian word Ikhshid, the title of the ancient Samarkand rulers.

[7] One of the murals show a Chinese Embassy carrying silk and a string of silkworm cocoons to the local Sogdian ruler.

[7] The scenes depicted in the Afrasiyab murals may have been painted in 648–651, as the Western Turkic Khaganate was in its last days, and the Han dynasty was increasing its territory in Central Asia.

[6] Alternatively, it may have occurred soon after 658, when the Tang dynasty had conquered the Western Turkic Khaganate, and the king of Samarkand Varkhuman could directly enter into contacts with the Chinese.

The biggest part was the unglazed pottery, which was wheel-made, well fired, and simply ornamented in harmony with its purpose, which shows the master's skills.

The surfaces of the handmade pitchers and pots were carefully polished and covered with markings in the form of parallel lines, diamonds, crisscrosses, and spirals.

There also were found the numerous terra-cotta slabs and miniature altars, which were covered inside and outside with a beautiful stamped floral ornamentation.

Also there was produced glass, that was made into small, exquisitely fashioned flasks, phials, tumblers, mugs, wineglasses, goblets, spoons, jugs, carafes, and bottles.

Each tombstone bore an inscription engraved in Arabic and showed the name of the person buried and the year of burial; some of the stones were decorated with arabesques.