Sarazm means "where the land begins"; it is an ancient town located in Panjakent District in Sughd province, northwestern Tajikistan. It is also an archaeological site that testimony to the development of human settlements in central Asia, dating back to the 4th millennium BCE.

The ruin is listed as World Heritage Site by UNSEO in in July 2010 as the first World Heritage Site in Tajikistan. It was discovered by a local farmer in 1976 who found a copper dagger protruding from nearby construction site; then it was excavated by archaeologists since 1977.

The Proto-urban Site of Sarazm situated between a mountainous region suitable for cattle rearing by nomadic pastoralists, and a large valley conducive to the development of agriculture and irrigation by the first settled populations in the region. It shows in the sophistication of the dwellings, infrastructures, and archaeological findings, with the development of pastoralism and early agrarianism and exploitation of mineral resources in the Bronze Age.

The site also demonstrates the existence of trade and cultural exchanges with peoples over an extensive geographical area, from the steppes of central Asia and Turkmenistan to Iranian plateau as far as Indian Ocean.