Toprak-Kala

An archaeological site in the autonomous republic of Qaralpakstan in Eastern Uzbekistan. It is an excavated town dating back to the 1st to 5th century CE, and is considered as the most important monument on Chorezm from the Kushan time. Its ground plan is 500m x 300m and it was surrounded by a wall made of bricks, 10 to 15 m high. The King's Palace in the northwestern part of the town was built on an elevated base rising about 15 m above the rest of the town. Three monumental towers, 25 m high, still exist. In front of the palace was the temple area with the holy fire. The town was divided by streets into several districts with blocks of dwellings with 150 to 200 rooms. The Kings's Hall covered an area of 280 m². The wall paintings and monumental clay sculptures were the works of a school of arts which could develop a particular Chorezmian style under the influence of Graceo-Bactrian art. The rooms of the palace had colourful wall paintings. The fortress is considered as the palace of the shah of Chorezm. In the ruins of Toprak Kale a great number of Kushan and Chorezm coins dating from the 2nd to the 5th century and small copper discs with portraits of the rules of Chorezm and written documents on wooden plates or on skins, the most ancient documents in this area, were found.