Qarakhanids on the Edge of the Bukhara Oasis: Archaeobotany of Medieval Paykend

Abstract

The urban center of Paykend was an exchange node just off the main corridor of the Silk Road in the Bukhara Oasis on the edge of the hyperarid Kyzyl–Kum Desert. The city was occupied from the end of 4 century B.C.E. to the mid–12 century C.E.; our study focuses on the Qarakhanid period (C.E. 999 – 1211), the last imperial phase of urban occupation at Paykend before its abandonment. In this study, we present the results of an analysis of archaeobotanical remains recovered from a multifunction rabat, which appears to have comprised a domicile, military structure, center of commerce, and/or a caravanserai, a roadside inn for travelers. We shed light on how people adapted a productive economy to the local ecological constraints. By adding these data to the limited Qarakhanid archaeobotany from across Central Asia, we provide the first glimpses into cultivation, commerce, and consumption at a Silk Road trading town along the King’s Road, the central artery of ancient Eurasia.

Landscape and Settlement over 4 Millennia on the South Side of Lake Issyk kul, Kyrgyzstan: Preliminary Results of Survey Research in 2019-2021

“…A caveat is in order here. Most archaeobotanical studies conducted at sites like the Chap site, a Late Bronze Age site and Paykend, a Qarakhanid Medieval site depend on the collection of large samples of archaeological sediments, sometimes entire house fills or pit fills [22,44]. Our soil samples are very small and can only be considered as preliminary in nature.…”

Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) Domestication and Dispersal Out of Central Asia

“…Shell fragments were recovered at Tashbulak, another high-elevation (2200 masl) site in Uzbekistan, from the Qarakhanid period (AD 999-1220) [73]. Contemporaneous with Tashbulak, pistachio shell fragments were also found in samples from Afrasiab and Paykend [74]. Traveling in Khorasan, at Badghis city, located between the Hari River and the upper Murghab (modern northwestern Afghanistan), Ibn Battuta in AD 1354 [75] (p. 576) described the land, "Its herbage always remains green and serves as pasture for their cattle and horses; most of its trees are pistachios, which are exported from it to the land of al-'Iraq".…”

“…Archaeological remains of pistachios are rare compared to other fruits and nuts in Eurasia [63,64,[69][70][71][72][73][74][76][77][78]. Recently, Rousou et al [31] pointed out that many historians and archaeobotanists only identify Pistacia spp.…”

“…(a) 1-Kaymar Kamar Rockshelter, Uzbekistan[60]; 2-Toda cave site, Uzbekistan (personal communication Zhou); 3-Tepe-Yahya, Iran[21,61,91]; 4-Sesklo, Greece[20]; (b) 5-Pefkakia-Magoula, Greece[95]; 6-Kaymar Kamar Rockshelter[60]; 7-Sarazm. Tajikistan[64]; 8-Shortugai, Afghanistan[63]; 9-Djarkutan, Uzbekistan[19]; 10-Kaptar Kamar Cave, Uzbekistan; 11-Pefkakia-Magoula, Greece[95]; 12-approximate location of place in Genesis 43, Israel; (c) 13-Kaymar Kamar Rockshelter, Uzbekistan[60]; 14-Apololonia, Bulgaria[96,97]; 15-Sveshtry, Bulgaria[98]; 16-Vindonissa, Switzerland[105]; 17-Syria[101];18-Rome, Italy[47]; 19-Vetren, Bulgaria[98]; (d) 20-Karnobat, Bulgaria[98]; 21-Kabyle, Bulgaria[98]; 22-Malko-Tarnovo, Bulgaria[98]; 23-Negev Highlands, Israel[103]; 24-Ismant el-Kharab (Kellis), Egypt[104]; 25-Bosra, Syria[102]; 26-Chil'khudzra, Tajikistan[69]; 27-Kanka, Uzbekistan[66,67]; 28-Balalyk-Tepe, Uzbekistan[68]; 29-Munchaktepa, Uzbekistan[70]; 30-Pista-shikana, Uzbekistan[71] [AD 943]; 31-Bazar-Dara, Tadjikistan[72]; 32-Tashbulak, Uzbekistan[73]; 33-Paykend[74]; 34-Afrasiab, Uzbekistan (this study); 35-Mamanni, Syria[111]; 36-Quseir al-Qadim, Egypt[78]; (e) 37-Al'ma'ara, Syria[112]; 38-Ba'labakk, Syria[112], 39-Badghis, Afghanistan[75]; 40-northwestern...…”

Ancient Agricultural and Pastoral Landscapes on the South Side of Lake Issyk-Kul: Preliminary Surveys of the Juuku Valley and Lower Kizil Suu Valley, Archaeobotanical Results of Three Stratigraphic Profiles, and GIS Modeling of Iron Age in Lower Kizil Suu

“…Archaeological studies of pastoral mobility have been successful in delineating both short and long-distance mobility during the Bronze Age in particular [2,6,28,29]. More recent studies of mobility patterns in the Iron Age and Medieval Periods in Central Asia have begun to tease out patterns of mobility as well as symbiosis and competition between agriculturalists and mobile pastoralists [6,10,20,[30][31][32][33]. Settlement pattern studies have been initiated in the nearby Kochkor Valley by Rouse and her team [25,26].…”