Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex

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File:Indo-Iranian origins.png

Archaeological cultures associated with Indo-Iranian migrations (after EIEC). The Andronovo, BMAC and Yaz cultures have often been associated with Indo-Iranian migrations. The GGC (Swat), Cemetery H, Copper Hoard and PGW cultures are candidates for cultures associated with Indo-Aryan migrations.

The Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) is the modern archaeological designation for a particular Middle Bronze Age civilisation of southern Central Asia, also known as the Oxus Civilization. The civilisation's urban phase or Integration Era<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> was dated in 2010 by Sandro Salvatori to Template:Circa–1950 BC,<ref>Salvatori, Sandro, (2010). "Thinking Around Grave 3245 in the 'Royal Graveyard' of Gonur (Murghab Delta, Turkmenistan)", in: On the Track of Uncovering a Civilisation. A volume in honor of the 80th-anniversary of Victor Sarianidi, p. 249: "Summing up we can now date the MBA 2400/2300-1950 BC and the LBA 1950–1500 BC and to recognise a very strong chronological correlation between the southern Central Asia MBA and the late Umm an-Nar period."</ref><ref name="Lyonnet, Bertille, and Nadezhda A. Dubova, (2020b)" /> but a different view is held by Nadezhda A. Dubova and Bertille Lyonnet, Template:Circa–1700 BC.<ref name="Lyonnet, Bertille, and Nadezhda A. Dubova, (2020b)">Lyonnet, Bertille, and Nadezhda A. Dubova, (2020b). "Questioning the Oxus Civilization or Bactria- Margiana Archaeological Culture (BMAC): an overview" , in Bertille Lyonnet and Nadezhda A. Dubova (eds.), The World of the Oxus Civilization, Routledge, London and New York, p. 32.: "...Salvatori has often dated its beginning very early (ca. 2400 BC), to make it match with Shahdad where a large amount of material similar to that of the BMAC has been discovered. With the start of international cooperation and the multiplication of analyses, the dates now admitted by all place the Oxus Civilization between 2250 and 1700 BC, while its final phase extends until ca. 1500 BC..."</ref><ref>Lyonnet, Bertille, and Nadezhda A. Dubova, (2020a). "Introduction", in Bertille Lyonnet and Nadezhda A. Dubova (eds.), The World of the Oxus Civilization, Routledge, London and New York, p. 1 : "The Oxus Civilization, also named the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (or Culture) (BMAC), developed in southern Central Asia during the Middle and Late Bronze Age and lasted for about half a millennium (ca. 2250–1700 BC)..."</ref>

Though it may be called the "Oxus civilization", apparently centred on the upper Amu Darya (Oxus River) in Bactria, most of the BMAC's urban sites are actually located in Margiana (modern Turkmenistan) on the Murghab river delta, and in the Kopet Dagh mountain range. There are a few later (Template:Circa–1450 BC) sites in northern Bactria, currently known as southern Uzbekistan,<ref>Kaniuth, Kai, (2016). "The Late Bronze Age Settlement of Tilla Bulak (Uzbekistan): A Summary of Four Years' Work", in South Asian Archaeology and Art 2012, Volume 1, Brepols, p. 119: "Taken together, our dates suggest a timeframe of ca. 1950-1800 cal. BCE for phases 1–2 of Tilla Bulak, and, by extension, for the Sapalli Culture phase LB Ia and the transition to Ib."</ref> but they are mostly graveyards belonging to the BMAC-related Sapalli culture.<ref>Kaniuth, Kai, (2007). "The Metallurgy of the Late Bronze Age Sapalli Culture (Southern Uzbekistan) and its implications for the 'tin question'", in Iranica Antiqua 42, p. 26: "Northern Bactria (Southern Uzbekistan) has produced some monumental buildings, but nothing to rival the spectacular architectural or sepulchral finds of Margiana and Southern Bactria."</ref><ref>Kaniuth, Kai, (2013). "A new Late Bronze Age site in Southern Uzbekistan", in South Asian Archaeology 2007, Volume I, Prehistoric Periods, BAR International Series 2454, p. 151: "A series of 26 radiocarbon dates from Dzarkutan established a time bracket of the 20th–15th centuries BC [for Sapalli culture], but these samples have not yet been published with reference to certain ceramic assemblages, so we lack a good resolution within this 500-year span (Görsdorf and Huff 2001)."</ref><ref>Kaniuth, Kai, (2020). "Life in the Countryside: The rural archaeology of the Sapalli culture", in Bertille Lyonnet and Nadezhda A. Dubova (eds.), The World of the Oxus Civilization, Routledge, London and New York, p. 457: "The Sapalli culture, the local northern Bactrian variant of the Oxus Civilization, flourished from the 20th to the 15th century BC."</ref> A single BMAC site, known as Dashli, lies in southern Bactria, current territory of northern Afghanistan.<ref>Kaniuth, Kai, (2007). "The Metallurgy of the Late Bronze Age Sapalli Culture (Southern Uzbekistan) and its implications for the 'tin question'", in Iranica Antiqua 42, p. 26: "There is general agreement that the date of unprovenanced finds stretches back further than that of the 20th–18th-century BC graves scientifically excavated at Dashly-1 and 3 (Sarianidi 1976), and that they start in the last centuries of the third millennium BC."</ref> Sites found further east, in southwestern Tajikistan, though contemporary with the main BMAC sites in Margiana, are only graveyards, with no urban developments associated with them.<ref>Lyonnet, Bertille, and Nadezhda A. Dubova, (2020a). "Introduction", in Bertille Lyonnet and Nadezhda A. Dubova (eds.), The World of the Oxus Civilization, Routledge, London and New York, p. 1.</ref>

The civilisation was named BMAC by the Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi in 1976, during the period (1969–1979) when he was excavating in northern Afghanistan.<ref>Vassar College WordPress, (10 May 2017). "Dashly": "Viktor Sarianidi (1929–2013), a Russian archaeologist born in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, discovered the sites [in northern Afghanistan]. His works are famous, but somewhat difficult to find in English. He, along with his collaborators from the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Moscow, excavated the sites from 1969–1979, halting work when Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan (Salvatori, 2000:97)."</ref> Sarianidi's excavations from the late 1970s onward revealed numerous monumental structures in many sites, fortified by impressive walls and gates. Reports on the BMAC were mostly confined to Soviet journals.<ref>See Sarianidi, V. I. 1976. "Issledovanija pamjatnikov Dashlyiskogo Oazisa," in Drevnii Baktria, vol. 1. Moscow: Akademia Nauk.</ref> A journalist from The New York Times wrote in 2001 that during the years of the Soviet Union, the findings were largely unknown to the West until Sarianidi's work began to be translated in the 1990s.<ref>John Noble Wilford, (13 May 2001). "In Ruin, Symbols on a Stone Hint at a Lost Asian Culture", in New York Times.</ref> However, some publications by Soviet authors, like Masson, Sarianidi, Atagarryev, and Berdiev, had been available to the West, translated in the first half of 1970s, slightly before Sarianidi labelled the findings as BMAC.<ref>Kurbanov, Aydogdy, (14 September 2018). "A brief history of archaeological research in Turkmenistan from the beginning of the 20th century until the present", in ArchéOrient.</ref><ref>Atagarryev E., and Berdiev O.K., (1970). "The Archaeological Exploration of Turkmenistan in the Year of Soviet Power", East and West 20, pp. 285–306.</ref><ref>Masson, V.M., and V.I. Sarianidi, (1972). Central Asia: Turkmenia before the Achaemenids, London, Thames and Hudson. [Reviewed in: Kolb, Charles C., (1973). American Anthropologist, Vol. 75, Issue 6, December 1973, pp. 1945–1948.], p. 1945: "The [Middle] Bronze Age...2000-1600 B.C...(Namazga V) is the period of an urban revolution based on an Anatolian model of limited (or no) irrigation agriculture and retarded social development...Namazga-depe (170 acres) is the production and probable governmental center, while Altin-depe (114 acres) is a second capital. Specialization in ceramics, metallurgy, monumental architecture (including the Altin-depe ziggurat), wealth-based class stratification, internal and external trade, and vestiges of a symbol system...A sudden and gradual cultural decline began about 1600 B.C., and Namazga-depe shrank to three acres while Altin-depe was completely abandoned..."</ref><ref>Levine, Louis D., (1975). "Review to: Masson, V. M., and V. I. Sarianidi. Central Asia: Turkmenia before the Achaemenids (1972)" , in The American Historical Review, Volume 80, Issue 2, April 1975, p. 375.</ref>

Origin and chronologyEdit

Italian archaeologists, like Massimo Vidale and Dennys Frenez, support Sandro Salvatori's hypothesis that Namazga V is the beginning of the ultimate urban phase called BMAC, belonging to the Integration Era (c. 2400–1950 BC).<ref>Vidale, Massimo, 2017. Treasures from the Oxus, I.B. Tauris, p. 8: "...Soviet scholars [excavated] Namazga Depe [belonging to] the Regionalization and Integration Eras. This latter (phases Namazga IV and V) encompasses the replacement of the Bronze Age cities of the early and mid third millennium BC by large palace-centred fortified compounds surrounded by secondary urban clusters in the late third millennium..."</ref> On the other hand, Russian and French archaeologists Nadezhda Dubova and Bertille Lyonnet consider there was a gap between the end of Namazga III phase and the beginning of BMAC in Margiana, and that most of the sites both in Margiana and Bactria were founded on virgin soil only around 2250 BC lasting until 1700 BC.<ref>Lyonnet, Bertille, and Nadezhda A. Dubova, (2020b). "Questioning the Oxus Civilization or Bactria- Margiana Archaeological Culture (BMAC): an overview" , in Bertille Lyonnet and Nadezhda A. Dubova (eds.), The World of the Oxus Civilization, Routledge, London and New York, p. 20.: "...Though some authors consider that the Oxus Civilization could be an ultimate development of the Namazga culture...there is in fact a gap in our knowledge of a few hundred years in Margiana between the end of the NMG III period and the beginning of the BMAC, and the great majority of the sites in Bactria and Margiana are founded upon virgin soil."</ref>

EtymologyEdit

The region was first named Bakhdi in Old Persian, which then formed the Persian satrapy of Marguš (perhaps from the Sumerian term Marhasi),<ref>Hiebert, Fredrik Talmage (1994): Origins of the Bronze Age Oasis Civilization in Central Asia, p. 12</ref> the capital of which was Merv, in modern-day southeastern Turkmenistan. It was then called Bāxtriš in Middle Persian, and Baxl in New Persian. The region was also mentioned in ancient Sanskrit texts as बाह्लीक or Bāhlīka. The modern term Bactria is derived from the Ancient Greek: Βακτριανή (Romanized Greek term: Baktrianē) (modern Balkh), which came from the Sanskrit term.

Early Food-Producing EraEdit

There is archaeological evidence of settlement in the well-watered northern foothills of the Kopet Dag during the Neolithic period at Jeitun (or Djeitun). In this region, mud brick houses were first occupied during the Early Food-Producing Era, also known as Jeitun Neolithic, from c. 7200 to 4600 BC.<ref name="auto1">Vidale, Massimo, (2017). Treasures from the Oxus, p. 9, Table 1.</ref> The inhabitants were farmers with origins in southwest Asia, who kept herds of goats and sheep and grew wheat and barley.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Jeitun has given its name to the whole Neolithic period in the northern foothills of the Kopet Dag. At the late Neolithic site of Chagylly Depe, farmers increasingly grew the kinds of crops that are typically associated with irrigation in an arid environment, such as hexaploid bread wheat, which became predominant during the Chalcolithic period.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> This region is dotted with the multi-period hallmarks characteristic of the ancient Near East, similar to those southwest of the Kopet Dag in the Gorgan Plain in Iran.Template:Sfn

Regionalization EraEdit

The Regionalization Era begins in Anau IA with a pre-Chalcolithic phase also in the Kopet Dag piedmont region from 4600 to 4000 BC, then the Chalcolithic period develops from 4000 to 2800 BC in Namazga I-III, Ilgynly Depe, and Altyn Depe.<ref name="auto1"/> During this Copper Age, the population of the region grew. Archaeologist Vadim Mikhaĭlovich Masson, who led the South Turkmenistan Complex Archaeological Expedition of 1946, saw signs that people migrated to the region from central Iran at this time, bringing metallurgy and other innovations, but thought that the newcomers soon blended with the Jeitun farmers.<ref name="MassonThe">Template:Cite book</ref> (Vadim was the son of archaeologist Mikhail Masson, who had previously already started work in this same area.) By contrast, a re-excavation of Monjukli Depe in 2010 found a distinct break in settlement history between the late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic eras there.<ref>Reinhard Bernbeck et al., "A-II Spatial Effects of Technological Innovations and Changing Ways of Life," Template:Webarchive in Friederike Fless, Gerd Graßhoff, Michael Meyer (eds.), Reports of the Research Groups at the Topoi Plenary Session 2010, eTopoi: Journal for Ancient Studies, Special Volume 1 (2011).</ref><ref>Monjukli Depe artefacts Template:Webarchive (in German).</ref>

File:AltynDepeMap.jpg

Altyn-Depe location on the modern Middle East map as well as location of other Eneolithic cultures (Harappa and Mohenjo-daro).

Major chalcolithic settlements sprang up at Kara-Depe and Namazga-Depe. In addition, there were smaller settlements at Anau, Dashlyji, and Yassy-depe. Settlements similar to the early level at Anau also appeared further east– in the ancient delta of the river Tedzen, the site of the Geoksiur Oasis. About 3500 BC, the cultural unity of the area split into two pottery styles: colourful in the west (Anau, Kara-Depe and Namazga-Depe) and more austere in the east at Altyn-Depe and the Geoksiur Oasis settlements. This may reflect the formation of two tribal groups. It seems that around 3000 BC, people from Geoksiur migrated into the Murghab delta (where small, scattered settlements appeared) and reached further east into the Zerafshan Valley in Transoxiana. In both areas pottery typical of Geoksiur was in use. In Transoxiana they settled at Sarazm near Pendjikent. To the south the foundation layers of Shahr-i Sōkhta on the bank of the Helmand River in south-eastern Iran contained pottery of the Altyn-Depe and Geoksiur type. Thus the farmers of Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan were connected by a scattering of farming settlements.<ref name="MassonThe" />

Late Regionalization EraEdit

In Kopet Dag region, at Altyn Depe, the Namazga III phase lasted (c. 3200–2800 BC) and showed a late Chalcolithic culture, at the beginning of Late Regionalization Era.<ref>Vidale, Massimo, (2017). Treasures from the Oxus: The Art and Civilization of Central Asia, I. B. Tauris, London-New York, p. 9, Table 1: "3200–2800 BC. Kopet Dag, Altyn Depe, Namazga III, late Chalcolithic. Late Regionalisation Era."</ref> In the Early Bronze Age, at the end of Late Regionalization Era (2800 to 2400 BC),<ref name="auto1"/> the culture of the Kopet Dag oases in Altyn-Depe site developed a proto-urban society. This corresponds to phase IV at Namazga-Depe. Altyn-Depe was a major centre even then. Pottery was wheel-turned. Grapes were grown.Template:Citation needed

Integration Era: Oxus CivilizationEdit

The height of the urban development was reached in the Middle Bronze Age, also known as Integration Era, mainly in three regions, Kopet Dag piedmont, Margiana, and southern Bactria, as well as some cemetery remains recently found in southwestern Tajikistan.

Kopet Dag, Namazga V phaseEdit

BMAC's urban period begins in the Kopet Dag piedmont, as per Massimo Vidale, corresponding to Namazga-Depe level V (Template:Circa-2000 BC).<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="MassonThe" /> Namazga Depe reaching c. 52 hectares and holding maybe 17,000–20,000 inhabitants, and Altyn Depe with its maximum size of c. 25 hectares and 7,000–10,000 inhabitants, were the two big cities in Kopet Dag piedmont.<ref>Vidale, Massimo, (2017). Treasures from the Oxus, pp. 10, 18.</ref> This urban development is considered to have lasted, not from 2400 BC, but from Template:Circa to 1700 BC by Lyonnet and Dubova's recent publication.<ref name="Lyonnet, Bertille, and Nadezhda A. Dubova, (2020b)"/>

Margiana, Kelleli phaseEdit

Identification of the first large settling in Margiana was possible through excavations at Kelleli 3 and 4, and these are the type sites of Kelleli phase.<ref>Hiebert, Fredrik Talmage, (1984). Origins of the Bronze Age Oasis Civilization in Central Asia, Peabody Museum Press, p. 17: "The excavations at Kelleli 3 and 4 have given the name 'Kelleli phase' to the first major occupation in Margiana."</ref> Massimo Vidale (2017) considers that the Kelleli phase was characterised by the appearance of the first palatial compounds from 2400 to 2000 BC.<ref name="auto1"/> Kelleli is located around 40 km northwest of Gonur; featuring Kelleli 3 with four hectares, characterised by towers in a double perimetral wall, four equal entrances, and houses in the southwest of the site. Kelleli 4 settlement is around three hectares, with the same characteristics in its wall.<ref>Eduljee, K. E., (2005). "Kelleli": "...located some 40 km northwest of Gonur. The settlement has two major sites: Kelleli 3 and 4. Kelleli 3 is four hectares in size and had double external wall with towers flanking four symmetrical entrances. In the south-western sector, is an area of houses. Kelleli 4 is three hectares in size and also has a double outer wall with towers..."</ref> Sandro Salvatori (1998) commented that Kelleli phase began sightly later than Namazga V period.<ref name="Salvatori, Sandro">Salvatori, Sandro, (1998). "The Bronze Age in Margiana", in A. Gubaev, G.A. Koshelenko, and M. Tosi (eds), The Archaeological Map of the Murghab Delta, Preliminary Reports 1990–95, Rome, p. 48.</ref>

Margiana, Gonur phaseEdit

Gonur phase was considered, by Sarianidi, as a southward movement of the previous Kelleli phase people.<ref name="Salvatori, Sandro"/> In the ancient region of Margiana, the site Gonur Depe is the largest of all settlements in this period and is located at the delta of Murghab river in southern Turkmenistan, with an area of around 55 hectares. An almost elliptical fortified complex, known as Gonur North includes the so-called "Monumental Palace", other minor buildings, temples and ritual places, together with the "Royal Necropolis", and water reservoirs, all dated by Italian archaeologists from around 2400 to 1900 BC.<ref>Frenez, Dennys, (2018). "Manufacturing and trade of Asian elephant ivory in Bronze Age Middle Asia: Evidence from Gonur Depe (Margiana, Turkmenistan)" in Archaeological Research in Asia 15, p. 15.</ref> However French and Russian scholars like Lyonnet and Dubova date it to Template:Circa-1700 BC.<ref name="Lyonnet, Bertille, and Nadezhda A. Dubova, (2020b)" />

Southern BactriaEdit

In southern Bactria, northern Afghanistan, the site Dashly 3 is regarded to be also from Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age (2300–1700 BC) occupation,<ref>Eduljee, K. E., (2005). "Dashly": "...Dashly 3 site consists of two complexes and its occupation is dated to the [middle]-late Bronze Age, (2300–1700 BCE) and the Iron Age..."</ref> but its beginning is probably later than 2300 BC, although earlier than 2000 BC, if new datings for BMAC by Lyonnet and Dubova are taken into account.<ref>Lyonnet, Bertille, and Nadezhda A. Dubova, (2020b). "Questioning the Oxus Civilization or Bactria- Margiana Archaeological Culture (BMAC): an overview" , in Bertille Lyonnet and Nadezhda A. Dubova (eds.), The World of the Oxus Civilization, Routledge, London and New York, p. 31.: "The oldest period (pre-2000 BC) is mainly identified in Margiana and probably also at...Dashly 3."</ref> The old Dashly 3 complex, sometimes identified as a palace, is a fortified rectangular 88 m x 84 m compound. The square building had massive double outer walls and in the middle of each wall was a protruding salient composed of a T-shaped corridor flanked by two L-shaped corridors.<ref>Eduljee, K. E., (2005). "Dashly"</ref>

Southwestern TajikistanEdit

New archaeological research has recently found at three ancient cemeteries in southwestern Tajikistan called Farkhor, Gelot (in Kulob District), and Darnajchi, ceramics influenced by Namazga IV and Namazga V transitional period from Early to Middle Bronze Age, which can suggest a presence of BMAC inhabitants in this region earlier considered out of their influx.<ref>Vinogradova, Natal'ja M., (2020). "The formation of the Оxus Civilization/BMAC in southwestern Tajikistan", in The World of the Oxus Civilization, Routledge, Abstract: "Southwestern Tajikistan has long been considered as isolated from the rest of Central Asia, and only slightly and late affected by the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) phenomenon. However recent discoveries at cemeteries (Farkhor, Gelot, and Darnajchi) where the material can be compared to that of Middle and Late Bronze Age sites (from Namazga (NMG) IV/early V to VI) disrupt this scenario..."</ref> Gelot's grave N6-13 was dated to 2203–2036 cal BC (2 sigma), and Darnajchi's grave N2-2 as 2456-2140 cal BC (2 sigma).<ref>Teufer, Mike, (2020). "The 'classical Vakhsh culture'" , in The World of the Oxus Civilization, Routledge, pp. 698–733.</ref> Farkhor's cemetery is located on the right bank of Panj river, very near the Indus Civilization's site Shortughai.<ref>Francfort, Henri-Paul, (2019). "The Grand'Route of Khorasan (Great Khorasan Road) during the third millennium BC and the 'dark stone' artefacts", The Iranian Plateau during the Bronze Age: Development of urbanisation, production and trade, Archéologies, p. 262.</ref>

Material cultureEdit

File:Compartmented Seal with Bird-Headed Man with Snakes LACMA AC1995.5.6.jpg

Bird-headed man with snakes; 2000–1500 BC; bronze; 7.30 cm; from Northern Afghanistan; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (USA)

Agriculture and economyEdit

The inhabitants of the BMAC were sedentary people who practised irrigation farming of wheat and barley. With their impressive material culture including monumental architecture, bronze tools, ceramics, and jewellery of semiprecious stones, the complex exhibits many of the hallmarks of civilisation. The complex can be compared to proto-urban settlements in the Helmand basin at Mundigak in western Afghanistan and Shahr-e Sukhteh in eastern Iran, or at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro in the Indus Valley.Template:Sfn

Models of two-wheeled carts from Template:Circa found at Altyn-Depe are the earliest evidence of wheeled transport in Central Asia, though model wheels have come from contexts possibly somewhat earlier. Judging by the type of harness, carts were initially pulled by oxen or a bull. However, camels were domesticated within the BMAC. A model of a cart drawn by a camel of Template:Circa was found at Altyn-Depe.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

ArtEdit

Fertility goddesses, named "Bactrian princesses", made from limestone, chlorite and clay reflect agrarian Bronze Age society, while the extensive corpus of metal objects point to a sophisticated tradition of metalworking.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Wearing large stylised dresses, as well as headdresses that merge with the hair, "Bactrian princesses" embody the ranking goddess, character of the Central Asian mythology that plays a regulatory role, pacifying the untamed forces.Template:Citation needed

Bactrian princess-AO 22918-IMG 0239-black.jpg

Female figurine of the "Bactrian princess" type; between 3rd millennium and 2nd millennium BC; chlorite mineral group (dress and headdresses) and limestone (face and neck); height: 17.3 cm, width: 16.1 cm; Louvre
Shaft-hole axe head with bird-headed demon, boar, and dragon MET 1982.5.jpg

Axe with eagle-headed demon & animals; late 3rd millennium-early 2nd millennium BC; gilt silver; length: 15 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
Bactrian camel MET DP-14200-001.jpg

Camel figurine; late 3rd–early 2nd millennium BCE; copper alloy; 8.89 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Monstrous male figure MET dp22227.jpg

Male figure; late 3rd–early 2nd millennium BC; chlorite, calcite, gold and iron; height: 10.1 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Axe head MET 1989.281.39.jpg

Axe head; late 3rd–early 2nd millennium BC; copper alloy; height: 2.8 cm, length: 7.2 cm, thickness: 1.8 cm, weight: 82.5 g; Metropolitan Museum of Art
"Bactrian Princess"; late 3rd–early 2nd millennium BC; grey chlorite and calcite; Barbier-Mueller Museum (Geneva, Switzerland).jpg

Female figurine of the "Bactrian princess" type; between 3rd millennium and 2nd millennium BC; grey chlorite (dress and headdresses) and calcite (face); Barbier-Mueller Museum (Geneva, Switzerland)
"Bactrian Princess"; late 3rd–early 2nd millennium BC; grey chlorite and calcite; Barbier-Mueller Museum (Geneva, Switzerland) 1.jpg

Female figurine of the "Bactrian princess" type; between 3rd millennium and 2nd millennium BC; grey chlorite (dress and headdresses) and calcite (face); Barbier-Mueller Museum
Beaker with birds on the rim MET DT866.jpg

Beaker with birds on the rim; late 3rd–early 2nd millennium BC; electrum; height: 12 cm, width: 13.3 cm, depth: 4.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Handled Weight LACMA M.2001.11 (1 of 3).jpg

Handled weight; late 3rd–early 2nd millennium BC; chlorite; 25.08 x 19.69 x 4.45 cm; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (USA)
Seated Female Figure LACMA M.2000.1a-f (1 of 3).jpg

Female figurine of the "Bactrian princess" type; 2500–1500; chlorite (dress and headdresses) and limestone (head, hands and a leg); height: 13.33 cm; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (USA)
Vessel with Gilloche Pattern LACMA AC1995.5.7.jpg

Vessel with guilloche pattern; 2000–1500; chlorite; 3.33 x 6.67 x 3.81 cm; Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Kaunakes Bactria-AO 31917-IMG 0237.JPG

Female figurine of the "Bactrian princess" type; 2nd millennium BC; chlorite and calcite; Louvre
Seated Goddess, Western Central Asia, Bronze Age Bactria, late 3rd-early 2nd millenium BCE, chlorite and limestone, Miho Museum, Japan.jpg

Seated goddess, an example of a "Bactrian princess", Bronze Age Bactria, Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex, circa 2000 BC. chlorite and limestone. Central Asian art, Miho Museum, Japan.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

ArchitectureEdit

File:BMAC bronze tools.jpg

BMAC bronze tools.<ref name="DB"/>

Sarianidi regards Gonur as the "capital" of the complex in Margiana throughout the Bronze Age. The palace of north Gonur measures 150 metres by 140 metres, the temple at Togolok 140 metres by 100 metres, the fort at Kelleli 3 125 metres by 125 metres, and the house of a local ruler at Adji Kui 25 metres by 25 metres. Each of these formidable structures has been extensively excavated. While they all have impressive fortification walls, gates, and buttresses, it is not always clear why one structure is identified as a temple and another as a palace.<ref name="LambergKarlovskyArchaeology">Template:Cite journal</ref> Mallory points out that the BMAC fortified settlements such as Gonur and Togolok resemble the qila, the type of fort known in this region in the historical period. They may be circular or rectangular and have up to three encircling walls. Within the forts are residential quarters, workshops and temples.Template:Sfn

The people of the BMAC culture were very proficient at working in a variety of metals including bronze, copper, silver, and gold. This is attested through the many metal artefacts found throughout the sites.<ref name="DB">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Extensive irrigation systems have been discovered at the Geoksiur Oasis.<ref name="MassonThe" />

WritingEdit

The discovery of a single tiny stone seal (known as the "Anau seal") with geometric markings from the BMAC site at Anau in Turkmenistan in 2000 led some to claim that the Bactria-Margiana complex had also developed writing, and thus may indeed be considered a literate civilisation. It bears five markings which are similar to Chinese "small seal" characters. The only match to the Anau seal is a small jet seal of almost identical shape from Niyä (near modern Minfeng) along the southern Silk Road in Xinjiang, originally thought to be from the Western Han dynasty but now thought to date to 700 BC.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Archaeological interactions with neighbouring culturesEdit

Template:Continental Asia in 2000 BCE BMAC materials have been found in the Indus Valley civilisation, on the Iranian Plateau, and in the Persian Gulf.<ref name="LambergKarlovskyArchaeology" /> Finds within BMAC sites provide further evidence of trade and cultural contacts. They include an Elamite-type cylinder seal and a Harappan seal stamped with an elephant and Indus script found at Gonur-depe.Template:Sfn The relationship between Altyn-Depe and the Indus Valley seems to have been particularly strong. Among the finds there were two Harappan seals and ivory objects. The Harappan settlement of Shortugai in Northern Afghanistan on the banks of the Amu Darya probably served as a trading station.<ref name="MassonThe" />

There is evidence of sustained contact between the BMAC and the Eurasian steppes to the north, intensifying Template:Circa. In the delta of the Amu Darya where it reaches the Aral Sea, its waters were channelled for irrigation agriculture by people whose remains resemble those of the nomads of the Andronovo culture. This is interpreted as nomads settling down to agriculture, after contact with the BMAC, known as the Tazabagyab culture.Template:Sfn About 1900 BC, the walled BMAC centres decreased sharply in size. Each oasis developed its own types of pottery and other objects. Also pottery of the Tazabagyab-Andronovo culture to the north appeared widely in the Bactrian and Margian countryside. Many BMAC strongholds continued to be occupied and Tazabagyab-Andronovo coarse incised pottery occurs within them (along with the previous BMAC pottery) as well as in pastoral camps outside the mudbrick walls. In the highlands above the Bactrian oases in Tajikistan, kurgan cemeteries of the Vaksh and Bishkent type appeared with pottery that mixed elements of the late BMAC and Tazabagyab-Andronovo traditions.<ref name="DavidAnthony">David Anthony, The Horse, the Wheel and Language (2007), pp.452–56.</ref> In southern Bactrian sites like Sappali Tepe too, increasing links with the Andronovo culture are seen. During the period 1700 – 1500 BCE, metal artefacts from Sappali Tepe derive from the Tazabagyab-Andronovo culture.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

New research in the Murghab region, in excavations at defensive walls of Adji Kui 1, showed pastoralists present, and living on the edge of the town, as early as the second half of the Middle Bronze Age (Template:Circa-1960 BC), coexisting with the BMAC population that lived in the 'citadel.'<ref>Cerasetti, Barbara, (2020). "Who interacted with whom? redefining the interaction between BMAC people and mobile pastoralists in Bronze Age southern Turkmenistan", in: Bertille Lyonnet and Nadezhda A Dubova (eds.), The World of the Oxus Civilization, Routledge, p. 490: "...In the Murghab region, pastoralists are attested as early as the second half of the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2210–1960 BCE). Evidence comes from the excavations made in three trenches just outside the defensive walls of the Bronze Age site of Adji Kui 1...There, the coexistence of the BMAC people living in the 'citadel,' as defined by G. Rossi Osmida (2003, 2007), with a pastoral population located on the edge of the town is clearly attested..."</ref>

Relationship with Indo-IraniansEdit

Template:See also

The Bactria–Margiana complex has attracted attention as a candidate for those looking for the material counterparts to the Indo-Iranians (Aryans), a major linguistic branch that split off from the Proto-Indo-Europeans.

For example, Sarianidi advocated identifying the complex as Indo-Iranian, describing it as the result of a migration from southwestern Iran. Bactria–Margiana material has been found at Susa, Shahdad, and Tepe Yahya in Iran.Template:Citation needed Template:Cn span

Mallory/Adams (1997) associated the Andronovo, BMAC and Yaz cultures with Indo-Iranian migrations, writing,

It has become increasingly clear that if one wishes to argue for Indo-Iranian migrations from the steppe lands south into the historical seats of the Iranians and Indo-Aryans that these steppe cultures were transformed as they passed through a membrane of Central Asian urbanism. The fact that typical steppe wares are found on BMAC sites and that intrusive BMAC material is subsequently found further to the south in Iran, Afghanistan, Nepal, India and Pakistan, may suggest then the subsequent movement of Indo-Iranian-speakers after they had adopted the culture of the BMAC.Template:Sfn{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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Anthony (2007) sees the culture as begun by farmers in the Near Eastern Neolithic tradition, but infiltrated by Indo-Iranian speakers from the Andronovo culture in its late phase, creating a hybrid. In this perspective, Proto-Indo-Aryan developed within the composite culture before moving south into the Indian subcontinent.<ref name="DavidAnthony" />

Possible evidence for a BMAC substratum in Indo-IranianEdit

Template:Main articles As argued by Michael Witzel<ref name="Witzel 2003">Template:Cite journal</ref> and Alexander Lubotsky,<ref name = "Lubotsky 2001">Template:Cite book</ref> there is a proposed substratum in Proto-Indo-Iranian which can be plausibly identified with the original language of the BMAC. Moreover, Lubotsky points out a larger number of words apparently borrowed from the same language, which are only attested in Indo-Aryan and therefore evidence of a substratum in Vedic Sanskrit. He explains this by proposing that Indo-Aryan speakers probably formed the vanguard of the movement into south-central Asia and many of the BMAC loanwords which entered Iranian may have been mediated through Indo-Aryan.<ref name = "Lubotsky 2001"/>Template:Rp Michael Witzel points out that the borrowed vocabulary includes words from agriculture, village and town life, flora and fauna, ritual and religion, so providing evidence for the acculturation of Indo-Iranian speakers into the world of urban civilisation.<ref name="Witzel 2003" />

HorsesEdit

In excavations at Gonur Depe, at a brick-lined burial pit, grave number 3200 of the Royal necropolis, a horse skeleton was found in period I, dated around 2200 BCE along with a four-wheeled wooden wagon with bronze rims.<ref name="Bonora">Bonora, Gian Luca, (2020). "The Oxus Civilization and the northern steppes" , in The World of the Oxus Civilization, Routledge, p. 749.</ref> Archaeologist Julio Bendezu-Sarmiento, mentioning N. A. Dubova's (2015) article, comments that this was an "almost complete skeleton of a foal" resting on the wagon with "wheels circled by bronze bands" and radiocarbon-dated to 2250 BCE.<ref name="Bendezu">Bendezu-Sarmiento, Julio, (2021). "Horse domestication history in Turkmenistan and other regions of Asia", in MIRAS 1 (81), pp. 22–24.</ref> So he considers this horse and the wagon are "one and a half century prior" to similar burials of Sintashta culture.<ref name="Bendezu" /> A stone statuette that seems to be a horse with saddle was found in burial number 3210 also in the Royal necropolis and was reported by Sarianidi in 2005, and in burial 3310 parts of a stallion's body were found, the stallion lacked its head, rump, and tail, and was considered as a cult burial of a domestic horse by archaeologist Sarianidi in his 2008 publication.<ref name="Bonora" />

GeneticsEdit

File:PC Analysis BMAC.png

Genetic proximity of the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (Template:Colorsample) with ancient (colour) and modern (grey) populations. Primary Component Analysis (detail).<ref name="ZF">Template:Cite journal</ref>

File:BMAC genetic profile.png

BMAC genetic profiles.<ref name="ZF"/>

In 2019, Narasimhan and co-authors analysed BMAC skeletons from the Bronze Age sites of Bustan, Dzharkutan, Gonur Tepe, and Sappali Tepe. The BMAC population largely derived from preceding local Copper Age peoples who were in turn related to Neolithic farmers from the Iranian plateau and to a lesser extent early Anatolian farmers, as well as hunter-gatherers from Western Siberia (WSHG). The samples extracted from the BMAC sites did not have derived any part of their ancestry from the Yamnaya people, who are associated with Proto-Indo-Europeans, although some peripheral samples did already carry significant Yamnaya-like Western Steppe Herders ancestry, inline with the southwards expansion of Western Steppe Herders from the Sintashta and Andronovo cultures towards Southern Central Asia at c. 2100 BCE.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> Succeeding cultures, specifically the Yaz culture, was characterised by a combination of BMAC and Yamnaya/WSH ancestries, and associated with early Indo-Iranians.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Narasimshan et al. (2019) found no essential genetic contributions from the BMAC in later South Asians, suggesting that the Steppe-related ancestry was mediated via other groups.<ref name="narasimhan" /> The male specimens belonged primarily to haplogroup J, specifically J* (3/26), J1 (1/26), J2 (7/26), as well as G (2/26), L (2/26), R2 (3/26), R1b (1/26), R* (2/26), H1a (1/26), P (1/26), Q (1/26), T (1/26) and E1b1b (1/26).<ref name="narasimhan">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Narasimhan et al. (2019). File (aat7487_tables1-5.xlsx), Table S1, in Resources, "Supplementary Material."</ref>

Genetic data on Iron Age samples from modern-day Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan confirm the admixture between local BMAC groups and Andronovo-related populations, at the end of Oxus Civilization. These Southern Central Asian Iron Age population derived around 57% of their ancestry from Western Steppe Herders (Andronovo) and c. 43% from the BMAC culture population. Modern day Tajiks and Yaghnobis were found to be direct descendants of the Bronze and Iron Age Central Asian populations, deriving ancestry from both the Yamnaya-like Western Steppe Herders and BMAC groups, and showing genetic continuity to historical Indo-Iranians.<ref>Guarino-Vignon, Perle, et al. (2022). "Genetic Continuity of Indo-Iranian Speakers Since the Iron Age in Southern Central Asia", in Scientific Reports 12, Article 733, 14 January 2022.</ref> These Iron Age Central Asians also displayed a higher genetic affinity to present-day Europeans than present-day Uzbeks, who harbour an additional component derived from an East Asian-like source "through several admixture events over the past ~2,000 years", absent from Iron Age Uzbeks and modern Europeans.<ref name=":0" />