Philip L Kohl - The Bronze Age Civilization of Central Asia: Recent Soviet Discoveries

Routledge Revivals

The Bronze Age Civilization of Central Asia

The Bronze Age Civilization of Central Asia edited by Philip L. Kohl collates translated articles from soviet findings of Bronze Age and Aeneolithic remains in Central Asia. Originally published in 1981, these articles include the latest discoveries at the time of publication such as the Murghab Delta sites to build a clearer picture of civilizations and settlements in Bronze Age Southern Central Asia and their history and evolution for new English audiences. This title will be of interest to students of history, archaeology and anthropology.

The Bronze Age Civilization of Central Asia

Recent Soviet Findings

Edited by
Philip L. Kohl

First published in 1981

by M.E. Sharpe, Inc.

This edition first published in 2016 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1981 M.E. Sharpe, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Publishers Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer

The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.

A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 80005454

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-18862-4 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-1-315-64218-5 (ebk)

The Bronze Age Civilization of Central Asia

RECENT SOVIET DISCOVERIES

Edited with an Introduction by Philip L. Kohl
Afterword by C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky

The essays translated in this volume come from the sources listed below and are published by arrangement with VAAP, the Soviet Copyright Agency. Manuscripts were written expressly for this collection.

Chapter 1: Mogilnik epokhi rannei bronzy Parkai II, manuscript.

Chapter 2: Namazga-tepe i ephokha pozdnei bronzy Iuzhnoi Turkmenii, abstract of candidates dissertation, Leningrad, Nauka Publishers, 1978.

Chapter 3: Altyn-depe v epokhu eneolita, Sovetskaia arkheologiia, 1977, no. 4.

Chapter 4: Problemy proiskhozhdenii kutury rannei bronzy Iuzhnoi Turkmenii, Izvestiia Akademii nauk Turkmenskoi SSR, 1976, no. 6.

Chapter 5: Chelovek na zare urbanizatsii, Priroda, 1976, no. 4.

Chapter 6: Gorodskie tsentry ranneklassovykh obshchestv, Istoriia i arkheologiia SredneiAzii, Ashkhabad, Ylym Publishers, 1978.

Chapter 7: Pechati protoindiiskogo tipa iz Altyn-depe, Vestnik drevnei istorii, 1977, no. 4.

Chapter 8: Margiana v ephokhu bronzy, manuscript.

Chapter 9: Izuchenie pamiatnikov epokhi bronzy nizovev Murgaba, Sovetskaia arkheologiia, 1979, no. 1.

Chapter 10: Pechati-amulety murgabskogo stilia, Sovetskaia arkheologiia, 1976, no. 1.

Chapter 11: Iuzhnii Uzbekistan vo II tysiacheletii do n.e., manuscript.

Chapter 12: Raskopki pamiatnika epokhi bronzy na poselenii Sarazm, manuscript.

Chapter 13: Pamiatniki epokhi bronzy na territorii Iuzhnogo Tadzhikistana, manuscript.

Chapter 14: Istoriia metalloobrabatyvaiushchego proizvodstva u drevnikh zemledeltsev Iuzhnoi Turkmenii, abstract of candidates dissertation, Moscow, Laboratoriia NTI Instituta istorii SSSR AN SSSR, 1975.

Chapter 15: Drevneishie zhatvennye orudiia i ikh proizvoditelnost (v svete eksperimentalno-trasologicheskogo izucheniia), Sovetskaia arkheologiia, 1978, no. 4.

Chapter 16: Istoriia oroshaemogo zemledeliia v Iuzhnoi Turkmenii (rannezemledel-cheskaia epokha), Uspekhi sredneaziatskoi arkheologii, issue 1, 1972 (Leningrad, Nauka Publishers).

Chapter 17: Ekologicheskie predposylki rannego zemledeliia na iuge Turkmenii, manuscript.

Copyright 1981 by M. E. Sharpe, Inc.

80 Business Park Drive, Armonk, New York, 10504

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Translated by Philip L. Kohl and William Mandel.

Published simultaneously as Vol. XIX, Nos. 1-2 and 3-4 of Soviet Anthropology and Archeology, edited by Stephen P. Dunn.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Main entry under title:

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Bronze ageSoviet Central Asia. 2. Soviet Central AsiaAntiquities. 3. Excavations (Archaeology)Soviet Central Asia. I. Kohl, Philip L., 1946-

GN778.32.S65B7695780-5454

ISBN 0-87332-169-3AACR2

Printed in the United States of America.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
The Namazga Civilization: An Overview Philip L. Kohl

Part One
Southwestern Turkmenistan and the Late Bronze Age

Part Two
Excavations at Altyn-depe

Part Three
Margiana and Settlements in Southeastern Central Asia

Part Four
Reproduction of Productive Activities: Techniques and Analysis

PHILIP L. KOHL

It became apparent during two exchange visits to the Soviet Union in 1978 and 19791 that the only major English summaries of the Aeneolithic and Bronze Age remains from Central Asia2 were dated and did not include adequate descriptions of major discoveries, such as the Murghab Delta sites. An immediate solution to this problem suggested itself: a collection of translated articles which both presented the latest discoveries in the area and illustrated current techniques and methods of analysis used by Soviet archeologists. In December 1978 I discussed the idea of such a publication with V. M. Masson, Director of the Central Asia and Caucasus Section of the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Archeology, USSR Academy of Sciences, who agreed that such a publication was needed. He kindly provided me with a list of articles that he considered representative of current work in southern Central Asia.3 Although several articles were commissioned especially for this volume and every attempt was made to present the most recent findings, the pace of investigations has been so rapid that major studies have already appeared that have not been included in this volume.4 This preface will attempt to evaluate the significance of this recent work by analyzing the ecological setting and assessing the scale of Bronze Age developments in southern Central Asia. First, it will summarize previous work in the area and then analyze the gradual and largely indigenous development of a uniform and distinctive Bronze Age civilization that arose in what has been termed the northeastern frontier of the ancient Near East.