Conditions for the formation of the early middle age castle architecture in Central Asia

The history of architecture is not only the past. The invisible presence of absence – «imprints», «traces» of the disappeared cultures of past civilizations, allow us to better understand our present. The genesis of the development of architecture during the formation of feudalism and the historical environment in which a peculiar architecture of fortified castles was formed, reflecting the peculiarities of the worldview, local conditions and the tasks of fortification, is the subject and object of this study. The article gives a brief description of the peoples and processes taking place on the territory of Central Asia in the early Middle Ages – starting from the collapse of antiquity (the fall of the Parthian, Kushan and Hephthalite kingdoms) in the 5th century – and ending with the final establishment of Islam in the 10th century. The architecture of castles, reflecting the necessary qualities of fortification and defense, characteristic of the «troubled» feudal times, reproduced the specifics of the use of regional materials, structures, forms and decorative design.