ABSTRACT
This collection of essays presents a synthesis of current research on the Oxus Civilization, which rose and developed at the turn of the 3rd to 2nd millennia BC in Central Asia.
First discovered in the 1970s, the Oxus Civilization, or the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), has engendered many different interpretations, which are explored in this volume by an international group of archaeologists and researchers. Contributors cover all aspects of this fascinating Bronze Age culture: architecture; material culture; grave goods; religion; migrations; and trade and interactions with neighboring civilizations, from Mesopotamia to the Indus, and the Gulf to the northern steppes. Chapters also examine the Oxus Civilization’s roots in previous local cultures, explore its environmental and chronological context, or the possibly coveted metal sources, and look into the reasons for its decline.
The World of the Oxus Civilization offers a broad and fascinating examination of this society, and provides an invaluable updated resource for anyone working on the culture, history, and archaeology of this region and on the multiple interactions at work at that time in the ancient Near East.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|138 pages
The Oxus Civilization Background
chapter Chapter One|59 pages
Questioning the Oxus Civilization or Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Culture (BMAC)
chapter Chapter Three|28 pages
Environmental changes in Bactria and Sogdiana (Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan) from the Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age
chapter Chapter Four|33 pages
The rise of the early urban civilization in southwestern Central Asia
part II|381 pages
The “Core Area”
chapter Chapter Six|17 pages
Some thoughts on the imaginary representations in the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Culture
chapter Chapter Nine|40 pages
Chlorite containers from the Oxus Civilization
chapter Chapter Ten|34 pages
The “Royal Necropolis” at Gonur Depe
chapter Chapter Eleven|19 pages
Polychrome inlayed and painted mosaics from Gonur Depe (Turkmenistan)
chapter Chapter Thirteen|20 pages
Funerary rituals and archaeothanatological data from BMAC graves at Ulug Depe (Turkmenistan) and Dzharkutan (Uzbekistan)
chapter Chapter Sixteen|30 pages
Life in the countryside
chapter Chapter Seventeen|9 pages
Who interacted with whom?
part III|251 pages
The “Surrounding Areas”
chapter Chapter Nineteen|24 pages
The BMAC presence in eastern Iran
chapter Chapter Twenty|39 pages
The relationship between the Oxus Civilization and the Indo-Iranian borderlands
chapter Chapter Twenty-Two|28 pages
The Oxus Civilization/BMAC and its interaction with the Arabian Gulf
chapter Chapter Twenty-Three|30 pages
The formation of the Оxus Civilization/BMAC in southwestern Tajikistan
chapter Chapter Twenty-Four|33 pages
The Zeravshan regional variant of the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex
chapter Chapter Twenty-Five|36 pages
The “classical Vakhsh culture”
part IV|85 pages
Metals and Metal Deposits