"Pre-Achaemenid period. Before the arrival of Iranian peoples in Central Asia, Sogdiana had already experienced at least two urban phases. The first was at Sarazm (4th-3rd m. BCE), a town of some 100 hectares has been excavated, where both irrigation agriculture and metallurgy were practiced (Isakov). It has been possible to demonstrate the magnitude of links with the civilization of the Oxus as well as with more distant regions, such as Baluchistan. The second phase began in at least the 15th century BCE at Kok Tepe, on the Bulungur canal north of the Zarafsan River, where the earliest archeological material appears to go back to the Bronze Age, and which persisted throughout the Iron Age, until the arrival from the north of the Iranian-speaking populations that were to become the Sogdian group. It declined with the rise of Samarkand (Rapin, 2007). Pre-Achaemenid Sogdiana is recalled in the Younger Avesta (chap. 1 of the Vidēvdād, q.v.) under the name Gava and said to be inhabited by the Sogdians.
[1]
"Archaeologists are now generally agreed that the Andronovo culture of the Central Steppe region in the second millennium BC is to be equated with the Indo-Iranians. However, no matter how pastorally oriented these people’s culture probably was, they were no nomads. They lived in permanent houses, not on wagons or in tents as the earliest nomads are known to have done."
[2]
According to Claude Rapin, for "the complex question relating to the Early Iron Age in Central Asia" read this (and another 2001 work)
Francfort, H. -P. 1989. Fouilles de Shortugai. Recherches sur l’Asie central protohistorique, Memoires de la Mission archeologique francaise en Asie centrale 2, Paris.
"it can be provisionally assumed that the two earlier Iron Age phases distinguished at Koktepe could represent the first manifestations of local agricultural development. Maurizio Tosi has proposed that for the southern slopes of the Zerafshan valley, along the Dargom canal, this economic system could have developed from an earlier period, when irrigation was limited to the natural flows of water from the foothills (Koktepe I period), to a later irrigation system, mainly exemplified by the excavation of the great canals deriving from the Zerafshan, the Bulungur and the Dargom (Koktepe II period)."
[3]
"As was the case for various earlier constructions, both monuments were abandoned during a period of nomad invasions, possibly in the sixth century BC. (We know, for instance, that east of the Caspian Sea Darius I had to fight Scythian nomads like those represented by their king Skunkha illustrated as a defeated prisoner on the relief of Behistun)."
[4]
??? - 1000 BCE Koktepe I
1000 - 750 BCE Chronological gap
750 - 550 BCE Koktepe II "sacred courtyard area" "strongly fortified courtyards"
[4]
550 - ??? BCE Scythians? "nomadic establishment"
[4]
??? - ??? BCE Koktepe IIIa "totally different expression of monumental urbanism"
[4]
- could be Archaemenid
Koktepe IIIa
"The next period is represented at Koktepe by the construction of two platforms with religious and political functions ... and by a huge fortification wall built in the plain around the site."
[4]
"this rampart seems to have been built at the same time as the fortification that surrounds the plateau of Afrasiab ... Both walls not only protected monumental buildings, but also encircled a large open area, probably for the surrounding population to shelter with their cattle when necessary. This conception is characteristic of Central Asian urbanism near the steppe areas (Francfor 2001), and is also apparent in later cities, such as Ai Khanum or Taxila-Sirkap."
[4]
"The sacred function of the monument, probably related to early Zoroastrianism (or at least to a local cult affiliated to the Indo-Iranian complex), is confirmed by the evidence of a ritual of foundation performed just before its construction."
[5]
Early Iron Age settlement C14 dated to second-half of second and beginning of first millennium BCE.
[6]
[1]: (De la Vaissière, Encyclopedia Iranica online, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdiana-iii-history-and-archeology)
[2]: (Beckwith 2009, 49) Beckwith, Christopher I. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
[3]: (Rapin 2007, 35) Rapin, Claude. "Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period." in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy.
[4]: (Rapin 2007, 36) Rapin, Claude. "Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period." in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy.
[5]: (Rapin 2007, 37) Rapin, Claude. "Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period." in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy.
[6]: (Lhuillier and Rapin 2013) Lhuillier, J. Rapin, C. Handmade painted ware in Koktepe: some elements for the chronology of the early Iron Age in northern Sogdiana. Wagner, Marcin ed. 2013. Pottery and Chronology of the Early Iron Age in Central Asia. Warszawa.
[7]: (Rapin and Isamiddinov 2013, 124-125)
[8]: (Rapin and Isamiddinov 2013, 126)
| Burguluk culture | |
| Yaz I civilization |
| Koktepe II |
| Preceding: Andronovo (kz_andronovo) [None] | |
| Succeeding: Ancient Khwarazm (uz_khwarasm_1) [population replacement] |
| quasi-polity |
| Year Range | Koktepe I (uz_koktepe_1) was in: |
|---|---|
| (1400 BCE 1000 BCE) | Sogdiana |
"Durant cette première phase, le site s’inscrit dans le contexte de la ceramique modelee peinte caracteristique de la culture de Burguluk (oasis de Tashkent), qui fait elle-même partie de la civilisation qui, du Turkmenistan au Xinjiang, s’etend dans la periode de transition entre l’age du bronze et l’age du fer, du dernier tiers du IIe millénaire au début du Ier millénaire av. n. e. (epoque dite de Yaz I) (Lhuillier 2010 ; Lhuillier, Isamiddinov, Rapin 2012 ; Lyonnet, ce volume)." (Rapin and Isamiddinov 2013, 124-125); During its first phase, Kok Tepe was part of the Burguluk culture, which corresponds to the Yaz I civilization from Turkmenistan to Xinjiang (last third of the second millennium BCE - beginning of the first millennium BCE)
"Durant cette première phase, le site s’inscrit dans le contexte de la ceramique modelee peinte caracteristique de la culture de Burguluk (oasis de Tashkent), qui fait elle-même partie de la civilisation qui, du Turkmenistan au Xinjiang, s’etend dans la periode de transition entre l’age du bronze et l’age du fer, du dernier tiers du IIe millénaire au début du Ier millénaire av. n. e. (epoque dite de Yaz I) (Lhuillier 2010 ; Lhuillier, Isamiddinov, Rapin 2012 ; Lyonnet, ce volume)." (Rapin and Isamiddinov 2013, 124-125); During its first phase, Kok Tepe was part of the Burguluk culture, which corresponds to the Yaz I civilization from Turkmenistan to Xinjiang (last third of the second millennium BCE - beginning of the first millennium BCE)
Earliest: c1400 BCEOf samples taken, earliest C14 date c1400-1200 BCE, latest C14 date 810-760 BCE
[1]
Latest: c1000 BCE?"After an apparent chronological gap around the first third of the first millennium BC, the first real monumental architecture appeared on the terrace of Koktepe"
[2]
"The transition between the period of the painted pottery (Koktepe I) and the period of the monumental courtyards (Koktepe II) needs further research, as the differences betwen the north-eastern and south-western trends of the early Iron Age cultures still need explanation."
[3]
[1]: (Lhuillier and Rapin 2013) Lhuillier, J. Rapin, C. Handmade painted ware in Koktepe: some elements for the chronology of the early Iron Age in northern Sogdiana. Wagner, Marcin ed. 2013. Pottery and Chronology of the Early Iron Age in Central Asia. Warszawa.
[2]: (Rapin 2007, 34) Rapin, Claude. "Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period." in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy.
[3]: (Rapin 2007, 35) Rapin, Claude. "Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period." in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy.
"Durant cette première phase, le site s’inscrit dans le contexte de la ceramique modelee peinte caracteristique de la culture de Burguluk (oasis de Tashkent), qui fait elle-même partie de la civilisation qui, du Turkmenistan au Xinjiang, s’etend dans la periode de transition entre l’age du bronze et l’age du fer, du dernier tiers du IIe millénaire au début du Ier millénaire av. n. e. (epoque dite de Yaz I) (Lhuillier 2010 ; Lhuillier, Isamiddinov, Rapin 2012 ; Lyonnet, ce volume)." [1] During its first phase, Kok Tepe was part of the Burguluk culture, which corresponds to the Yaz I civilization from Turkmenistan to Xinjiang (last third of the second millennium BCE - beginning of the first millennium BCE)
[1]: (Rapin and Isamiddinov 2013, 124-125)
"Durant cette première phase, le site s’inscrit dans le contexte de la ceramique modelee peinte caracteristique de la culture de Burguluk (oasis de Tashkent), qui fait elle-même partie de la civilisation qui, du Turkmenistan au Xinjiang, s’etend dans la periode de transition entre l’age du bronze et l’age du fer, du dernier tiers du IIe millénaire au début du Ier millénaire av. n. e. (epoque dite de Yaz I) (Lhuillier 2010 ; Lhuillier, Isamiddinov, Rapin 2012 ; Lyonnet, ce volume)." [1] During its first phase, Kok Tepe was part of the Burguluk culture, which corresponds to the Yaz I civilization from Turkmenistan to Xinjiang (last third of the second millennium BCE - beginning of the first millennium BCE)
[1]: (Rapin and Isamiddinov 2013, 124-125)
"Pre-Achaemenid period. Before the arrival of Iranian peoples in Central Asia, Sogdiana had already experienced at least two urban phases. The first was at Sarazm (4th-3rd m. BCE), a town of some 100 hectares has been excavated, where both irrigation agriculture and metallurgy were practiced (Isakov). It has been possible to demonstrate the magnitude of links with the civilization of the Oxus as well as with more distant regions, such as Baluchistan. The second phase began in at least the 15th century BCE at Kök Tepe, on the Bulungur canal north of the Zarafšān River, where the earliest archeological material appears to go back to the Bronze Age, and which persisted throughout the Iron Age, until the arrival from the north of the Iranian-speaking populations that were to become the Sogdian group. It declined with the rise of Samarkand (Rapin, 2007). Pre-Achaemenid Sogdiana is recalled in the Younger Avesta (chap. 1 of the Vidēvdād, q.v.) under the name Gava and said to be inhabited by the Sogdians. [1]
[1]: (De la Vaissière, Encyclopedia Iranica online, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdiana-iii-history-and-archeology)
levels.
"C’est suite à cette mutation profonde qu’émerge l’âge du fer ancien (période Yaz I) aux alentours de 1500-1300 av. JC, avec l’apparition d’établissements ruraux disséminés en oasis, comportant quelquefois un petit batiment fortifié qui devait abriter une petite élite gérant la richesse produite par l’exploitation des terres et la maîtrise de l’irrigation."
[1]
In the Yaz I period: small rural settlements around oases, with sometimes a small fortified building which might have hosted local elites. 2 levels?
(1. Settlement with fortified building (elite stronghold?) )
2. Settlement without fortified building.
[1]: (Bendezu-Sarmiento and Mustafakulov 2013, 208)
"Le developpement economique repose alors encore sur une agriculture seche qui pourrait avoir ete periodiquement secondee par les eaux d’un torrent de montagne (communications orales de B. Rondelli et M. Isamiddinov)." [1] During its first phase, Kok Tepe relied on dryland farming, occasionally receiving natural irrigation from a mountain stream. "it can be provisionally assumed that the two earlier Iron Age phases distinguished at Koktepe could represent the first manifestations of local agricultural development. Maurizio Tosi has proposed that for the southern slopes of the Zerafshan valley, along the Dargom canal, this economic system could have developed from an earlier period, when irrigation was limited to the natural flows of water from the foothills (Koktepe I period), to a later irrigation system, mainly exemplified by the excavation of the great canals deriving from the Zerafshan, the Bulungur and the Dargom (Koktepe II period)." [2]
[1]: (Rapin and Isamiddinov 2013, 124-125)
[2]: (Rapin 2007, 35) Rapin, Claude. "Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period." in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy.
at a later time: "Grain would be stored, at a domestic level, in silos dug below the floors of farms and in jars, thus taking care of daily requirements and of surpluses." [1] -- reference for general region
[1]: (Francfort 1982, 184) Francfort, Henri-Paul. The economy, society and culture of Central Asia in Achaemenid times. in Boardman, John. Hammond, N. G. L. Lewis, D. M. Ostwald, M. 1988. The Cambridge Ancient History. Second edition. Volume 10. Cambridge University Press.
"The study of these sites by the Uzbek-French expeditiondemonstrates that the process of erecting city walls in Samarkand and Kok-tepe and shrines in Kok-tepe included large-scale works [Rapin, Isamiddinovand Khasanov]." [1]
[1]: (Waugh 2003) Daniel Waugh. From The Editor. December 2003. The Silk Road. Volume 1. Number 2.
First buildings with early agricultural system in Zerafshan valley associated with handmade pottery that provides "a provisional dating to the transition of the Bronze to the Iron Age after the middle of the second millennium BC (Francfort 2001)" [1]
[1]: (Rapin 2007, 32) Rapin, Claude. "Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period." in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy.
"Composite bows are known from both Mesopotamia and the Great Steppe from the III millennium BCE. The Scythian bow was different from the Mesopotamian one primarily in its overall dimensions - it was smaller so that it could be used from the horseback. At the same time, self bows were also in use, but because of their large size they were not suitable for use by horse riders." [1]
[1]: Sergey A Nefedov, RAN Institute of History and Archaeology, Yekaterinburg, Russia. Personal Communication to Peter Turchin. January 2018.
"Composite bows are known from both Mesopotamia and the Great Steppe from the III millennium BCE. The Scythian bow was different from the Mesopotamian one primarily in its overall dimensions - it was smaller so that it could be used from the horseback. At the same time, self bows were also in use, but because of their large size they were not suitable for use by horse riders." [1]
[1]: Sergey A Nefedov, RAN Institute of History and Archaeology, Yekaterinburg, Russia. Personal Communication to Peter Turchin. January 2018.
Infomation found on Table 1 about Faunal spectra of the Iron Ages sites of southern Central Asia. [1]
[1]: (Lhuillier and Mashkour 2017: 657) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/P47UMRDJ.