This article focuses on the pottery traditions of the ancient Fergana Valley, specifically the origin and quality of red-slipped pottery, and is based on archaeological sources. The study analyzes various scholarly approaches to the production of red-slipped pottery in the Fergana Valley, including the close relationship between external cultural influences and local pottery traditions. Their technical and artistic features, such as the use of high-quality clay raw materials, covering with a smooth slip, and decoration with geometric and plant-like patterns, indicate the high craftsmanship of the Fergana potters. The conclusion of the article assesses this phenomenon as an integral part of the material culture of the Fergana Valley and emphasizes the need for deeper study of the technological stages of these ceramic objects through future laboratory analyses.  

Fergana Valley, red-slipped pottery, pottery culture, local pottery traditions

Abdulgazieva, B. (1992). Arkheologicheskie pamyatniki Markhamatskogo rayona Andizhanskoy oblasti (Archaeological monuments of the Markhamat district of the Andijan region). Izvestiya Muzeya istorii kultury Uzbekistana, 26, 122–133. (In Russian)

Abdulgazieva, B. (1993). Ellinisticheskaya keramika Fergany (Hellenistic ceramics of Fergana). In Antichnaya tsivilizatsiya i varvarskiy mir: Materialy III arkheologicheskogo seminara (Part II, pp. 20–27). Novocherkassk. (In Russian)

Abdullaev, B. (2019). Bir yodgorlikda aks etgan Farg‘ona tarixi (The history of Fergana reflected in one monument). Istoriya i arkheologiya Turana, 4, 94–118. (In Uzbek)

Anarbaev, A. (2013). Akhsiket – stolitsa drevney Fergany (Ahsikent – the capital of ancient Fergana). Tashkent: Tafakkur. (In Russian)

Anarbaev, A. (2017). Gorodskaya kul'tura Fergany v epokhu antichnosti i srednevekov'ya: avtoref. dokt. diss. v vide nauchnogo doklada (Urban culture of Fergana in the antiquity and medieval period: of doctoral dissertation). Tashkent: Izd-vo In-ta arkheologii AN R Uz, 154. (In Russian)

Anarbaev, A.A., Sayfullaev, B.K., Saidov, M.M. (2014). Arkheologicheskie issledovaniya v g. Kokande i ego okrestnostyakh (Archaeological research in Kokand and its surroundings). Samarkand, 90. (In Russian)

Anarbaev, A.A., Saidov, M.M., Nasriddinov, Sh.N., Kubaev, S. (2012). Eski Akhsi yodgorligida 2011 yilda olib borilgan arxeologik tadqiqotlar (Archaeological excavations at Eski Akhsi in 2011). Oʻzbekistonda arxeologik tadqiqotlar 2010–2011-yillar. Samarkand, No. 8, 48–60. (In Uzbek)

Anarbaev, A., Maksudov, F., Kubaev, S. (2016). Chil’khudzhra (Kyrkhkhudzhra) – drevnego goroda severo-zapadnoj Fergany (Chilkhudjra (Kyrkhkhudjra) – ruins of the ancient city in northwestern Fergana). In IMKU, Issue 39. Tashkent, 89–113. (In Russian)

Askarov, A. (2015). Uzbek xalqining kelib chiqish tarixi (The origin of the Uzbek people). Toshkent: Fan, 680. (In Uzbek)

Bernstam, A.N. (1943). Istoriko-kul'turnoe proshloe Severnoj Kirgizii po materialam Bol'shogo Chuyskogo kanala (Historical and cultural past of Northern Kyrgyzstan based on the materials of the Great Chu Canal). Frunze: Izd-vo AN Kirgizskoy SSR, 254. (In Russian)

Brykina, G.A. (1982). Yugo-Zapadnaya Fergana v pervoj polovine I tysyacheletiya nashej ery (Southwestern Fergana in the first half of the 1st millennium AD). Moscow: Nauka, 144. (In Russian)

Vinnik, D.F., Brykina, G.A. (1968). O raskopkakh v rajone Andizhanskogo vodokhranilishcha (On excavations in the area of the Andijan reservoir). In Arkheologicheskie otkrytiya 1967 g. Moscow: Izd-vo AN SSSR, 361–363. (In Russian)

Gavryushenko, P.P. (1969). O khronologicheskoj klassifikatsii Kulunchakskogo poseleniya (On the chronological classification of the Kulunchak settlement). In Izvestiya AN KirgSSR, No. 2. Frunze: Izd-vo AN Kirgizskoj SSR, 70–103. (In Russian)

Gorbunova, N.G. (1975). Fergana v kushanskoe vremya (Fergana in the Kushan period). In Tsentral’naya Aziya v kushanskuyu epokhu, Vol. II. Moscow, 50–55. (In Russian)

Gorbunova, N.G. (1975). Raskopki kurganov v Ferganskoj oblasti (Excavations of barrows in the Fergana region). In Uspekhi sredneaziatskoj arkheologii, Issue 3. Leningrad, 29–32. (In Russian)

Gorbunova, N.G. (1979). O rannesrednevekovoj keramike Fergany (On the early medieval pottery of Fergana). In Uspekhi sredneaziatskoj arkheologii, Issue 4. Leningrad, 71. (In Russian)

Gorbunova, N.G. (1979). Keramika poselenij Fergany pervykh vekov nashej ery (Pottery of Fergana settlements in the first centuries AD). In Trudy Gosudarstvennogo Ermitazha. Leningrad, 114–146. (In Russian)

Gorbunova, N.G. (1970). O lokal’nykh osobennostyakh v kul’ture Drevnej Fergany (On local features in the culture of Ancient Fergana). In Sovetskaya arkheologiya, No. 1. Moscow, 77–86. (In Russian)

Gorbunova, N.G. (1984). Nekotorye osobennosti formirovaniya drevnikh kul’tur Fergany (Some features of the formation of ancient cultures of Fergana). In Arkheologicheskij sbornik, Issue 25. Leningrad, 99–107. (In Russian)

Isamidinov, M.Kh. (2019). Razlichiya i skhodstva material’noy kul’tury istoriko-kul’turnykh oblastey Sredney Azii v epokhu rannego zheleznogo veka (Differences and similarities of material culture in the historical-cultural regions of Central Asia during the Early Iron Age). In Drevnosti Vostochnoy Evropy, Tsentral’noy Azii i Yuzhnoy Sibiri v kontekste svyazey i vzaimodeystviy v evraziyskom kul’turnom prostranstve: Materialy Mezhdunarodnoy konferentsii. Saint Petersburg. (In Russian)

Isamiddinov, M.H. (2021). On some issues of chronology of ancient Fergana and Sugd cultures. In Central Asian Journal of Social Sciences and History, Vol. 2, No. 7, 7–11. (In English)

Kozenkova, V. I. (1964). Gayrat-tepe (k istorii poseleniy Fergany pervoy poloviny I tysyacheletiya n. e.) (Gairat-tepe: On the history of Ferghana settlements in the first half of the 1st millennium AD). Sovetskaya arkheologiya, No. 3. Moskva, 218–238. (In Russian)

Maksudov, F. A. (1997). Nekotorye voprosy semantiki protsarapannogo ornamenta na keramike Margilana (po materialam Kyzlartepa) (Some issues of the semantics of incised ornamentation on Margilan ceramics [based on Kyzlartepa materials]). Izvestiya Muzeya istorii kultury Uzbekistana, Vyp. 28. Samarkand, 53–59. (In Russian)

Maksudov, F. (2020). Ferghana During the Early Medieval Period //Studies on the History and Culture Along the Continental Silk Road. Singapore: Springer, 67–87. (In English)

Matbabaev, B. Kh. (2009). Qadimgi Farg‘onaning ilk o‘rta asrlar davri madaniyati (V–VIII asrlar arxeologik manbalarining tarixiy tahlili asosida) (The culture of ancient Ferghana in the early medieval period [based on the historical analysis of archaeological sources, 5th–8th centuries]). Toshkent, 407. (In Uzbek)

Saiko, E. V. (1971). K istorii goncharnogo kruga i razvitiya form keramiki: po arkheologicheskim materialam Sredney Azii (On the history of the potter’s wheel and the development of ceramic forms: based on archaeological materials from Central Asia). Dushanbe: Izd-vo AN Tadzhikskoy SSR, 212. (In Russian)

Saidov, A., Anarbaev, A., & Goriyacheva, V. (2011). The Ferghana Valley: The Pre-Colonial Legacy (The Ferghana Valley: The Pre-Colonial Legacy). Ferghana Valley: The Heart of Central Asia. London: M.E. Sharpe, 445. (In English)

Tsetlin, Y. B. (2012). Drevnyaya keramika: Teoriya i metody istoriko-kulturnogo podkhoda (Ancient ceramics: Theory and methods of the historical-cultural approach). Moskva: Institut arkheologii RAN, 430. (In Russian)

Zhukov, V.D. (1951). Otchët o rabote pervogo otryada arkheologicheskoj ekspeditsii na stroitel’stve Bol’shogo Ferganskogo kanala imeni I.V. Stalina (Report on the work of the first detachment of the archaeological expedition during the construction of the Great Fergana Canal named after I.V. Stalin). In Trudy Instituta istorii i arkheologii AN UzSSR, Vol. IV. Tashkent, 41–84. (In Russian)

Zadneprovskiy, Y.A. (1954). Drevnyaya Fergana. Avtoreferat dissertatsii na soiskanie uchenoy stepeni kandidata istoricheskikh nauk (Ancient Fergana. of dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Historical Sciences). Leningrad, 20. (In Russian)

Zadneprovskiy, Y.A. (1956). Ob ehtnicheskom sostave naseleniya drevney Fergany (On the ethnic composition of the population of ancient Fergana). In KSIA AN SSSR, Issue 61. Moscow: Izd-vo AN SSSR, 43. (In Russian)

Zadneprovskiy, Y.A. (1960). Arkheologicheskie pamyatniki yuzhnykh rayonov Oshskoy oblasti (seredina I tysyacheletiya do n.e. – seredina I tysyacheletiya n.e.) (Archaeological monuments of the southern districts of the Osh region (mid-1st millennium BC – mid-1st millennium AD)). Frunze: Izd-vo AN Kirgizskoy SSR, 173. (In Russian)

Yao, X., Ma, X., Yang, C., Wang, Y., Wu, X., et al. (2024). Red slipped and painted wares (RSW and RPW) from the Neolithic Middle Yangtze River valley (China): multi-analytical study on production and use. Heritage Science, 12(1), 1–25. (In English)