Central
Asian Civilization
A. Neolithic
Origins (6500-3300 BC)
1. A long Neolithic development in the region of, and north of, the Kopet Dagh Mountains culminated in later urban civilization.
2. The Neolithic sites of the Jeitun complex and Altyn Depe (Turkmenistan) provide the best evidence for the Neolithic period. This seems to have comprised a typical Middle Eastern pattern of small farming villages utilizing cereals and sheep/goat.
3. Thus the area north of the Kopet Daghs shared the broader Middle Eastern Neolithic base stretching from Baluchistan to Egypt.
B. Mature
Neolithic (3300-2700 BC)
1. By the late 4th millennium BC two centers of settlement evolved:
- large villages along the northern foothills of the Kopet Dagh Mts. As was the case with the somewhat earlier villages of the Zagros, there was little sign of social differentiation at this time. Subsistence was based on dry farming.
- villages located in the delta of the Geoksyur Oasis of the Tedjen River based on irrigation agriculture, permitting more intensive agriculture.
2. These Mature Neolithic sites immediately preceding the rise of complex society had significant connections with the wider Iranian Plateau area and Baluchistan. Archaeological evidence for this contact consists of ceramic similarities, female figurines, and the same raw resources (lapis turquoise and obsidian).
C. Early urban society (2700-2200 BC)
1. The Geoksyur (Tedjen River) settlements were abandoned around 2700 while the Kopet
Dagh sites such as Anau, Altyn Depe and Namazga became much larger and consolidated into small towns clustered around temples located on platforms – a generally similar pattern to that of the Mesopotamian region. Chronologically, the emergence of Central Asian urbanism parallels that of the Indus Valley and they may well have shared a single integrated process from the later Neoliothic periods.
2. Technological developments during this period include:
- copper and bronze metallurgy.
- fast wheel ceramic production
- stone seals
3. Economic (trading) contacts were established with the Indus Valley region, the Iranian Plateau, and the Persian Gulf showing that the Kopet Dagh towns were part of a wide interactive sphere that incorporated all of the civilizations surrounding the Iranian Plateau. This commercial network probably included the distribution of the resources in the vicinity of Eastern Iranian and the Indus Valley (tin, copper gold, silver, lapis, turquoise, carnelian) throughout the Middle East. The presence of Indus and Dilmun seals in the Central Asian towns supports such interaction.
1. In the last centuries of the 3rd millennium BC the Kopet Dagh towns of Namazga and Altin Depe grew to large size with complex urban organizational systems, social hierarchy, temples and palaces, extensive residential areas interspersed with streets and large-scale craft production (metal, ceramic, bead, stone).
2. This elaborate urban developed preceded widespread migration from the Kopet Dagh foothills out into the desert river deltas of the Kara Kum desert near the Amu Darya . There were two chief clusters – the Margiana oases of the Murghab River delta, and the oases of smaller river deltas throughout Bactria further east. By 2000 BC all of the Kopet Dagh towns were abandoned. The reasons for this major shift are still unknown but it is possible that the combination of populations and climatic pressure played a role.
3. There seems to be cultural continuity between the Kopet Dagh towns and their successors. This shows up in ceramic styles and forms, the use of ceramic figurines, seals, and bronze shaft-hole axes. However, the architecture and settlement plan of BMAC towns is very different.
4. BMAC settlements towns appear much more specialized in their organization than had the earlier Kopet Dagh towns with their “general” Middle Eastern urban forms (residential areas clustering around the corporate centers). The BMAC plan has been characterized as the Qala in which well-planned residential areas, which are also contained within rectangular walled areas, surround a central massive rectangular fortified “palace” structure. Towns like Togolok, and Gonur Depe are 75-100 acres in area.
5. The central structure probably served as the palace and administrative area, the center for elite craft production, a residential center for retainer of the rulers, and central storage area. This contrasts with the earlier town pattern with its central dominant temple.
6. These oasis towns subsisted on irrigation agriculture in the river deltas. The settlement pattern suggests that there was one dominant town for each major terminal river branch.
7. Technology included:
- stamp and cylinder seals
- gold, silver and bronze items.
- bronze shaft-hole axes.
- composite female statues of steatite
8. Burials show a range of status indicated by differential funerary contents; female burials are often richer in this respect than male.
9. The BMAC towns, like their predecessors, participated in a long-range economic system that encompassed the entire Middle East. BMAC items have been found throughout the Iranian Plateau, in the Indus area, and the Persian Gulf.
10. By analogy to later Central Asian custom, the BMAC towns may each have been the center of power for a local ruler (the later Khans of the region). The fortified character of the town certainly indicates limited geographical dominance.
11. It is interesting to speculate the presence of a senior lineage from whom the ruler was drawn in a social structure of segmentary type with descent measured through the female line (thus the importance of high-ranking female burials and the composite female figurines).