Khalchaian

the site of an ancient fortified town that flourished from the mid-first millennium B.C. through the third century A.D., in what is now Denau Raion, Sukhandar’ia Oblast, Uzbek SSR. Excavations, conducted between 1959 and 1963, revealed the ruins of a citadel (Karabag-Tepe), the city’s grid plan, and the remains of dwellings and estates. The palace of the first Kushans (first century B.C. to first century A.D.; seeKUSHANA KINGDOM), built in the style of Bactrian architecture, had a colonnaded iwan and a main hall decorated with wall paintings and painted clay sculpture, depicting court and battle scenes, festive processions, and various rulers.