Oasis of Bukhara

Bukhara Oasis (Uzbek: Buxoro vohasi) is a fertile area in the south-eastern part of Uzbekistan formed by the Zerafshan River.

[1] In the 1970, a channel connected Zerafshan with Amu Darya, but only a decade later, Bukhara Oasis started experiencing waterlogging, water pollution, increasing soil salinity, and other hydrological problems.

[4] A study conducted by the Mission Archéologique Franco-Ouzbèke dans l'Oasis de Boukhara (MAFOUB) in late 2010s found eight channels that Zerafshan used to flow in, but later changed course.

[5] Melting of the glaciers after the Last Glacial Maximum along with possible earthquakes blocked the river several times; then the temporary dams would get broken by the mass of water gathered upstream, which created avulsions that destroyed all the human-made structures.

[16] The Muslim conquest of Transoxiana began the Islamic period in the history of the oasis, which is characterised by resettlement of depopulated places and temporary or permanent abandonment of established cities such as Ramitan (later repopulated) and Varakhsha (last ceramics found there are dated to the 13th century).

[14] These cities also exemplify the main reasons for the population decline: the washing out of the mud brick structures (Ramitan) and instabilities with water supply (Varakhsha).

[17] The population changes ended in the 15th through 16th centuries: settlements such as Kakishtuvan, Barkad, Pinjan and Iskijkat, which had no access to water, were abandoned; later the ancient tepe of Bukhara, Gijduvon and Vobkent were swallowed by new buildings.

[15] The first systematic investigation of the Bukhara Oasis was conducted by a team led by a Russian diplomat Alexander Fedorovich Negri [ru] in 1820s; it included cartographers, a doctor, and a naturalist.

[19] As for the studies conducted in the independent Uzbekistan, Shukhrat Adilov (2006) surveyed the hydrography of the region while several Italian expeditions published materials from local excavations.