Afrosiab Museum

At a 2.2-sq-km site called Afrosiab, northeast of the bazaar, are excavations of Marakanda (early Samarkand) more or less abandoned to the elements. The Afrosiab Museum leads the visitor through the 11 layers of civilisation that is Afrosiab. From the museum, walk 1km north to the current excavation site where you may find weather-beaten archaeologists picking coins out of the dust.

The best way to reach Afrosiab is on foot. Cross the intersection north of Bibi-Khanym and follow pedestrian Tashkent kochasi for about 1km to the Afrosiab Museum; Ulugbek's observatory is 1.5km beyond that. If it's too hot to walk, marshrutka 17 from the Registan takes an 8km detour via the bazaar and Samarkand's northern suburbs; marshrutka 45 follows the same roundabout route from Hotel Samarkand. At the time of writing the city was building a new road east of Shah-i-Zinda that should make driving to Afrosiab easier.