The landscape of ancient mobile pastoralism in the highlands of southeastern Uzbekistan, 2000<b><scp>b.c.</scp>–<scp>a.d.</scp></b>1400

Frachetti, Michael; Maksudov, Farhod

doi:10.1179/0093469014z.00000000085

Cited by 22 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Archaeological studies complement the historical sources by illustrating how diverse economic strategies across Eurasia were at this time, surveys have identified the presence of cities, towns, and small farmsteads [ 9 , 16 , 17 ]. Stable isotope analyses of bone collagen demonstrated highly diverse diets between regions that were narrowly circumscribed within communities across this varied cultural landscape [ 18 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arboreal crops on the medieval Silk Road: Archaeobotanical studies at Tashbulak

et al. 2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

During the first millennium A.D., Central Asia was marked by broad networks of exchange and interaction, what many historians collectively refer to as the “Silk Road”. Much of this contact relied on high-elevation mountain valleys, often linking towns and caravanserais through alpine territories. This cultural exchange is thought to have reached a peak in the late first millennium A.D., and these exchange networks fostered the spread of domesticated plants and animals across Eurasia. However, few systematic studies have investigated the cultivated plants that spread along the trans-Eurasian exchange during this time. New archaeobotanical data from the archaeological site of Tashbulak (800–1100 A.D.) in the mountains of Uzbekistan is shedding some light on what crops were being grown and consumed in Central Asia during the medieval period. The archaeobotanical assemblage contains grains and legumes, as well as a wide variety of fruits and nuts, which were likely cultivated at lower elevations and transported to the site. In addition, a number of arboreal fruits may have been collected from the wild or represent cultivated version of species that once grew in the wild shrubby forests of the foothills of southern Central Asia in prehistory. This study examines the spread of crops, notably arboreal crops, across Eurasia and ties together several data sets in order to add to discussions of what plant cultivation looked like in the central region of the Silk Road.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arboreal crops on the medieval Silk Road: Archaeobotanical studies at Tashbulak

et al. 2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Recent excavations of nomadic encampments in the foothill zones of West Pamir-Alay and Zhetysu illustrate highly variable levels of economic interaction between pastoralists and urban centres. At these sites, cultural materials associated with 8 th –13 th c. radiocarbon chronologies include cotton fabrics 84 and variable mixtures of ceramics ranging between standardized wheel-spun food storage vessels from distant oases communities and locally produced ‘handmade’ coarsewares, which are rare in urban contexts 85 , 86 . The presence of hybrid ceramic assemblages and cotton, a woven trade good associated with oasis production centers 87 , 88 , suggests that complex and non-uniform relationships with urban economies coincided with intra-group dietary diversity in mobile pastoralist communities 25 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… Country Region Site Elevation (m.a.s.l.) Chronology n Archaeological context References Uzbekistan West Pamir-Alay Tashbulak 2100 9th–11th c. 4 Highland urban complex of the Qarakhanid Empire; citadel, metal workshops, necropolis; 7 ha 86 , 120 Alyntepe 475 10th–13th c. 1 Provincial city with fortified walls and surrounding settlements; industrial scale brick and ceramic production; 40 ha 121 Frinkent 530 10th–13th c. 4 Fortress complex with cemetery of unique Zoroastrian burials in large ceramic vessels; 14 ha 122 , 123 Ferghana Valley Chor Dona 580 11th–13th c. 4 Fortress mound with associated grain processing facility and ancillary ancient settlement of Andijan; estimated 10–15 ha 124 , 125 Chartok 545 12th c. 11 Context information is not available 126 Tashkent Oasis Uturlik 270 12th c. 9 Large city with diverse economic production of crafts; along trade routes with Otrar; 60 ha 34 , 127 Khoresm Tok-kala 60 9th–12th c. 9 Urban fortress and surrounding settlements that functioned as a regional centre of political and economic influence; estimated 10–15 ha 128 Kazakhstan Otrar Oasis Konyr-tobe I 180 5th–7th c. 9 Cemetery plat...…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban and nomadic isotopic niches reveal dietary connectivities along Central Asia’s Silk Roads

Hermes

Frachetti

Bullion

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The ancient ‘Silk Roads’ formed a vast network of trade and exchange that facilitated the movement of commodities and agricultural products across medieval Central Asia via settled urban communities and mobile pastoralists. Considering food consumption patterns as an expression of socio-economic interaction, we analyse human remains for carbon and nitrogen isotopes in order to establish dietary intake, then model isotopic niches to characterize dietary diversity and infer connectivity among communities of urbanites and nomadic pastoralists. The combination of low isotopic variation visible within urban groups with isotopic distinction between urban communities irrespective of local environmental conditions strongly suggests localized food production systems provided primary subsistence rather than agricultural goods exchanged along trade routes. Nomadic communities, in contrast, experienced higher dietary diversity reflecting engagements with a wide assortment of foodstuffs typical for mobile communities. These data indicate tightly bound social connectivity in urban centres pointedly funnelled local food products and homogenized dietary intake within settled communities, whereas open and opportunistic systems of food production and circulation were possible through more mobile lifeways.

show abstract

“…Another prominent circular argument in Central Asian archaeology is the association of handmade ceramics with pastoralism-the implication is that people who did not use pottery wheels must be nomadic (e.g., Frachetti and Maksudov 2014;Hiebert 1994;Masson and Sarianidi 1972;Moshkova 1995;P'yankova 1994;Rouse and Cerassetti 2014;Vinogradova and Kuz'mina 1996;Yablonsky 1995). When handmade ceramics are recovered from urban sites, they are used to argue for social interactions between sedentary and nomadic people.…”

Section: Arguments Used To Support Nomadic Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Imagined Past?

Spengler

Miller

Schmaus³

et al. 2021

Current Anthropology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nomads, or highly specialized mobile pastoralists, are prominent features in Central Asian archaeology, and they are often depicted in direct conflict with neighboring sedentary peoples. However, new archaeological findings are showing that the people who many scholars have called nomads engaged in a mixed economic system of farming and herding. Additionally, not all of these peoples were as mobile as previously assumed, and current data suggest that a portion of these purported mobile populations remained sedentary for much or all of the year, with localized ecological factors directing economic choices. In this article, we pull together nine complementary lines of evidence from the second through the first millennia BC to illustrate that in eastern Central Asia, a complex economy existed. While many scholars working in Eurasian archaeology now acknowledge how dynamic paleoeconomies were, broader arguments are still tied into assumptions regarding specialized economies. The formation of empires or polities, changes in social orders, greater political hierarchy, craft specialization-notably, advanced metallurgy-mobility and migration, social relations, and exchange have all been central to the often circular arguments made concerning so-called nomads in ancient Central Asia. The new interpretations of mixed and complex economies more effectively situate Central Asia into a broader global study of food production and social complexity.

show abstract

The landscape of ancient mobile pastoralism in the highlands of southeastern Uzbekistan, 2000b.c.–a.d.1400

Cited by 22 publications

References 14 publications

Arboreal crops on the medieval Silk Road: Archaeobotanical studies at Tashbulak

Arboreal crops on the medieval Silk Road: Archaeobotanical studies at Tashbulak

Urban and nomadic isotopic niches reveal dietary connectivities along Central Asia’s Silk Roads

An Imagined Past?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About