Kuva is a small town located twenty kilometers from the regional center, and it is believed to be the birthplace of the famous medieval mathematician and astronomer Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathir al-Farghani. Al-Farghani served the caliphs in Merv, Baghdad, and Cairo and was known in medieval Europe as Alfraganus.
When Arab conquerors, led by the banner of Prophet Muhammad, arrived in the Fergana Valley, they named this place «Kubo,» which means the same as the Turkic «tepa,» signifying «hill» or «elevation.» Each new city was built upon the ruins of the old one, with the mud-brick structures crumbling over time, and these, in turn, were built on even older ruins. Gennady Ivanov, a research associate at the Fergana Regional Museum of Local Lore and an archaeologist, hypothesizes that he might find signs of urban-type settlements dating back to the 2nd century BC on the territory of Kuva.
It was the Fergana archaeologist and candidate of historical sciences, Gennady Ivanov, who first suggested that Al-Farghani was born in Kuva, which was one of the cultural and craft centers of the Fergana Valley in the 8th-9th centuries. This hypothesis, based on rigorous scientific data, led to intensified archaeological research in the area and subsequently to the opening of the memorial complex dedicated to the great Fergana scholar in 1998.
The Fergana Valley itself is a fascinating place due to its natural and climatic conditions. People began living there a very long time ago, possibly as far back as the Stone Age, which is about a million years ago, according to recent research. The valley’s unique conditions arise because it is a basin with diverse climatic zones ranging from deserts to high mountains.
In the 10th-12th centuries, this area was a center for glass production in the Fergana Valley. The excavations have uncovered enough material to be exhibited worldwide. The findings include beautiful examples of glassware, ranging from completely transparent to black, and also in blue, red, brown, and green, in various shapes.
So far, only about one-hundredth of the Kuva site has been excavated. The vast shakhristan (citadel) with an even larger rabat (surrounding settlement) is a gently sloping elevation with a hill in the center. Archaeologists delve into the hill, carefully cutting through cultural layers like surgeons. The 11th-century layer lies a meter below the surface, the 8th-century layer is found below that, and the levels from the 2nd-3rd centuries are found at depths of 5-6 meters. The depth at which artifacts are found often indicates their age.
«The ultimate goal of the research,» says Nodirbek Abdullahatov, deputy director of the Fergana Regional Museum of Local Lore, who also works on the excavations, «is to literally dig down to the bedrock, to the level where there are no signs of human activity.»
