Mugh Fortress is an archaeological site of the 7-8 century in Tajikistan in the upper reaches of the Zaravshon river.
The building was located on a steep mountain at an altitude of 120 m from the confluence of the river Kum in Zaravshon and was a courtyard and a two-storey building of stone and brick size 18.5×19.5 m. Inside the building there were five vaulted rooms connected by a through passage.
In 1932, a shepherd from the Tajik village of Khayrabad found a basket with fragments of ancient documents in the ruins on the mountain. After some time, the find was delivered to Leningrad to the famous orientalist A. A. Freiman, who established that the document contains a text in the Sogdian language.
In the autumn of 1933, an expedition led by A. A. Freiman was organized to the site of the discovery, which found a large archive of documents: 74 in the Sogdian language, one in Arabic, one in ancient Turkic and several in Chinese. Also, many household items (silk, cotton, woolen fabrics, leather shoes, wooden utensils), weapons, coins were found. Of particular interest is a wooden leather-covered shield with the image of a Sogdian warrior. In the postwar period, excavations continued under the leadership of A. Y. Yakubovsky.
Documents found on mount mugh-letters, economic records, contracts-allowed to establish that at the beginning of the 8th century ad the castle was the last refuge of the Sogdian ruler Penjikent Devashtich, who was hiding there from the Arab conquerors. The castle is mentioned in the Arabic sources as the castle of Abgar (Alargar).
The archive of documents is currently stored in the Institute of Oriental manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and material finds – in the Hermitage.
