BMAC Archaeology

چكيده
فرهنگ بلخي-مروي، پيشينه و منشأ شكل گيري آن، ارتباطات درون و برون منطقه اي و تفسير برخـي
از شباهتها در توليدات و دست ساخته هاي اين فرهنگ با مناطق همجوارش، يكي از مهمترين مباحث
و مسائل باستانشناسي مرتبط با اين فرهنگ است. وجود برخي از شباهتها ميان اين فرهنگ و شـهر
سوخته، در توليداتي همچون ظروف مرمري، مهرهـاي مشـبك فلـزي و برخـي از شـيوه هـاي تـدفين
(تدفين هاي يادماني)، بحثهايي را در رابطه با تفسير ايـن مـدارك بـه وجـود آورده، كـه عمومـاً ايـن
تفسيرها با مهاجرت گروههاي انساني از شمال به جنوب و يا بالعكس مرتبط شده است.
مسئله ي اصلي اين نوشتار، بررسي دلايل و شواهدي است كه مـيتوانـد در شـكل گيـري يـك تفسـير
منطقي و قابل قبول در زمينه علت وجود برخي از شباهتهـا ميـان فرهنـگ بلخـي-مـروي و شـهر
سوخته در دورهي IV اين استقرار كمك نمايد. در اين نوشتار سعي ميشود تا حد امكـان بـه بررسـي
شواهد و مدارك شهر سوخته به عنوان يكي از مهمترين استقرارگاههاي جنوب شـرق ايـران و منطقـه
سيستان پرداخته شود. با بررسي و تفسير چرايي اين شباهتها، علاوه بر رد فرضيهي مهـاجرت مـردم
فرهنگ بلخي-مروي به سمت شهر سوخته، ميتوان دلايلي براي اثبات يـك رونـد مهـاجرتي در نيمـه
هزاره سوم ق.م از شهر سوخته به سمت دشتهاي شمالي ارائه نمود.
كلمات كليدي: فرهنگ بلخي-مروي، شهر سوخته، نظام مهـاجرت، مهرهـاي مشـبك فلـزي، ظـروف
مرمري، تدفين يادماني.

Каталог и анализ изображений на печатях и амулетах Бактрии и Маргианы из разных коллекций ( всего более 1800 предметов, 95% которых в этой книге были опубликованы впервые).

The civil war in Afghanistan gave unparalleled impetus to the rapacious excavations of the burial mounds and graves of Ancient Bactria, once situated on the territory of modern-day Afghanistan. All kinds of funeral offerings -mostly seals and amulets decorated with intricate narrative images - have appeared on the counters of antiques stores throughout the world. The one thing that saved these items, excavated by amateur archeologists, from disappearing altogether, was the fact that some of them ended up in large private collections and museums. It was only thanks to the kindness of true antique connoisseurs like Ron Garner, Andrew Hale and Jonathan Rosen, that the author was able to compile a summary description of these seals and amulets, in an attempt to save this precious material from disappearing forever. The subjects depicted on the seals and amulets reflect the myths of the Bactrians, giving us a unique opportunity to look into the intellectual world of a people who did not leave behind any written records.
Definite parallels can be drawn between most of the images depicted on the seals and amulets, and the Syro-Hittite glyptics of the Bronze Age, leaving no question as to the historical succession of the two.
The author was able to date the Bactrian seals and amulets with a certain degree of accuracy thanks to his discoveries of identical or very similar articles during scientifically-controlled excavations in neighboring Margiana (on the territory of what is now Turkmenistan). This study examines over 1,800 seals and amulets, 95 percent of which are being published for the first time. Having been put together in a single volume, they indisputably attest to the existence of a separate Bactro-Margianian school of glyptics and sphragistics.

AIT versus OIT: дискуссия на "Генофонд.рф" (составление, корректура, редактирование, предисловие, сноски и приложения Семененко А.А.) / А.А. Семененко, И.А. Тоноян-Беляев, Е.В. Балановская, О.П. Балановский, Я.В. Васильков, В.В. Запорожченко, Л.С. Клейн, А.Г. Козинцев, С.В. Кулланда, В.А. Новоженов. — Воронеж: На правах рукописи, 2015. — 846 с.

In this paper I translate and interpret R̥gveda 1.143, which presents a newer and stronger vision of Dīrghatamas. In the arrangement of the surviving Śākalya recension of the R̥V, 1.143 belongs to the Dīrghatamas cycle, a group of 25 hymns traditionally attributed to Dīrghatamas. Vedic scholars have been frustrated about the hymn, and no consensus on its significance and meaning has been reached. It is a laudation of Agni and Apāṃ Napāt. I will show that the intertwining imagery of the hymn gives Agni a unique cosmological significance unparalleled in contemporary sacerdotal poetry.

This paper presents the detailed stylistic and functional analysis of a large collection of artifacts made from Asian elephant ivory discovered at the Oxus Civilization site of Gonur Depe in southern Turkmenistan. Artifacts in ivory of Asian elephant from Bronze Age sites in Middle Asia have usually been considered as evidence for the import of finished items from the greater Indus Valley. The detailed study of the Gonur Depe ivories has instead proven that there are significant morphological and stylistic differences between these artifacts and those found at contemporaneous sites in the Indus Valley. This evidence raises important questions about the provenance of the raw material and about the origin and training of the craftsmen who manufactured the objects. Detailed research in textual sources about traditional arts and crafts in South Asia and in classical and medieval commentaries about ivory carving, integrated with ethnographic data about skilled crafting in traditional societies, has led to propose new hypotheses about the complex socioeconomic and cultural organization of manufacturing and trade of Asian elephant ivory during the Bronze Age.

As a disruption in the historical development of southern Central Asia, the disappearance of the Oxus Civilization between the Bronze and Iron Ages in the middle of the second millennium BCE forms an interesting case study of sociocultural transitions. Through the examination of the evolution of ceramic production in this period, this article discusses the impact of cultural interactions on the overall social changes, as well as the spatio-temporal variability of the transition. Contrary to earlier ideas of a sudden sociocultural rupture, a model based on gradual and heterogeneous developments over a long period of time is proposed.

В монографии рассматриваются археологические материалы погребальных памятников раннего и среднего бронзового
века, могильников Фархор и Кангурттут 2. Погребальный инвентарь этих могильников свидетельствует о формировании в середине — второй половине III тыс. до н. э. на территории Южного Таджикистана местного варианта древнебактрийской культуры, тесно связанного с культурной общностью населения Ирана и Афганистана. Несколько позднее, в конце III — начале II тыс. до н. э, рассматриваемая территория входила в зону формирования культуры Окса или Бактрийско-Маргианского археологического комплекса. В Южном Таджикистане эта культура представлена погребальными комплексами Гелота и Дарнайчи. Данные материалы позволяют по-новому оценить этнокультурные процессы, происходившие на юге Таджикистана в
исследуемую эпоху.

The next volume of the Transactions covers a part of the works carried out under the Cooperation Agreement between the IEA RAS and the Ministry of Culture of Turkmenistan at the Gonur-depe archaeological site in the southeast Karakum desert. Archaeological, including stratigraphic works, as well as paleoanthropological, paleopathological, archaeoecological, geochemical, and magnetometric studies are briefly described. The social structure of the Margiana society, the ivory trade, the methodological aspects of the age determination based on the bone material and some ethnographic themes are discussed. The problem of localization of the primary center of Indo-European speakers and a number of themes on the paleoanthropology of Tajikistan are touched upon. The publication is intended for specialists in archaeology, anthropology, ethnography and history of Eurasia.
Очередной том Трудов экспедиции освещает часть работ, проведенных в рамках Соглашения о сотрудничестве между ИЭА РАН и Министерством культуры Туркменистана на памятнике Гонур-депе в юго-восточных Каракумах. Кратко описываются археологические, в том числе стратиграфические работы, а также палеоантропологические, палеопатологические, археоэкологические, геохимические и магнитометрические исследования. Обсуждается социальная структура маргианского общества, торговля слоновой костью, методические вопросы определения возраста по костному материалу и некоторые этнографические сюжеты. Затрагиваются проблема локализации первичного очага носителей индоевропейских языков и ряд тем палеоантропологии Таджикистана. Издание предназначено для специалистов по археологии, антропологии, этнографии и истории Евразии.

The activity of the Russian­-Turkmen Margiana Archaeological Expedition at the Bronze Age site Gonur Depe and the surrounding settlements located in the Bayramali etrap of the Mary velayat are briefy described. The expedition is working within the framework of the Agreement between the N. N. Miklukho­-Maklay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow) and the Ministry of Culture
of Turkmenistan.  Modern understanding of the chronology and stratigraphy of the monument, a description of the main achievements concerning the architecture of several complexes of the site, the characteristics of the culture as well as anthropological features of the inhabitants of the country and the economy of the population is given. The conservation and restoration process conducted during last years is characterized. The latest publications are mentioned

Catalog of the graves (814) of the Bronze Age site of Adji Kui.
Grave 1 of the Farmstead.
Only the text is here provided: drawings and photos will be uploaded only after the publication of the whole book
For any further information and questions do not hesitate to contact me: eclglbonora@gmail.com

This issue of Transaction includes a large memorial section dedicated to the deceased colleagues, founders of this
series and friends of the Margiana expedition – Pavel M. Kozhin, Michael F. Kosarev and Olivier Lecomte. A number
of previously unknown works by Pavel M. Kozhin is publishing. Information on excavations in 2015–2019 is provided
at Gonur and in museums of Turkmenistan, an architectural analysis of a number of structures of Gonur is given and
the features of the technology of pottery making as well as bioarchaeological data are described. The results of the
study of burial grounds in Eastern Iran and on the territory of the Pendjikent region of Tajikistan are published as well
as information about the distribution of different forms of swords on the territory of the Ancient East and the valley of
the river Indus. A section about the pride of Turkmenistan — Akhal-Teke horses ends the book. The issue is intended for archaeologists, anthropologists and historians of architecture.

The article examines the different types of female deities in BMAC and the origins of these goddesses. It was shown that all definable types of the female pantheon, as well as their attributes and outward appearance, can be traced directly back to antecedents in the Kerman culture of south-eastern Iran, which can already be traced on the vessels of the intercultural style and the seals of this culture. However, the goddesses presented here are transformed in the BMAC. The changes particularly concern the appearance of the attribute animals or the merging of the deities with elements of the attribute animals. For the first time, the goddess with water streams, previously missing in the BMAC, could also be proven on the seals of the BMAC.

"Treasures of ancient Margiana" (2013) was the last book to be published during the life of Viktor Sarianidi, the pioneer and explorer of the new center of ancient Eastern civilization on the land of Turkmenistan.It is second revised. This is second, revised and completed edition. the book in a popular form and mainly through photos narrates about the Bactria-Margiana archaeological culture (BMAC), also known as the Oxus Civilization. This culture existed in the late 3rd – mid 2nd millennium BC in the South of Central Asia and in the part of Afghanistan, adjacent to Amu Darya. The book presents the main findings made during the excavations of BMAC settlements in the ancient delta of the Murghab River in the southeastern Kara Kum desert (Turkmenistan). This center of the ancient Eastern civilization was discovered by Soviet archaeologists in the 1970s, and by now the fieldworks have been underway for the fifth decade. The findings show that the culture that existed here had extensive connections with the Indus, Mesopotamian, Eastern Mediterranean and Achaean Greek civilizations.

Types of more than 5000 funeral construction (4408 tombs with remains) and their distribution around the territory of Gonur Depe Bronze Age site of Turkmenistan are described. Shafts (53,4%), ordinary (30,5%) and huge (0,15 %) pits, cists (6,1%), chambers (1,7%), sepultures (0,2%), burials in jars (2,1%) and in ovens (0,2%), one dakhma and five fractional burials were found.

During the Final Bronze Age (around 3750/3700 BP), the proto-urban sedentary cultural entity in southern Central Asia—known as the Oxus civilization or Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex—underwent major social transformations in different field aspects leading to a deep cultural change in the middle of the 4th millennium BP. Among the different reasons suggested to explain these sociocultural changes, the hypothesis of global climate change in Central Asia at the beginning of the 4th millennium BP has been emphasized by different scholars.
In this paper, I will examine current paleo-environmental data in relation with the climate evolution during the Mid- and Late Holocene. A critical assessment of the hypothesis of climatic change in Central Asia at the beginning of the 4th millennium BP allows to stimulate the discussion anew. I argue that the present data do not support a drastic climate change during the first half of the 4th millennium BP as a responsible factor for the fall of the Oxus civilization, although local environmental modifications should also not be underestimated and further investigated in a more integrated perspective of co-evolution of the ecological environment and the human societies.

Gonur Depe is the administrative and religious center of Ancient Margiana, the ruins of which are located in 85 km to the north of the town of Bayramaly (Turkmenistan). The time frame for the existence of Gonur Depe is defined in the range of 2500–1500 years BC. Summarizing the data of the first researchers of Gonur Depe and our stratigraphic studies, conducted in 2014–2018, one can talk about the presence there of five periods (construction horizons) of the functioning of this protocity center: 1. from the foundation of the settlement to the construction of the palace (~2500/2300–2000 BC); 2. from the construction of the palace to the “big fire” in the palace (~2000–1900 BC); 3. from the beginning of the restoration of the palace after the fire until it ceased to function as a residence of the rulers of Gonur Depe (~1900–1700 BC); 4. from the time of the departure of the ruling elite and the use of the palace by the common members until its complete desolation (~1700–1600 BC); 5. from the time of the desolation of the palace to the complete abandonment of this territory by the people (~1600–1500 BC).

Unique mosaic composition of the end of the third millenium BC from the "Royal Necropolis" of Gonur Depe is describing. Some walls of the underground "hypogea" and so-called "ostensories" as well small originally wooden boxes found in them were decorated by figurative mosaics. These mosaics combine two techniques-painting and inlays (tesserae), which were made from the specially prepared minerals. They also presented the earliest example of using the technique of cutting the edges of the tesserae. Analogies of the images between Gonur Depe and Mari palace in Syria are underlined. Öz Gonur Depe'deki "Kraliyet Nekropolisi"nde bulunan ve MÖ 3. binyıla tarihlenen özgün mozaikler tanıtılacaktır. Yer altındaki "hipoje" veya "ostensory" olarak adlandırılan mekânların bazı duvarları ve bunların içinde bulunan küçük ahşap kutular figüratif mozaiklerle süslenmişlerdir. Bu mozaiklerin yapımında boyama ve özel hazırlanmış minerallerden oluşan kakma (tessera) tekniği olmak üzere iki teknik kullanılmıştır. Aynı zamanda tesserae kenarlarının kesilmesi tekniğinin en erken örnekleri de bu mozaiklerde görülmektedir. Gonur Depe mozaikleri ile Suriye'deki Mari saray mozaikleri arasındaki figür benzerlikleri vurgulanacaktır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Figüratif mozaikler, mozaik teknolojisi, tesseranın kenarlarının kesilmesi, cenaze hakları, elit mezarları.

Открытие раннее совершенно неизвестного древневосточного царства Маргуш в одной из величайших пустынь мира — в Кара Кумах (современный Туркменистан) — до сих пор не до конца осознанный феномен. Великолепие дворцов и храмов, высочайшее ремесло и изобразительное искусство, включающее глиптику и сфрагистику, камнерезное и костерезное дело, художественную бронзу и ювелирные изделия, мелкую пластику и мозаичное искусство уже были охарактеризованы и проанализированы в печати Sarianidi V. «Margiana and Protozoroastrizm» Athens, 1998 и Sarianidi V. «Myths of Ancient Bactria and Margiana on its Seals and Amulets» М., 1998.

Можно считать доказанным, что царство Маргуш было основано индоиранскими племенами, религией которых являлось то самое «иранское язычество», в среде которого родилась первая мировая религия — зороастризм. Почти 200 лет многие специалисты мира безуспешно искали родину зороастризма во многих районах Передней Азии. Но она оказалась в сердце Центральной Азии, вероятнее всего — в Бактрии и Маргиане.

Дополнительные доказательства тому дали широкомасштабные раскопки последних лет городского некрополя Гонур (одного из крупнейших в системе всей Передней Азии конца III — II тыс. до н.э.), площадь которого составляла около 10 гектар и где уже сейчас раскопано более 2500 древних могил. Результатам этих открытий и посвящена настоящая книга. Погребальные приношения и личные украшения похороненных здесь людей поражают своим великолепием. Художественная бронза и торевтика, керамическое, камнерезное и костерезное дело и тончайшая мозаика, ювелирное искусство, глиптика и сфрагистика — все указывает на то, что изобразительное искусство страны Маргуш практически ни в чем не уступало древнему искусству передовых центров тогдашнего мира. Древневосточное царство Маргуш не только представляло собой пятый центр мировой цивилизации, своего рода «Маленькую Месопотамию», но его существование в определенной степени свидетельствует в пользу того, что центр культурной жизни во II тыс, до н.э. частично перемещается из Месопотамии в Центральную Азию.
The phenomenon of excavated and previously totally unknown Margush kingdom of the Ancient East, found in one of the greatest deserts of the world — in the Kara-Kum (contemporary Turkmenistan), has been not fully understood so far. Luxury of its palaces and temples, highest level of development of handicrafts and arts — the latter includes glyptics and sphragistics, stone-cuttings and bone-carvings, artistic bronze and jewelry, pieces of small plastic arts, mosaics — have been already described and analyzed in published works of V. Sarianidi: «Margiana and Proto-Zoroastrianism», The Athens, 1998; «Mify drevney Baktrii i Margiany na pechatyakh i amuletakh» (Myths of Ancient Bactria and Margiana, Depicted on Seals and Amulets), Moscow, 1998.

One can consider it has been proved by now that the Margush kingdom was founded by Indo-Iranian tribes whose religion was «Iranian paganism». The latter gave birth to the first world religion — Zoroastrianism. For nearly 200 years many specialists in the world were searching for Zoroastrianism's motherland in many areas of Near Asia but with no success. And this birthplace happened to be located at the heart of Central Asia, most probably — in Bactria and Margiana.

Additional proofs for this conclusion were provided by large scale excavations of the latest years at the urban necropolis Gonur — one of the largest in the Near Asia at the end of the III and at the II millennia B.C. Area of Gonur is some 10 hectares, and more then 2500 ancient burials have been already excavated there. The present book is devoted to results of these findings. Funeral gifts and personal decorations of the buried strike with their magnificence. Artistic bronze and toreutics, production of ceramics, stone-cuttings and bone-carvings, fine mosaics, jewelry, glyptics and sphragistics — all these achievements show that the fine arts of the Margush country were actually not inferior to ancient arts of the advanced centers of the world in those times. Margush kingdom of the Ancient East was not only the fifth center of the world civilization, i.e. a kind of «Little Mesopotamia». But its existence to some extent suggests that the center of the cultural developments was partially moving from Mesopotamia to Central Asia at the II millennium B.C.

The article is devoted to engravings of wheeled vehicles of latter half of the 3rd – beginning of
the 2nd millennium B.C. in rock art of Minusinsk basin at Upper Yenisei. Two-wheel and fourwheel
vehicles with or without tilt, with single-piece and composite disk wheels are presented.
Draught-pole in the form of two bars converging under a corner is typical for them. All vehicles
are intended for pair draught. Oxen and cows were draught cattle. Loop in nose, collar and special
type of yoke were used to control animals. There are three groups of images after the manner of
body presentation: 1) profile view; 2) plan view; 3) combination of profile and plan projections.
Profile manner is the earliest. The connection of the images of wheeled vehicles, draught cattle
and charioteers with ritually-mythological sphere of culture is proved. As a result of comparative
analysis of construction and manner of body presentation it becomes possible to conclude that
the most ancient images of wheeled vehicles of Minusinsk basin connected with western regions
of Central Asia. A new hypothesis of double draught-pole genesis on the basis of earliest variants
of shafts harnessing is proposed.

Key words: wagon, cart, disk wheel, ox, Okunev culture, Afanasev culture, Bronze Age, Central Asia,
Southern Siberia, Minusinsk basin, rock art, archaeology.

This chapter presents a concise synthesis of the state of knowledge on the end of the Oxus Civilization. It brings new lights on diverse issues about the interpretation of this particular moment of sociocultural evolution and on the causes of transformations.

[Access the full article free until 21 Aug 2022 here: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1fLHI,rVDBbx8S  -- after that, please email me for a copy]

Abstract:
The publication of data relevant to prehistoric socio-economies in southern Central Asia is growing, and it intersects with long-standing questions about how mixed farming-herding subsistence economies were organized on local and regional scales. We present new faunal data from the campsite of Ojakly in south-central Turkmenistan, dated to the Late Bronze Age (1900-1500 BCE). We situate the zooarchaeological data within the site's overall excavation results and against similarly-contextualized fauna and archaeological remains from culturally-related sites, particularly those reported from the BMAC/Oxus site of Gonur-depe. Despite some overlaps in the domestic animal species utilized at Ojakly and at nearby farming-focused sites in the Murghab, there is a clear contrast in terms of the subsistence focus and practices, beyond what would be expected if these groups were specialized economic subsets of a single socio-cultural tradition. The faunal patterns at Ojakly are consistent with a pastoral population that exclusively managed mixed herds as a full-time subsistence strategy. The analysis presented here fits within the vein of identifying localized socioeconomic adaptations of mobile pastoralists, especially as they blur traditional notions of "nomadic" and "farming" economies. At the same time, they add to larger datasets of temporal and regional relevance, and they are discussed within broader patterns known from published material.

This article deals with the cult weapons of Gonur Depe. It contains a catalogue of the cult axes, cult hammers and the sickle swords and an attempt at typology of the types of weapons. The weapons were systematised according to the shape of the hull, the blade and the decoration and then compared with the other weapons of the BMAC from Afghanistan and with secured types from Iran and Mesopotamia. This enabled a typological classification and dating of the cult weapons of the BMAC in general and those from Gonur in particular. It became apparent that the axes and hammers are particularly closely related to the weapons from the Iranian weapons province, and here again to those from the Kerman region. They  are related to  late Early Dynastic III and Akkadian-time Iranian forms, from which their own BMAC form types emerge. The sickle swords, on the other hand, go back to Sumerian precursors and present an archaic type.

“Grave ADJ1.F from the Farmhouse of Adji Kui 1 (Margiana, Turkmenistan): Description, and Preliminary Analysis of an Oxus Civilisation Funerary Context”, in: М.Н. Губогло, В.В. Куфтерин (eds) ПРИРОДА – ЧЕЛОВЕК – ОБЩЕСТВО: ОТ ПРОШЛОГО К НАСТОЯЩЕМУ. Сборник статей к юбилею Н.А. Дубовой - M-N. Guboglo and V.V. Kufterin (eds.) NATURE – MAN – SOCIETY: FROM PAST TO PRESENT. Collection of papers in honor of Nadezhda Dubova’s jubilee, Moscow - Staryy Sad: 84 - 97. (co-authored by: G. Rossi Osmida and A. Cengia) ISBN 978-5-89930-162-9