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Archaeological Evidence for the Interactions of Settled Farmers And Washington University in St. Louis Washington University Open Scholarship Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations Arts & Sciences Spring 5-15-2015 A Line in the Sand: Archaeological Evidence for the Interactions of Settled aF rmers and Mobile Pastoralists in the Late Bronze Age (1950 - 1500 BC) Murghab alluvial fan, Turkmenistan Lynne Marie Rouse Washington University in St. Louis Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Rouse, Lynne Marie, "A Line in the Sand: Archaeological Evidence for the Interactions of Settled Farmers and Mobile Pastoralists in the Late Bronze Age (1950 - 1500 BC) Murghab alluvial fan, Turkmenistan" (2015). Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 404. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/404 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Arts & Sciences at Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS Department of Anthropology Dissertation Examination Committee: Michael D. Frachetti, Chair Nikolaus Boroffka Tristram R. Kidder Xinyi Liu Fiona B. Marshall Sandra L. Olsen A Line in the Sand: Archaeological evidence for the interactions of settled farmers and mobile pastoralists in the Late Bronze Age (1950 – 1500 BC) Murghab alluvial fan, Turkmenistan by Lynne Marie Rouse A dissertation presented to the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences of Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2015 St. Louis, Missouri © 2015, Lynne M. Rouse Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. v List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. xi Acknowledgments......................................................................................................................... xii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION .................................................................................... xvi Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Aims of the Dissertation ................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Structure of the Dissertation ............................................................................................. 6 1.3 A Note on Chronology and Terminology ........................................................................ 9 Chapter 2: Theoretical Concerns .................................................................................................. 13 2.1 Defining the Boundaries: Terminology and Heuristics .................................................. 14 2.2 The Connection between Interaction and Social Change ............................................... 17 2.2.1 The “ins and outs” of group formation ...................................................................................... 19 2.3 Sedentary-Mobile Interactions: The Roots of Our Thinking ......................................... 23 2.3.1 Divisions in archaeological thought .................................................................................... 23 2.4 Models of Sedentary-Mobile Interaction: Dependence and Diffusion .......................... 30 2.4.1 Dependency Models ............................................................................................................ 31 2.4.2 Diffusion Models ................................................................................................................ 35 2.5 Eurasian Interaction Models in Theoretical Context ...................................................... 38 2.5.1 Prehistoric encounters in southern Central Asia ................................................................. 40 2.6 Non-spatial Models as Departures from Dependence and Diffusion ............................. 42 2.6.1 Social Fields, Institutions, and Networks ............................................................................ 45 2.7 Participation ................................................................................................................... 48 Chapter 3: The Physical and Archaeological Setting of the Research .......................................... 53 3.1 Physical Setting .............................................................................................................. 53 3.1.1 Geography and Climate ...................................................................................................... 54 3.1.2 Hydrology ........................................................................................................................... 56 3.1.3 Ecology (Flora and Fauna) .................................................................................................. 61 ii 3.1.4 The Modern Anthropogenic Landscape .............................................................................. 67 3.1.5 The Alluvial Landscape of the Late 2nd Millennium BC ................................................... 69 3.2 Research Setting ............................................................................................................. 73 3.3 Socio-Cultural Setting .................................................................................................... 79 3.3.1 The Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) and the backdrop of sedentary- mobile interactions .............................................................................................................................. 81 3.3.2 Nomadic Origins of the BMAC Phenomenon .................................................................... 85 3.3.4 The Later Bronze Age ......................................................................................................... 88 3.3.5 ‘Invisible’ Bronze Age Pastoralists in the Murghab ........................................................... 90 3.3.6 Excavations at Bronze Age non-urban sites ........................................................................ 93 3.4 Gaps in Our Knowledge ...................................................................................................... 96 Chapter 4: Excavation Overview and General Results ................................................................. 99 4.1 Site Identification and Surroundings ............................................................................ 100 4.2 Excavation Overview and Goals .................................................................................. 105 4.3 Excavation Methods ..................................................................................................... 106 4.4 Site Organization and Occupation Phases .................................................................... 108 4.4.1 Living Areas (Area 1, Area 4) .......................................................................................... 108 4.4.2 Ceramic Kiln and Production Area (Area 5) ..................................................................... 113 4.5 Site Dating: AMS Radiocarbon Results ....................................................................... 120 4.6 General Material Results .............................................................................................. 121 4.6.2 Non-ceramic Clay Objects ................................................................................................ 125 4.6.3 Metal Fragments ............................................................................................................... 127 Chapter 5: Faunal and Archaeobotanical Remains ..................................................................... 129 5.1 Faunal and Botanical Remains: Sampling and Analysis Methods .................................... 130 5.2 Faunal Analysis Results .................................................................................................... 133 5.2.1 Assemblage Overview ............................................................................................................. 133 5.2.2 Animal Species Identification .................................................................................................. 135 5.2.3 Animal Body Part Identification .............................................................................................. 138 5.2.4 Ageing and Seasonality from Faunal Remains ........................................................................ 141 5.2.5 Observations on Contextual and Spatial Patterning ................................................................. 141 5.3 Archaeobotanical Analysis Results ................................................................................... 144 5.3.1 Archaeobotanical Remains by Species .................................................................................... 144 iii 5.3.2 Contexts of Archaeobotanical Remains ................................................................................... 148 5.4 Summary of Ojakly’s Subsistence Economy and Local Environment ............................. 150 Chapter 6: Ceramic Analyses .....................................................................................................
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