Urban cultures of Central Asia from the Bronze Age to the Karakhanids : : learnings and conclusions from new archaeological investigations and discoveries : proceedings of the First International Congress on Central Asian Archaeology held at the University of Bern, 4-6 February 2016 / / edited by Christoph Baumer and Mirko Novák.

• Superior document: Schriften zur vorderasiatischen Archäologie ; Band 12
• Author: International Congress on Central Asian Archaeology Bern, Switzerland),; Baumer, Christoph
• TeilnehmendeR: Baumer, Christoph,; Novák, Mirko, 1965-
• Place / Publishing House: Wiesbaden : : Harrassowitz Verlag,, 2019.
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Schriften zur vorderasiatischen Archäologie ; Band 12.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (viii, 463 pages) :; illustrations, maps.

For the first time a comprehensive presentation of the development of urban cultures in Central Asia from the Early Bronze Age (around 3000 BC) to the Middle Ages (about 1200 AD) is exemplarily illuminated in this book on the basis of individual research projects. The treated area extends from Turkmenistan to Mongolia and was home to cultures such as the Bronze Age Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), the Sogdian of the Iron Age, the early Parthian or various early medieval ones, namely in the Zhetysu (?Seven Stream country?) in the southeast of Kazakhstan. The urban civilizations that developed here were closely interrelated, on the one hand, with the cultures of the nomadic ranchers who traversed and inhabited this vast region and, on the other hand, with the more developed neighboring civilizations of the Near East and the Far East. Thus, the region became a diverse exchange zone of cultural and religious influences and also played a major role in the transmission of cultural impulses.0The richly illustrated book reflects the contributions of a conference that took place in Bern in 2016 and includes 28 contributions from 50 researchers from 14 countries. The results of many of the excavations presented here will be published in English for the first time. Each article is accompanied by an extensive bibliography and a Russian abstract.

Table of Contents

Turkmenistan. Altyn-Depe : The Formation of the Earliest Urban Centre in Central Asia / Lyubov B. Kircho -- Gonur Depe : City of Kings and Gods, and the Capital of Margush Country (Modern Turkmenistan) : Its discovery by Professor Victor Sarianidi and recent finds / Nadezhda A. Dubova -- The Swiss IAW-EurAsia Project on Urban Development and Land Use in Gonur Depe (Turkmenistan) : A geo-magnetic survey / Christian Hübner, Mirko Novák, and Sylvia Winkelmann -- Bronze and Iron Age Urbanisation in Turkmenistan : Preliminary results from the excavation of Togolok 1 on the Murghab alluvial fan / Barbara Cerasetti, Roberto Arciero, Marialetizia Carra, Antonio Curci, Jacopo De Grossi Mazzorin, Luca Forni, Elise Luneau, Lynne M. Rouse, Robert N. Spengler III -- Parthian Nisa : Landscape, topography and settlement planning / Carlo Lippolis -- Settlement Patterns during the Sasanian Era in Southern Turkmenistan : Preliminary survey results in the Abiverd and Merv regions 2014-2015 / Aydogdy Kurbanov. Uzbekistan. Habitat and Occupancy during the Bronze Age in Central Asia : Recent work at the sites of Ulug-depe (Turkmenistan) and Dzharkutan (Uzbekistan) / Julio Bendezu-Sarmiento and Johanna Lhuillier -- The Settlement Pattern in Central Asia during the Early Iron Age / Johanna Lhuillier -- The Uzbek-Italian Excavations at Kojtepa (Samarkand Area) Uzbekistan : First results and work perspectives / Bruno Genito -- The Hellenistic Fortress of Uzundara / Nigora D. Dvurechenskaya -- Urbanism in Antique Sogdiana? : A view from the Bukhara oasis / Fiona Kidd and Sören Stark -- Urbanscape vs. Landscape, or Urbanscape as Landscape? : A case from ancient Samarkand (Sogdiana) / Simone Mantellini -- New Excavations in the Paikend City-Site : The Sogdian pottery assemblage of the Hellenistic period / Andrei V. Omel'chenko -- Preliminary Results of Archaeological Investigations at Vardāna : A focus on the Early Medieval period / Silvia Pozzi, Sirojjidin Mirzaachmedov, and Munira Sultanova -- Vardanzeh : The dynamics of settlement on the citadel based on the materials from medieval pottery complexes / Djamaliddin Mirzaachmedov, Silvia Pozzi, Shuxrat Adilov, Munira Sultanova, and Sirojiddin Mirzaachmedov -- Archaeological Research at the Qarshovul Tepa Site, Uzbekistan / Konstantin A. Sheyko, Genadiy P. Ivanov, and Djangar Ya. Ilyasov -- Nomadic Urbanism at Tashbulak : A new highland town of the Karakhanids / Farhad Maksudov, Elissa Bullion, Edward R. Henry, Taylor Hermes, Ann Merkle, and Michael D. Frachetti. Tajikistan/Kyrgyzstan. Sanjar-Shah: A Sogdian Town in the Zeravshan Valley : Some preliminary results of the recent archaeological investigations / Michael Shenkar and Sharof Kurbanov -- The Study of Ceramics from Sanjar-Shah : Technological, cultural and administrative connections with Panjikent / Sharof Kurbanov -- The Early Medieval Martshkat (Hisorak) in Upper Matcha and its Bactrian Connections / Pavel B. Lurje -- The Buddhist Monastery of Krasnaya Rechka Settlement : The main findings 2010-2015 / Asan I. Torgoev, Alexey V. Kulish, Evgeny A. Kiy, and Valery A. Kolchenko -- The Ancient Site of Novopokrovskoe 2 : Excavation 1: Preliminary results / Valery A. Kolchenko and Philipp Rott. Kazakhstan. Inner Syr Darya Delta : Archaeological sites during the second half of the 1st millennium BCE: An analysis of the settlement pattern / Gian Luca Bonora -- Kuiryktobe : The site of ancient Keder / Karl M. Baipakov -- The Ancient Settlement of Kesken-Kuyuk-Kala in the Eastern Aral Region / Karl M. Baipakov -- Interprettng the Female Figure on a Ceramic Fragment from Taraz / Saltanat B. Eder -- Comparative Chronologies of Western and Central Asia (4300 BCE-1258 CE).