A carved ivory cylinder from Akchakhan-kala, Uzbekistan: Problems of dating and provenance

Betts, Alison; Dodson, John; Garbe, Ulf; Bertuch, Fiona; Thorogood, Gordon J.

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.10.034

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…This suggests to us that the political and economic foundations of power in Khorezm rested upon a more diverse system of local production, which included irrigation agriculture, but only in measured amounts and alongside fishing, pastoralism, hunting, and other forms of cultivation. Connections to the Achaemenid state suggest that trade may have played a critical role in the incipient development of the Khorezm polity (Betts et al, 2016). Although irrigation agriculture received considerably more emphasis after this time, given the ongoing pastoralism on the left-bank (Negus Cleary, 2015a; Vaynberg, 1979b) and the dispersed, short-term nature of rural occupations on the right-bank in the Antique period (Bolelov, 1997, 2005a, 2006; Negus Cleary, 2015b; Nerazik, 1976), we argue that what came before mattered significantly to the evolution of agriculture and statecraft in this oasis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Throughout the first millennium BC and first millennium AD at Kyuzely-gyr and other Prisarykamysh sites, in spite of the new canals there remain few traces of ancient agricultural fields; the emphasis on pastoralism continues; settlements lay in dispersed, low-density patterns reflective of semi-mobility; and the landscape is marked with numerous ‘nomadic’ kurgan burial sites (Negus Cleary, 2015a; Tsalkin, 1966: 108–157; Vaynberg, 1979a, 1979b). Monumental art at Kyuzeli-gyr and Kalaly-gyr 1 and textual sources indicate links with the Achaemenid Empire (Betts, 2006; Betts et al, 2009, 2016; Helms et al, 2001, 2002; Kidd et al, 2008; Yagodin et al, 2010). This suggests to us that the power of newly established elites in Khorezm was not, at least initially, built upon a shift to intensive farming, but rather may have come from exchange .…”

Section: The Khorezm Oasismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Millet cultivation in Central Asia: A response to Miller et al.

et al. 2017

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In a recent special issue of The Holocene, Miller et al. review the evidence for the spread of millet ( Panicum miliaceum and Setaria italica) across Eurasia. Among their arguments, they contend that millet cultivation came to Eurasian regions with hot, dry summers when irrigation was introduced, as part of a region-wide shift toward agricultural intensification in the first millennium BC. This hypothesis seems to align with the pattern of agricultural change observed in the Khorezm oasis, a Central Asian polity of the first millennium BC and first millennium AD. While we wholeheartedly accept this hypothesis for its explanatory value regarding trends across Eurasia, in this paper we nevertheless suggest that the introduction of millet to Central Asia needs further explication. Specifically, we seek to address the underlying assumption that this introduction was predicated upon centrally organized, state-level land development, increased sedentism, and the rise of Mesopotamian-style social complexity. We describe how millet cultivation in Khorezm was preceded by multi-resource strategies that included the cultivation of summer crops, and emphasize that this earlier history mattered significantly to the evolution of Khorezmian society and agriculture in the first millennium BC. In contrast to the imperial systems of West Asia, in Khorezm the introduction of complex irrigation works supported the expansion and greater stratification of pre-existing agropastoral lifeways, and helped to buttress the rise of nomadic elites within an agrarian zone. We believe the example of Khorezm is important because it helps to explain the emergence of integrated mobile-sedentist societies in the first millennium AD in Central Asia as a result of agricultural change. It also provides cultural and historical context to the spread of millet cultivation in the first millennium BC, suggesting that this phenomenon had significantly different implications for societies across Eurasia.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Khorezm Oasismentioning

confidence: 99%

Millet cultivation in Central Asia: A response to Miller et al.

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“…316-317). For yet another possible case of Persianism from Akchakhan-kala, see Betts et al 2016. 96-In the 1960s, a Persian-st yle alabast er mold in the shape of an eagle or an eagle-headed gryphon was found in Room 6 of the nearby "Palace" of Kalalȳ-gȳr I (see Minardi 2015 p. 192-192, fĳigs.…”

Section: The Wall Paintings Of Akchakhan-kalamentioning

confidence: 99%

Hellenism and Persianism in Iran: Culture and Empire after Alexander the Great

Strootman¹

2020

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2020, No. 7the Sasanian concept of Ērānšahr-a geopolitical and cultural idea that geographically coincided largely with the concept of the Upper Satrapies used by the Seleucids. 4 Under the Seleucids a fundamental change in Iranian kingship occurred, when a blend of Iranian and Greek practices came into being, which persisted after the collapse of the Seleucid Empire in the second half of the second century. 5 But what is "Greek"? Hellenistic, Hellenic, Hellenization, HelleniskThe subject of Hellenism in Iran compels us to defĳine four interrelated, problematic terms: Hellenistic, Hellenic, Hellenization, and Hellenism. These terms not only refer to historical culture but are also connected to modern ideas about culture and history.Defĳining Hellenistic causes perhaps least problems, for the word is now most often used as a culturally neutral adjective to designate a period-roughly the last four or three centuries BCE-or to things from that period. Characteristic of the period is a signifĳicant increase in connectivity, migration and economic exchange in central and western Afro-Eurasia caused by Macedonian imperialism. Empires tend to encourage intercultural connectivity, interregional economic integration and large-scale, long-distance mobility (both voluntarily and involuntarily). This of course began in the Achaemenid period-an age of globalization too-but in the Hellenistic Age, networks of connectivity expanded enormously because a linkage was achieved of the pre-existing land-based networks maintained by the Achaemenids and their agents, and the maritime networks operated in the Mediterranean by Greeks, Phoenicians, and others. 6 The period moreover saw the integration of the Indian Ocean world of connectivity into the Hellenistic world system. These networks extended far beyond the empires of Alexander and his successors. In addition, "Hellenistic World" denotes the area between the Pamirs and the Straits of Gibraltar, and between the Scythian plains and the Sudan, where this increased interconnectivity and mobility took place. 7 In this world we see the simultaneous use of two major linguae francae, Aramaic and Greek, and as a real sign of proto-globalization, if I may call it that, the spread of a common, international standard of coinage with approximately the same weight standards from Gibraltar to Taxila and a shared system of iconography to guarantee monetary value. 8 The adjective Hellenic means "Greek". It may refer to people with a Greek identity or the culture by which these people expressed their identity. One usually recognizes Greek style when one sees it. In addition, "Greek" of course indicates a language. In order not to make things too confusing, I will from now on write

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