"The most interesting Early Iron Age culture of ancient Khorezm was that of Amirabad in the tenth to eighth centuries b.c.2 Dozens more settlements were found in the lower reaches of the former channels of Akcha Darya, the ancient delta of the Amu Darya. The most interesting was Yakka-Parsan II, alongside which were found ancient fields, and the remnants of an Amirabad-period irrigation system (Fig. 1). The old channel passed near by, its banks being reinforced with dykes.Two rows of semi-dugout houses - some twenty in all - were found in the Yakka-Parsan II settlement. Large numbers of storage pits were found around the houses, and the entire site is rich in animal bones, pottery, grain-querns and so on. The houses stood between two canals that merged to the south, all the doors giving on to the canals. Rectangular in ground-plan, the houses were 90 to 110 m2 in area and had two or three rooms. The interiors contained many storage pits and post-holes, each with a long fireplace in the centre. The major finds were pottery, hand-made with a darkish brown, red or greyish slip, the shoulders of the bowls being decorated with small crosses, lattice-work or ’fir-trees’. Accord ing to S. P. Tolstov, the Amirabad culture was genetically akin to the Kaundy complex and dates from the ninth to eighth centuries b.c. It should be observed that the pottery shows more obvious traces of Karasuk influence, the commonest shapes being similar to the ceramics ofthe latter; this entitles us to date its origins to a somewhat earlier period - the tenth century b.c. Other finds include bronze artefacts - a needle with an eye, a sickle with a shaped handle, a bronze arrow¬ head with a shaft - and stone moulds for casting shaft-hole arrowheads and sickles. A bronze sickle, large numbers of grain-querns and the advanced irrigation network and fields together show that agriculture was widely practised, while the bone finds further indicate that the population was engaged in stock- breeding.3"
[1]
"The Achaemenids found in Sogdiana an urban civilization. Along two divergent canals fed by the Zarafshan, the proto-Dargom and the Bulungur, two gigantic sites, Afrasiab-Samarkand and Kök Tepe - each covering more than two hundred hectares - were occupied from the 8th or 7th century before our era.2 The valley of the Zarafshan had already known an earlier urban phase at the site of Sarazm, a small distance upstream from Samarkand, but this phase had ended a millenium before.3 Kök Tepe declined rapidly, but Samarkand became for two millenia the greatest city of Sogdiana, and, with Merv and Bactra, one of the very great cities of western Central Asia. The Achaemenids brought writing to Sogdiana, and the written language long remained the Aramaic of the Achaemenid Empire."
[2]
"The 6th and 5th cenuries BC are represented by only a few monuments, and the nature of Persian political and economic control over Chorasmia is,, therefore, still in question. Similarly unresolved is the question of the introduction of large-scale irrigation to the area - whether this was an indigenous development, gradually evolving as the cattle-breeding nomadic tribes became sedentised, or whether it was a new technology introduced by an hydraulic imperial state, the Achaemenid Empire under Darius I, in about 525 BC. Up until last year only three large-scale settlements of this period were properly documented - i.e. Kiuzeli-g’ir, Kakal’i-g’ir, and Chirik-rabat."
[3]
Reference to check: A. I. Isakov, “Sarazm: An Agricultural Center of Ancient Sogdiana,” Bulletin of the Asia Institute 8, 1996, pp. 1-13.
’The process of urbanization began earlier and on a greater scale in Chorasmia and on the left bank of the middle Syr Darya, localities which were more advanced in economic and cultural terms. They were geographically closer to the ancient urban centres of south-western and southern Central Asia and were open to their influence through Margiana and Sogdiana. They were later incorporated as provinces of the Achaemenid Empire and came into its socio-economic orbit for a time. In the southern Aral region, the sedentary farmers and pastoralists of the Chorasmian oasis represent the Late Bronze Age Amirabad cultural pattern seen in the Dzhanbas and Yakka-Parsan settlements. At that time they had master craftsmen (the ’house of the caster’) with settled houses and social gradations. [...] The oldest Chorasmian city, and the key monument of this period, was Kyuzeli-gir, dating from the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. It lay on the left bank of the Amu Darya in the Sarîkamîsh region of the delta. Standing on a natural elevation, roughly triangular in ground-plan, it occupied an area of 25 ha. The city was surrounded by a powerful defensive wall with oval bastions. Its residential district was densely packed with buildings of rectangular unbaked brick and pakhsa. It had an advanced pottery industry, based on the wheel, and art objects of a type common in Saka burial complexes of the period have been found. Another early city of the same date, Kalalî-gîr, was surrounded by triple walls with bastions and had four gates with entrance barbicans and a hill-top palace, but it was never completed.’
[4]
Throughout the periods Helms and Yagodin focus on in their 1997 article (from the end of the Bronze Age to the incursions of the Hephthalites, Turks and early ’Afrighids’ in the mid-1st millennium CE), ’the region saw the infiltration of many nomadic groups (initially cattle-breeders, later also sheep-goat and camel) some of which formed settled communities, even states and empires. These are the Scythians (a generic term), Massagetae, Sacae, Sav[u]romats, Yueh-chih (later "Kushans"), Sarmatians, and others of the Greek, Persian, and Chinese sources. Identifying evidence of their presence has never been easy: the bulk of data has had to come from burials (kurgans) whose contents have been loosely arranged in a relative chronology (see Itina 1979). Recent work by Yagodin has provided more precise information regarding tribal groupings in and about ancient Chorasmia, including the Ustiurt Plateau, as early as the "Archaic" period (Yagodin 1990) and, more generally, the major trade routes (i.e., the Silk Road) through northern Central Asia (Yagodin 1994)’.
[5]
[1]: (Askarov 1992, 441-443)
[2]: (De la Vaissière 2005, 17)
[3]: (Helms 1998, 87-88)
[4]: (Negmatov 1994, 446)
[5]: (Helms and Yagodin 1997, 44) Svend Helms and Vadim N. Yagodin. 1997. ’Excavations at Kazakl’i-Yatkan in the Tash-Ki’rman Oasis of Ancient Chorasmia: A Preliminary Report’. Iran 35: 45-47.
| 42 T |
| Ancient Khwarazm |
| Afrasiab-Samarkand | |
| Kök Tepe |
| Great Khwarazm Empire | |
| Amirabad culture | |
| Suyargan culture |
| Achaemenid Empire |
| continuity | |
| population migration |
| Preceding: Koktepe I (uz_koktepe_1) [population migration] | |
| Succeeding: Koktepe II (uz_koktepe_2) [population migration] |
| quasi-polity |
| [10,000 to 40,000] people |
| [50,000 to 100,000] people |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| unknown |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| absent |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| unknown |
| present |
| unknown |
| absent |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| unknown |
| absent |
| absent |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| absent |
| unknown |
| present |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| present |
| inferred present |
| inferred present |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| Year Range | Ancient Khwarazm (uz_khwarasm_1) was in: |
|---|---|
| (999 BCE 751 BCE) | Sogdiana |
"The Achaemenids found in Sogdiana an urban civilization. Along two divergent canals fed by the Zarafshan, the proto-Dargom and the Bulungur, two gigantic sites, Afrasiab-Samarkand and Kök Tepe - each covering more than two hundred hectares - were occupied from the 8th or 7th century before our era.2 The valley of the Zarafshan had already known an earlier urban phase at the site of Sarazm, a small distance upstream from Samarkand, but this phase had ended a millenium before.3 Kök Tepe declined rapidly, but Samarkand became for two millenia the greatest city of Sogdiana, and, with Merv and Bactra, one of the very great cities of western Central Asia."
[1]
[1]: (De la Vaissière 2005, 17)
"The Achaemenids found in Sogdiana an urban civilization. Along two divergent canals fed by the Zarafshan, the proto-Dargom and the Bulungur, two gigantic sites, Afrasiab-Samarkand and Kök Tepe - each covering more than two hundred hectares - were occupied from the 8th or 7th century before our era.2 The valley of the Zarafshan had already known an earlier urban phase at the site of Sarazm, a small distance upstream from Samarkand, but this phase had ended a millenium before.3 Kök Tepe declined rapidly, but Samarkand became for two millenia the greatest city of Sogdiana, and, with Merv and Bactra, one of the very great cities of western Central Asia."
[1]
[1]: (De la Vaissière 2005, 17)
"German and Russian scholars have speculated on the existence before 500 BC of a ’Great Khwarazm Empire’ extending from the Black Sea eastward to the Tian Shan and south to Herat in Afghanistan."
[1]
JR: There are a few references to Sogdiana throughout this polity sheet, but it’s worth noting that Khwarazm (the region around the delta of the Amu Darya or Oxus river as it enters what was then the Aral Sea) is a separate region from Sogdiana proper, centered on the Zerafshan Valley to the south-east. The idea of a pre-500 BCE ’Great Khwarazm Empire’ with influence over Sogdiana and other regions, mentioned briefly in Frederick Starr’s book, doesn’t appear to be common among scholars of Iron Age Central Asia.
Francfort writes that the Middle Iron Age (c. 1000-560 BCE) in Central Asia is one of the most poorly understood when compared to other prehistoric periods. He sees no reason to qualify older historians descriptions of it as a dark age (’âge sombre’).
[2]
However, what we can see is the architecture that emerged during the period in Khwarazm and elsewhere: ’Dans le nord de l’Afghanistan et en Ouzbékistan surgissent de vastes établissements que leurs occupants munissent de puissants remparts: Merv, Samarkand, Kyzyl Tepé, Bandykhan Tepé, Altyn Dilyar, et d’autres sont de véritables villes fortifiées, souvent de forme circulaire. Il s’agit d’une seconde urbanisation de grande ampleur que touche également la Chorasmie (Kalaly-Gyr)’ [In the north of Afghanistan and in Uzbekistan, vast settlements emerged, which their occupants furnished with powerful ramparts: Merv, Samarkand, Kyzyl Tepe, Bandykhan Tepe, Altyn Dilyar, and others are veritable fortified towns, often with circular plans. This was a second, large-scale urbanization that equally affected Khwarazm (Kalaly-Gyr)].
[2]
"On arrival in the fertile lands of Khorezm the steppe tribes entered into interaction with the farming population - representative of the indigenous culture of Suyargan."
[3]
"According to S. P. Tolstov and M. A. Itina (1960), the Tazabagyab Culture coexisted in Khorezm with the Suyargan Culture. This culture appeared in the first half of the second millennium B.C., developing out of the local Kelteminar Culture (Gulyamov et al. 1966), which was influenced by southern farmers. In the latter half of the second millennium B.C., the Suyargan and Tazabagyab populations were in the process of active assimilation."
[4]
Tazabagyab culture 15th-11th centuries BCE: "The legitimacy of distinguishing the sites of Khorezm as a particular Tazabagyab culture is borne out by the statistically stable combination of characteristics marking it off from the Timber-grave and Andronovo cultures."
[5]
Amirabad culture continues on from Tazabagyab: in the first third of the 1st millennium BCE, ’in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya [i.e. Khwarazm], we have the Amirabad culture, which continues to a great extent the traditions of Tazabagyaba. The settlements consisted of large-frame houses of the semi-mud hut type; hand-molded dishes are occasionally decorated with notches. The wide distribution of domesticated horses is significant.’
[6]
Discussing finds from Koktepe in Sogdiana (to the east of Khwarazm), Rapin and Isamiddinov refer to ’la civilisation qui, du Turkménistan au Xinjiang, s’étend dans la période de transition entre l’âge du bronze et l’âge du fer, du dernier tiers du IIe millénaire au début du Ier millénaire av. n. è.’ [the civilization that extended from Turkmenistan to Xinjiang in the period of transition between the Bronze and Iron age, from the last third of the 2nd millennium to the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE].
[7]
Did this proposed ’civilization’, defined by similarities in material culture across a broad section of Central Asia, include Khwarazm?
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
[2]: (Francfort 2003, 32) Henri-Paul Francfort. 2003. ’La civilisation de l’Asie Centrale à l’âge du Fer’, in De l’Indus à l’Oxus: Archéologie de l’Asie Centrale, edited by Osmund Bopearachchi, Christian Landes and Christine Sachs, 29-59. Lattes: Imago.
[3]: (Kuzima 2007, 238) Kuzmina, Elena Efimovna. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. BRILL.
[4]: (Kuzima and Mair 2008, 78) Kuzima, E. E. Mair, Victor H. 2008. The Prehistory of the Silk Road. University of Pennsylvania Press.
[5]: (Kuzima 2007, 239) Kuzmina, Elena Efimovna. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. BRILL.
[6]: (Masson 1986) V. M. Masson. 1986. ’Archeology v: Pre-Islamic Central Asia’. Encyclopaedia Iranica, II/3, pp. 308-17; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/archeology-v (accessed on 21 September 2016).
[7]: (Rapin and Isamiddinov 2013, 125) Claude Rapin and Muhammadjon Isamiddinov. 2013. ’Entre sédentaires et nomades: les recherches de la Mission archéologique franco-ouzbèke (MAFOuz) de Sogdiane sur le site de Koktepe’. Cahiers d’Asie centrale 21/22: 113-133. Available online at http://asiecentrale.revues.org/1736.
"German and Russian scholars have speculated on the existence before 500 BC of a ’Great Khwarazm Empire’ extending from the Black Sea eastward to the Tian Shan and south to Herat in Afghanistan."
[1]
JR: There are a few references to Sogdiana throughout this polity sheet, but it’s worth noting that Khwarazm (the region around the delta of the Amu Darya or Oxus river as it enters what was then the Aral Sea) is a separate region from Sogdiana proper, centered on the Zerafshan Valley to the south-east. The idea of a pre-500 BCE ’Great Khwarazm Empire’ with influence over Sogdiana and other regions, mentioned briefly in Frederick Starr’s book, doesn’t appear to be common among scholars of Iron Age Central Asia.
Francfort writes that the Middle Iron Age (c. 1000-560 BCE) in Central Asia is one of the most poorly understood when compared to other prehistoric periods. He sees no reason to qualify older historians descriptions of it as a dark age (’âge sombre’).
[2]
However, what we can see is the architecture that emerged during the period in Khwarazm and elsewhere: ’Dans le nord de l’Afghanistan et en Ouzbékistan surgissent de vastes établissements que leurs occupants munissent de puissants remparts: Merv, Samarkand, Kyzyl Tepé, Bandykhan Tepé, Altyn Dilyar, et d’autres sont de véritables villes fortifiées, souvent de forme circulaire. Il s’agit d’une seconde urbanisation de grande ampleur que touche également la Chorasmie (Kalaly-Gyr)’ [In the north of Afghanistan and in Uzbekistan, vast settlements emerged, which their occupants furnished with powerful ramparts: Merv, Samarkand, Kyzyl Tepe, Bandykhan Tepe, Altyn Dilyar, and others are veritable fortified towns, often with circular plans. This was a second, large-scale urbanization that equally affected Khwarazm (Kalaly-Gyr)].
[2]
"On arrival in the fertile lands of Khorezm the steppe tribes entered into interaction with the farming population - representative of the indigenous culture of Suyargan."
[3]
"According to S. P. Tolstov and M. A. Itina (1960), the Tazabagyab Culture coexisted in Khorezm with the Suyargan Culture. This culture appeared in the first half of the second millennium B.C., developing out of the local Kelteminar Culture (Gulyamov et al. 1966), which was influenced by southern farmers. In the latter half of the second millennium B.C., the Suyargan and Tazabagyab populations were in the process of active assimilation."
[4]
Tazabagyab culture 15th-11th centuries BCE: "The legitimacy of distinguishing the sites of Khorezm as a particular Tazabagyab culture is borne out by the statistically stable combination of characteristics marking it off from the Timber-grave and Andronovo cultures."
[5]
Amirabad culture continues on from Tazabagyab: in the first third of the 1st millennium BCE, ’in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya [i.e. Khwarazm], we have the Amirabad culture, which continues to a great extent the traditions of Tazabagyaba. The settlements consisted of large-frame houses of the semi-mud hut type; hand-molded dishes are occasionally decorated with notches. The wide distribution of domesticated horses is significant.’
[6]
Discussing finds from Koktepe in Sogdiana (to the east of Khwarazm), Rapin and Isamiddinov refer to ’la civilisation qui, du Turkménistan au Xinjiang, s’étend dans la période de transition entre l’âge du bronze et l’âge du fer, du dernier tiers du IIe millénaire au début du Ier millénaire av. n. è.’ [the civilization that extended from Turkmenistan to Xinjiang in the period of transition between the Bronze and Iron age, from the last third of the 2nd millennium to the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE].
[7]
Did this proposed ’civilization’, defined by similarities in material culture across a broad section of Central Asia, include Khwarazm?
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
[2]: (Francfort 2003, 32) Henri-Paul Francfort. 2003. ’La civilisation de l’Asie Centrale à l’âge du Fer’, in De l’Indus à l’Oxus: Archéologie de l’Asie Centrale, edited by Osmund Bopearachchi, Christian Landes and Christine Sachs, 29-59. Lattes: Imago.
[3]: (Kuzima 2007, 238) Kuzmina, Elena Efimovna. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. BRILL.
[4]: (Kuzima and Mair 2008, 78) Kuzima, E. E. Mair, Victor H. 2008. The Prehistory of the Silk Road. University of Pennsylvania Press.
[5]: (Kuzima 2007, 239) Kuzmina, Elena Efimovna. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. BRILL.
[6]: (Masson 1986) V. M. Masson. 1986. ’Archeology v: Pre-Islamic Central Asia’. Encyclopaedia Iranica, II/3, pp. 308-17; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/archeology-v (accessed on 21 September 2016).
[7]: (Rapin and Isamiddinov 2013, 125) Claude Rapin and Muhammadjon Isamiddinov. 2013. ’Entre sédentaires et nomades: les recherches de la Mission archéologique franco-ouzbèke (MAFOuz) de Sogdiane sur le site de Koktepe’. Cahiers d’Asie centrale 21/22: 113-133. Available online at http://asiecentrale.revues.org/1736.
"German and Russian scholars have speculated on the existence before 500 BC of a ’Great Khwarazm Empire’ extending from the Black Sea eastward to the Tian Shan and south to Herat in Afghanistan."
[1]
JR: There are a few references to Sogdiana throughout this polity sheet, but it’s worth noting that Khwarazm (the region around the delta of the Amu Darya or Oxus river as it enters what was then the Aral Sea) is a separate region from Sogdiana proper, centered on the Zerafshan Valley to the south-east. The idea of a pre-500 BCE ’Great Khwarazm Empire’ with influence over Sogdiana and other regions, mentioned briefly in Frederick Starr’s book, doesn’t appear to be common among scholars of Iron Age Central Asia.
Francfort writes that the Middle Iron Age (c. 1000-560 BCE) in Central Asia is one of the most poorly understood when compared to other prehistoric periods. He sees no reason to qualify older historians descriptions of it as a dark age (’âge sombre’).
[2]
However, what we can see is the architecture that emerged during the period in Khwarazm and elsewhere: ’Dans le nord de l’Afghanistan et en Ouzbékistan surgissent de vastes établissements que leurs occupants munissent de puissants remparts: Merv, Samarkand, Kyzyl Tepé, Bandykhan Tepé, Altyn Dilyar, et d’autres sont de véritables villes fortifiées, souvent de forme circulaire. Il s’agit d’une seconde urbanisation de grande ampleur que touche également la Chorasmie (Kalaly-Gyr)’ [In the north of Afghanistan and in Uzbekistan, vast settlements emerged, which their occupants furnished with powerful ramparts: Merv, Samarkand, Kyzyl Tepe, Bandykhan Tepe, Altyn Dilyar, and others are veritable fortified towns, often with circular plans. This was a second, large-scale urbanization that equally affected Khwarazm (Kalaly-Gyr)].
[2]
"On arrival in the fertile lands of Khorezm the steppe tribes entered into interaction with the farming population - representative of the indigenous culture of Suyargan."
[3]
"According to S. P. Tolstov and M. A. Itina (1960), the Tazabagyab Culture coexisted in Khorezm with the Suyargan Culture. This culture appeared in the first half of the second millennium B.C., developing out of the local Kelteminar Culture (Gulyamov et al. 1966), which was influenced by southern farmers. In the latter half of the second millennium B.C., the Suyargan and Tazabagyab populations were in the process of active assimilation."
[4]
Tazabagyab culture 15th-11th centuries BCE: "The legitimacy of distinguishing the sites of Khorezm as a particular Tazabagyab culture is borne out by the statistically stable combination of characteristics marking it off from the Timber-grave and Andronovo cultures."
[5]
Amirabad culture continues on from Tazabagyab: in the first third of the 1st millennium BCE, ’in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya [i.e. Khwarazm], we have the Amirabad culture, which continues to a great extent the traditions of Tazabagyaba. The settlements consisted of large-frame houses of the semi-mud hut type; hand-molded dishes are occasionally decorated with notches. The wide distribution of domesticated horses is significant.’
[6]
Discussing finds from Koktepe in Sogdiana (to the east of Khwarazm), Rapin and Isamiddinov refer to ’la civilisation qui, du Turkménistan au Xinjiang, s’étend dans la période de transition entre l’âge du bronze et l’âge du fer, du dernier tiers du IIe millénaire au début du Ier millénaire av. n. è.’ [the civilization that extended from Turkmenistan to Xinjiang in the period of transition between the Bronze and Iron age, from the last third of the 2nd millennium to the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE].
[7]
Did this proposed ’civilization’, defined by similarities in material culture across a broad section of Central Asia, include Khwarazm?
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
[2]: (Francfort 2003, 32) Henri-Paul Francfort. 2003. ’La civilisation de l’Asie Centrale à l’âge du Fer’, in De l’Indus à l’Oxus: Archéologie de l’Asie Centrale, edited by Osmund Bopearachchi, Christian Landes and Christine Sachs, 29-59. Lattes: Imago.
[3]: (Kuzima 2007, 238) Kuzmina, Elena Efimovna. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. BRILL.
[4]: (Kuzima and Mair 2008, 78) Kuzima, E. E. Mair, Victor H. 2008. The Prehistory of the Silk Road. University of Pennsylvania Press.
[5]: (Kuzima 2007, 239) Kuzmina, Elena Efimovna. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. BRILL.
[6]: (Masson 1986) V. M. Masson. 1986. ’Archeology v: Pre-Islamic Central Asia’. Encyclopaedia Iranica, II/3, pp. 308-17; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/archeology-v (accessed on 21 September 2016).
[7]: (Rapin and Isamiddinov 2013, 125) Claude Rapin and Muhammadjon Isamiddinov. 2013. ’Entre sédentaires et nomades: les recherches de la Mission archéologique franco-ouzbèke (MAFOuz) de Sogdiane sur le site de Koktepe’. Cahiers d’Asie centrale 21/22: 113-133. Available online at http://asiecentrale.revues.org/1736.
1000-521 BCE is a temporary periodization. This needs expert input, and very likely the periodization should be split into more than one period.
This is the Chorasmian periodization used by the Karakalpak-Australian Archaeological Expedition, which began in 1995:
[1]
BRONZE AGE (= ANDRONOVO)
Suyargan: Ia (early stage) 1st half 2nd millennium BC
Suyargan: Ib (late stage) 11th-9th centuries BC
Tazabag’yab: II 15th-11th centuries BC
EARLY IRON AGE (= LATE ANDRONOVO)
Amirabad: III 9th-8th centuries BC
ARCHAIC
Kiuzeli-g’ir: I 7th/6th centuries BC
Dingil’dzhe: II 6th/5th centuries BC
Kala’i-g’ir: III 5th century BC
Khazarasp: IV 5th/4th century BC
ANTIQUE
Kangiui: I (early stage) 4th-3rd centuries BC
Kangiui: II (late stage) 2nd century BC - 1st century AD
Kushan: I (early) 1st-2nd centuries AD
Kushan: II (late) 3rd-4th centuries AD
Hephthalite: 4th-6th centuries AD
Turk: 4th century AD+
AFRIGHID4th(?)-9th centuries AD
[2]
"Their location at the crossroads of continental trade assured the prosperity of Khwarazm’s cities - provided they could channel water from the fast-flowing Amu Darya onto their agricultural land. As early as the sixth century BC, the people of Khwarazm had become masters of hydraulic engineering, diverting whole rivers into freshly dug channels to serve major centers tens of miles away, and dividing them again into canals to provide water to more remote towns. Nowhere on earth were irrigation technologies more highly developed than here."
[3]
V. Altman, “Ancient Khorezmian Civilization in the Light of the Latest Archaeological Discoveries (1937-1945),” Journal of the American Oriental Society 67, 2 (April-June 1947): 81.
Tolstov, Drevnii Khoresm (Moscow, 1948) Posledam drevnekhorezmiiskoi tsivilizatsii (Moscow, 1948), pt. 2
Masson, Strana tysiachi gorodov (Moscow, 1966), 123-44; Barthold, Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion, 149
N. N. Negmatov, “States in North-Western Central Asia,” in History of Civilizations of Central Asia, 2:441, 446, 455.
[1]: (Helms and Yagodin 1997, 43) Svend Helms and Vadim N. Yagodin. 1997. ‘Excavations at Kazakl’i-Yatkan in the Tash-Ki’rman Oasis of Ancient Chorasmia: A Preliminary Report’. ‘’Iran’’ 35: 43-65.
[2]: (Helms et al. 2001, 119-20) S. W. Helms, V. N. Yagodin, A. V. G. Betts, G. Khozhaniyazov and F. Kidd. 2001. ’Five Seasons of Excavations in the Tash-k’irman Oasis of Ancient Chorasmia, 1996-2000: An Interim Report’. Iran 39: 119-44.
[3]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
"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)
(Relationship): "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]
(Entity): Not much known of the period between the end of Koktepe I and the start of Koktepe II.
[1]: (De la Vaissière, Encyclopedia Iranica online, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdiana-iii-history-and-archeology)
’Discussing the problems of pre-Achaemenian Khorezm, S. P. Tolstov considered that this ancient realm was a tribal confederation of chiefdoms that gradually evolved into a state’. [1] Abazov says: ’Khwarezm, likely one of the oldest political entities in the territories of Central Asia, was situated between Sogdiana and the Aral Sea. It was probably a loose confederation of settled and seminomadic groups’. [2]
[1]: (Askarov 1992, 447) A. Askarov. 1992. ’The Beginning of the Iron Age in Transoxania’, in History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol 1: The Dawn of Civilization: Earliest Times to 700 B.C., edited by A. H. Dani and V. M. Masson, 441-58. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.
[2]: (Abazov 2008, xxxii) Rafis Abazov. 2008. The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Central Asia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
"The Achaemenid sources of the 6th century BCE are the first to mention Sogdiana and its inhabitants, the Sogdians. The individu- alization of this people in the texts demonstrates the existence of an ethnic identity before a linguistic reality, for if in this work we define the Sogdians as those who spoke Sogdian as their native language, we must note that the separation of Sogdian from the other Iranian languages probably took place only very progressively in the course of the Achaemenid period." [1]
[1]: (De la Vaissière 2005, 16)
Inhabitants. Assuming 50-200 inhabitants per ha. "The Achaemenids found in Sogdiana an urban civilization. Along two divergent canals fed by the Zarafshan, the proto-Dargom and the Bulungur, two gigantic sites, Afrasiab-Samarkand and Kök Tepe - each covering more than two hundred hectares - were occupied from the 8th or 7th century before our era.2 The valley of the Zarafshan had already known an earlier urban phase at the site of Sarazm, a small distance upstream from Samarkand, but this phase had ended a millenium before.3 Kök Tepe declined rapidly, but Samarkand became for two millenia the greatest city of Sogdiana, and, with Merv and Bactra, one of the very great cities of western Central Asia."
[1]
"Khwarazm for a thousand years before Ibn Sina’s arrival teemed with large, prosperous cities and the walled castles of patricians (dihkans)."
[2]
[1]: (De la Vaissière 2005, 17)
[2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
levels. Inferred from the scale of the largest settlements (200 ha)
"As early as the sixth century BC, the people of Khwarazm had become masters of hydraulic engineering, diverting whole rivers into freshly dug channels to serve major centers tens of miles away, and dividing them again into canals to provide water to more remote towns. Nowhere on earth were irrigation technologies more highly developed than here." [1] "Archaeologists, however, consider that in Chorasmia proper substantial progress in the development of irrigated agriculture may be observed only in the sixth century b.c., while in the eighth and seventh centuries b.c. the country had neither a numerous population nor an advanced irrigation system. [2] "As distinct from other steppe cultures, Khorezm’s economy was based on irrigation farming. The 150-200m long canals would irrigate small rectangular fields (Adrianov 1969)." [3]
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
[2]: (Dandamayev 1994, 43)
[3]: (Kuzima 2007, 238) Kuzmina, Elena Efimovna. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. BRILL.
“Archaeological studies and written sources indicate that the population was engaged in various occupations - in mining and smelting copper and iron, mining precious stones, manufacturing tools, arms and pottery, and in weaving and building activities. Internal trade and commerce flourished among the population of the oases and steppes in Chorasmia, Ferghana and Usrushana. […]Gold, copper, silver and iron were mined in the Kyzyl Kum, the Nuratau mountains, the Naukat deposit in the Ferghana valley, the Khojand hills, the Kurama (Kara-Mazar mountains) and Chatkal ranges, the Ahangaran valley, the Almalyk district and the Karatau mountains. Many places where metals were smelted have been identified, complete with fragments of slag, in settlements in the Kayrak Rums. These probably drew their raw materials from deposits at Naukat, Uchkatli Miskon, Dzhidargamirsay, Chakadambulak, Aktashkan, Kochbulak and Koni Mansur in the Kara-Mazar." [1] "The source of ore was the Bukan-tau and Tamdy-tau mountains, where ancient workings and copper-smelteries were discovered (Itina 1977: 136, 137)." [2]
[1]: (Negmatov 1994, 445)
[2]: (Kuzima 2007, 238) Kuzmina, Elena Efimovna. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. BRILL.
Andronovo culture (2000-900 BCE, Alakul phase 2100-1400 BCE, Fedorovo phase 1400-1200 BCE, Alekseyevka phase 1200-1000 BCE) had defensive fortifications such as pallisades, ditches and earth ramparts at many sites. [1]
[1]: (Mallory 1997, 20-21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago.
About Kiuzeli-g’ir: "The first, in northern Turkmenistan, consists of long walls with rounded towers, the walls containing corridors which have been called ’living walls’ by Tolstov (Fig. 3). This complex is dated in about the 6th century BC and substantiates cultural, and thus probably also economic, contacts far to the south, as far as north-west India." [1]
[1]: (Helms 1998, 88)
About Kiuzeli-g’ir: "The first, in northern Turkmenistan, consists of long walls with rounded towers, the walls containing corridors which have been called ’living walls’ by Tolstov (Fig. 3). This complex is dated in about the 6th century BC and substantiates cultural, and thus probably also economic, contacts far to the south, as far as north-west India." [1]
[1]: (Helms 1998, 88)
Andronovo culture (2000-900 BCE, Alakul phase 2100-1400 BCE, Fedorovo phase 1400-1200 BCE, Alekseyevka phase 1200-1000 BCE) had defensive fortifications such as pallisades, ditches and earth ramparts at many sites. [1]
[1]: (Mallory 1997, 20-21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago.
Andronovo culture (2000-900 BCE, Alakul phase 2100-1400 BCE, Fedorovo phase 1400-1200 BCE, Alekseyevka phase 1200-1000 BCE) had defensive fortifications such as pallisades, ditches and earth ramparts at many sites. [1]
[1]: (Mallory 1997, 20-21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago.
"Another early city of the same date, Kalalî-gîr, was surrounded by triple walls with bastions and had four gates with entrance barbicans and a hill-top palace, but it was never completed." [1]
[1]: (Negmatov 1994: 446) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2ZC77C82.
"At the very start of the Iron Age, what are known as bronze-and-iron tools and weapons, those with an iron blade and a bronze handle, became widespread in Middle Asia (Soviet Central Asia). Iron soon made its way into all fields of warfare and daily life." [1]
[1]: (Askarov 1992, 441) A Askarov. The beginning of the Iron Age in Transoxania. Ahmad Hasan Dani, Vadim Mikhailovich Masson. ed. History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 1. The dawn of civilization: earliest times to 700 B.C. UNESCO. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited. Delhi.
Copper is needed to make bronze which is present.
"Other finds include bronze artefacts - a needle with an eye, a sickle with a shaped handle, a bronze arrow¬ head with a shaft - and stone moulds for casting shaft-hole arrowheads and sickles." [1]
[1]: (Askarov 1992, 441-443) A Askarov. The beginning of the Iron Age in Transoxania. Ahmad Hasan Dani, Vadim Mikhailovich Masson. ed. History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 1. The dawn of civilization: earliest times to 700 B.C. UNESCO. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited. Delhi.
"Other finds include bronze artefacts - a needle with an eye, a sickle with a shaped handle, a bronze arrow-head with a shaft - and stone moulds for casting shaft-hole arrowheads and sickles." [1] "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." [2]
[1]: (Askarov 1992, 441-443) A Askarov. The beginning of the Iron Age in Transoxania. Ahmad Hasan Dani, Vadim Mikhailovich Masson. ed. History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 1. The dawn of civilization: earliest times to 700 B.C. UNESCO. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited. Delhi.
[2]: Sergey A Nefedov, RAN Institute of History and Archaeology, Yekaterinburg, Russia. Personal Communication to Peter Turchin. January 2018.
"In the 12th century BC chariot warfare tactics lost their importance in Andronovo society; mounted horsemen armed with bows and arrows replaced chariot drivers." [1] Tazabagyab culture is considered to have had its origin in Andronovo culture. [2] Andronovo culture (2000-900 BCE, Alakul phase 2100-1400 BCE, Fedorovo phase 1400-1200 BCE, Alekseyevka phase 1200-1000 BCE). Tazabagyab culture (15th - 11th), Suyarganskaya culture (11th - 9th), Amirabad culture (9th - 8th).
[1]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 138) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden.
[2]: (Mallory 1997, 20-21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago.
absent before the gunpowder era
"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.
Maces may have earlier been a weapon of those Andronovo who used the chariot but at this time chariot warfare may have been replaced by mounted horsemen. "In the 12th century BC chariot warfare tactics lost their importance in Andronovo society; mounted horsemen armed with bows and arrows replaced chariot drivers." [1] Tazabagyab culture is considered to have had its origin in Andronovo culture. [2] Andronovo culture (2000-900 BCE, Alakul phase 2100-1400 BCE, Fedorovo phase 1400-1200 BCE, Alekseyevka phase 1200-1000 BCE). Tazabagyab culture (15th - 11th), Suyarganskaya culture (11th - 9th), Amirabad culture (9th - 8th).
[1]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 138) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden.
[2]: (Mallory 1997, 20-21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago.
Found at a fortress, "one relief shoes a rider, seated on a richly adorned horse, with a lance in his right hand and a short sword at his left side". [1] The sword may have earlier been a weapon of those Andronovo who used the chariot but at this time chariot warfare may have been replaced by mounted horsemen. However, the sword can also be used as an infantry weapon so it is unlikely the technology was abandoned. "In the 12th century BC chariot warfare tactics lost their importance in Andronovo society; mounted horsemen armed with bows and arrows replaced chariot drivers." [2] Tazabagyab culture is considered to have had its origin in Andronovo culture. [3] Andronovo culture (2000-900 BCE, Alakul phase 2100-1400 BCE, Fedorovo phase 1400-1200 BCE, Alekseyevka phase 1200-1000 BCE). Tazabagyab culture (15th - 11th), Suyarganskaya culture (11th - 9th), Amirabad culture (9th - 8th). The sword was later a typical weapon of steppe zone nomadic culture after 700 BCE: "Lively contacts and easy communications promoted the rise and spread of a fairly uniform nomadic culture in the steppe zone. The same types of horse-harness (bridle, bit, cheek-piece, saddle, trappings), arms (bow, bow-case, arrow and quiver, sword, battle-axe, mail) and garments (trousers, caftan, waist-girdle, boots, pointed cap) were used in the steppe zone from Central Europe to Korea." [4]
[1]: (Vainberg 1994: 77) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/RKRBCMG7.
[2]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 138) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden.
[3]: (Mallory 1997, 20-21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago.
[4]: (Harmatta 1994, 476-477) Harmatta, J. Conclusion. in Harmatta, Janos. Puri, B. N. Etemadi, G. F. eds. 1994. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizatins 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. UNESCO Publishing.
Andronovo had the spearhead. [1] Not known if it that was only a thrown spear (e.g. from chariot) or also handheld. No data for this period.
[1]: (Mallory 1997, 21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago.
"At the start of the Early Iron Age tools and weapons made partly of bronze and partly of iron - daggers with an iron blade and a bronze handle - were quite widespread. When, however, iron came into full use, it provided great opportunities for socio-economic progress." [1] Stone, bronze and iron knives found at Dalverzin-tepe (Chust culture) in Bactria around this time. [2]
[1]: (Negmatov 1994, 442)
[2]: (Askarov 1992, 448-449) A Askarov. The beginning of the Iron Age in Transoxania. Ahmad Hasan Dani, Vadim Mikhailovich Masson. ed. History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 1. The dawn of civilization: earliest times to 700 B.C. UNESCO. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited. Delhi.
Andronovo had the socketed ax. [1] The axe may have earlier been a weapon of those Andronovo who used the chariot but at this time chariot warfare may have been replaced by mounted horsemen. "In the 12th century BC chariot warfare tactics lost their importance in Andronovo society; mounted horsemen armed with bows and arrows replaced chariot drivers." [2] Tazabagyab culture is considered to have had its origin in Andronovo culture. [3] Andronovo culture (2000-900 BCE, Alakul phase 2100-1400 BCE, Fedorovo phase 1400-1200 BCE, Alekseyevka phase 1200-1000 BCE). Tazabagyab culture (15th - 11th), Suyarganskaya culture (11th - 9th), Amirabad culture (9th - 8th). The battle axe was later a typical weapon of steppe zone nomadic culture after 700 BCE: "Lively contacts and easy communications promoted the rise and spread of a fairly uniform nomadic culture in the steppe zone. The same types of horse-harness (bridle, bit, cheek-piece, saddle, trappings), arms (bow, bow-case, arrow and quiver, sword, battle-axe, mail) and garments (trousers, caftan, waist-girdle, boots, pointed cap) were used in the steppe zone from Central Europe to Korea." [4]
[1]: (Mallory 1997, 21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago.
[2]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 138) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden.
[3]: (Mallory 1997, 20-21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago.
[4]: (Harmatta 1994, 476-477) Harmatta, J. Conclusion. in Harmatta, Janos. Puri, B. N. Etemadi, G. F. eds. 1994. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizatins 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. UNESCO Publishing.
Bronze horse harnesses found at Dalverzin-tepe (Chust culture) in Bactria and Ferghana valley around this time. [1] "In the 12th century BC chariot warfare tactics lost their importance in Andronovo society; mounted horsemen armed with bows and arrows replaced chariot drivers." [2] Tazabagyab culture is considered to have had its origin in Andronovo culture. [3] Andronovo culture (2000-900 BCE, Alakul phase 2100-1400 BCE, Fedorovo phase 1400-1200 BCE, Alekseyevka phase 1200-1000 BCE). Tazabagyab culture (15th - 11th), Suyarganskaya culture (11th - 9th), Amirabad culture (9th - 8th).
[1]: (Askarov 1992, 448-449) A Askarov. The beginning of the Iron Age in Transoxania. Ahmad Hasan Dani, Vadim Mikhailovich Masson. ed. History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 1. The dawn of civilization: earliest times to 700 B.C. UNESCO. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited. Delhi.
[2]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 138) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden.
[3]: (Mallory 1997, 20-21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago.
"Cattle and particularly ovicaprids, horses and Bactrian camels were reared." [1] "The cults of Khorezm are also evidenced by figurines of the horse and camel." [1] Probably used as pack animals.
[1]: (Kuzʹmina 2007, 238) J P Mallory ed. Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. BRILL. Leiden.
Probably present for the Andronovo charioteers but by the 12th century BCE "mounted horsemen armed with bows and arrows replaced chariot drivers" [1] so we need to know what armour (if any) they wore. Tazabagyab culture is considered to have had its origin in Andronovo culture. [2] Andronovo culture (2000-900 BCE, Alakul phase 2100-1400 BCE, Fedorovo phase 1400-1200 BCE, Alekseyevka phase 1200-1000 BCE). Tazabagyab culture (15th - 11th), Suyarganskaya culture (11th - 9th), Amirabad culture (9th - 8th).
[1]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 138) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden.
[2]: (Mallory 1997, 20-21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago.
Probably present for the Andronovo charioteers but by the 12th century BCE "mounted horsemen armed with bows and arrows replaced chariot drivers" [1] so we need to know what armour (if any) they wore. Tazabagyab culture is considered to have had its origin in Andronovo culture. [2] Andronovo culture (2000-900 BCE, Alakul phase 2100-1400 BCE, Fedorovo phase 1400-1200 BCE, Alekseyevka phase 1200-1000 BCE). Tazabagyab culture (15th - 11th), Suyarganskaya culture (11th - 9th), Amirabad culture (9th - 8th).
[1]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 138) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden.
[2]: (Mallory 1997, 20-21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago.
Probably present for the Andronovo charioteers but by the 12th century BCE "mounted horsemen armed with bows and arrows replaced chariot drivers" [1] so we need to know what armour (if any) they wore. Tazabagyab culture is considered to have had its origin in Andronovo culture. [2] Andronovo culture (2000-900 BCE, Alakul phase 2100-1400 BCE, Fedorovo phase 1400-1200 BCE, Alekseyevka phase 1200-1000 BCE). Tazabagyab culture (15th - 11th), Suyarganskaya culture (11th - 9th), Amirabad culture (9th - 8th).
[1]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 138) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden.
[2]: (Mallory 1997, 20-21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago.
Probably present for the Andronovo charioteers but by the 12th century BCE "mounted horsemen armed with bows and arrows replaced chariot drivers" [1] so we need to know what armour (if any) they wore. Tazabagyab culture is considered to have had its origin in Andronovo culture. [2] Andronovo culture (2000-900 BCE, Alakul phase 2100-1400 BCE, Fedorovo phase 1400-1200 BCE, Alekseyevka phase 1200-1000 BCE). Tazabagyab culture (15th - 11th), Suyarganskaya culture (11th - 9th), Amirabad culture (9th - 8th).
[1]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 138) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden.
[2]: (Mallory 1997, 20-21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago.
Probably present for the Andronovo charioteers but by the 12th century BCE "mounted horsemen armed with bows and arrows replaced chariot drivers" [1] so we need to know what armour (if any) they wore. Tazabagyab culture is considered to have had its origin in Andronovo culture. [2] Andronovo culture (2000-900 BCE, Alakul phase 2100-1400 BCE, Fedorovo phase 1400-1200 BCE, Alekseyevka phase 1200-1000 BCE). Tazabagyab culture (15th - 11th), Suyarganskaya culture (11th - 9th), Amirabad culture (9th - 8th).
[1]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 138) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden.
[2]: (Mallory 1997, 20-21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago.
Probably present for the Andronovo charioteers but by the 12th century BCE "mounted horsemen armed with bows and arrows replaced chariot drivers" [1] so we need to know what armour (if any) they wore. Tazabagyab culture is considered to have had its origin in Andronovo culture. [2] Andronovo culture (2000-900 BCE, Alakul phase 2100-1400 BCE, Fedorovo phase 1400-1200 BCE, Alekseyevka phase 1200-1000 BCE). Tazabagyab culture (15th - 11th), Suyarganskaya culture (11th - 9th), Amirabad culture (9th - 8th).
[1]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 138) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden.
[2]: (Mallory 1997, 20-21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago.
Mail was later a typical armour of steppe zone nomadic culture but the from date is not specified (probably after this polity as it was invented in Europe?): "Lively contacts and easy communications promoted the rise and spread of a fairly uniform nomadic culture in the steppe zone. The same types of horse-harness (bridle, bit, cheek-piece, saddle, trappings), arms (bow, bow-case, arrow and quiver, sword, battle-axe, mail) and garments (trousers, caftan, waist-girdle, boots, pointed cap) were used in the steppe zone from Central Europe to Korea." [1]
[1]: (Harmatta 1994, 476-477) Harmatta, J. Conclusion. in Harmatta, Janos. Puri, B. N. Etemadi, G. F. eds. 1994. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizatins 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. UNESCO Publishing.
"As distinct from the other steppe cultures, Khorezm’s economy was based on irrigation farming. The 150-200m long canals would irrigate small rectangular fields." [1] Navigation for rivers and some canals?
[1]: (Kuzʹmina 2007, 238) J P Mallory ed. Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. BRILL. Leiden.