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Storage Practices in the Merv and Serakhs Oases of the Partho-Sasanian Period

Barbara Kaim* Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw [email protected]

Abstract

In antiquity the oasis of Merv in the Murghab delta formed a relatively homogenous cultural region. At least from the Bronze Age onwards, the oasis shared a similar history with the neighbouring oasis of Serakhs in the ancient Tedjen delta. This paper focuses on storage practices in these two regions, drawing on recent archaeological work in the area which has revealed the existence of an array of methods for the storage and the administration of resources both in private dwellings and in official buildings. For a fuller picture, earlier storage practices and storage systems in these regions and neighbouring areas are first discussed, including specifically the area of the province of Parthia.

Keywords storage practices – Ancient Central Asia – Merv – Serakhs – Partho-Sasanian Period

1 Introduction

Every community, whether settled or nomadic, needs to stock its agricultural produce and raw materials in order to meet the demands of the population in repeated periods of limited availability of resources (e.g. between visits of suppliers or between harvesting cycles), and also in case of natural disasters. As ensuring food and raw material security is of utmost importance, storage becomes a tool to control goods designed for later use or redistribution

* 00-927 Warsaw, Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, Poland.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi:10.1163/15700577-12341338Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 04:12:57PM via free access Storage Practices in the Merv and Serakhs Oases 441 at different levels (family, society or state). Hence storage practices may reflect changes in social or political systems, becoming an important indica- tor of social hierarchy, organisation, and of modifications in administration practices. Therefore a study focusing on storage practices may provide fundamental evidence on the economy of households as well as of entire societies. Types of stored goods determine the selection of specific containers, while quantities of stored goods depend on whether needs of a single family or a larger community are to be satisfied. Indoor or outdoor storage facilities establish various social relationships, while the presence of inscriptions and/or seal impressions in storerooms can inform us about the resources of the administrative appara- tus of a community and of the organizational methods used by it. In general, it could be said that a good understanding of ancient storage practices help us improving our knowledge on the culture, economy and social organization of ancient societies. Unfortunately, despite this potential, studies which offer a detailed analysis of storage practices in ancient Central Asian communities continue to be occasional.

2 Overview of Storage Practices in Ancient Central Asia Up to the Middle Parthian Period

The earliest known Central Asian storage containers (jars and bins) and facilities (rooms, houses and various installations) date back to the Neolithic period.1 These elements are clearly linked to the development of agriculture and to the need for storing agricultural products (primarily grain) for gradual consumption until the new harvest. However, Central Asian clay sealings,2 which are a valuable source of information about storage practices and on the system for controlling resources, do not appear until the Late Eneolithic Age: we have evidence for this class of material for the first time at Altyn Depe (Namazga III period).3 The Altyn Depe corpus, composed by 10 sealings, shows one or several impressions of the same seal. Most of the sealings have on their back imprints of a knot of string, fact that suggests that they were intended to prevent unauthorized access to an object (or an area) secured with a string. Only one of these sealing still preserves the impression of the shoulder and of the neck

1 Hiebert 2003, 16. 2 In this paper, “sealing” means clay lumps used to secure access to containers or spaces. 3 Kircho 1990, 176-183; 2001; 2008, 104-105.

Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia 24Downloaded (2018) 440-466 from Brill.com10/07/2021 04:12:57PM via free access 442 Kaim of the ceramic vase that it used to seal. On the other hand, the reverse of another specimen from the same corpus results flat, which means that this sealing was meant to be used on a flat surface like a specific type of container, a wall or a door.4 The Altyn Depe sealings were uncovered during the excavation of Trench 5, located on the outskirts of the late Eneolithic settlement. The excavation of the trench has revealed a group of private domestic dwellings distributed around an open area, or courtyard. The sealings were found distributed in these spaces. Although seals are usually regarded by archaeologists as strong indicators of institutional administration and control of storage or other economic processes, in the case of Altyn Depe, it is clear that the use of sealings was not connected to public or administrative buildings. In addition, the small total amount of recovered specimens points to the fact that these sealings were unlikely used in public administration activities. It seems rather probable that they may have been used to identify individual property within communal storehouses. This hypothesis is supported by the presence of a specific structure unearthed inside the abovementioned Altyn Depe’s courtyard. The structure was constituted by several parallel walls (with a height of 0.3 m) and had the spaces between them filled with bricks up to one-third of its full height. According to the excavators, these long and narrow spaces were meant to ensure a suitable ventilation for the grain which was most probably stored on an elevated wooden platform once located on top of it.5 Given its location and considerable size (5.8 × 2.7 m), this storage structure is likely to have been used by residents of nearby dwellings for communal storage. In this case it seems that the agrarian products of a community were stored in collective storehouses and intended to meet the needs of the whole community. Central administrative institution were not involved in this type of storage activity.6 Similar structures to that observed at Altyn Depe were uncovered in other sites along the Kopet Dagh piedmont, all dating back to the Early Neolithic onwards (Early Djeitun).7 No such structures have been identified so far in Early Bronze Age (Namazga IV) or later sites and, at Altyn Depe, from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age houses had storeroom(s) or large storage jars were placed in living spaces.8 Moreover, despite the presence of stone, metal and terracotta seals in the Early and Middle Bronze layers of Altyn Depe, there is

4 Kircho 2008, 104. 5 Kircho 2001, 9-10, fig. 3. 6 Hole 1998. 7 Hiebert 2002, 8-9. 8 Masson 1988, 39, 61, 98, 102.

Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to SiberiaDownloaded 24 from (2018) Brill.com10/07/2021 440-466 04:12:57PM via free access Storage Practices in the Merv and Serakhs Oases 443 as yet no evidence of seal impressions.9 This specific modification of storage practices and seals use probably reflected a change in social relations between the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age. Finds such as unsealed lumps of clay from the Middle Bronze Age levels of Anau South show a way to secure stored goods similar to that used at Altyn Depe but without using the seals.10 At Anau, when still moist, these clay lumps were pressed onto the necks of vessels or of other oval objects. Some of them have textile impressions on their rounded surface. F. Hiebert argues that the room and associated courtyard in which the lumps were discovered are to be identified as the part of a public (administrative) structure and connected with commercial activities.11 However the presence of domestic rubbish in the deposits of the courtyard better suggests a communal storage function for this complex. The use of seals for administrative purpose reappeared (albeit to a very limited extent) sometime at the end of the Middle Bronze Age (late Namazga V) and continued to be rare in the Late Bronze Age, as shown by several clay lumps bearing seal impressions discovred at the Margiana sites of Gonur Depe and Togolok 21 and belonging to the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), also known as the Oxus Civilization.12 It should be noted, however, that in Margiana – at least in some cases – the seals were used for different purposes other than those attested at Altyn Depe. Among the sealings of Margiana, in fact, there are jar stoppers, bullae bearing impressions of stamp- cylinder seals (i.e. spherical or ovoid clay lumps once attached to a string or cord), lumps of sealed fired clay and a clay disk carrying two impressions of a single seal without traces capable of indicating the object, if any, to which the disk might have been originally attached.13 The purpose of the two latter types of sealings is still unknown. However it seems possible that they may have been used to identify individual property within the communal storehouses. This opinion is supported by ethnographic observation of modern communal storage systems made in the Jebel al-Akhdar (Libya), where decorated seals and stone tablets with incised signs are used for this purpose.14

9 Masson 1970. Similar situation was observed at Tepe Yahya in south-east Iran where no evidence of use of seals in an economic/administrative capacity after Proto-Elamite period, see Pittman 2001, 232. 10 Hiebert 2002, 8-10. 11 Hiebert 2002, 7-10. 12 Sarianidi 1998, 59-61, 317, 319. 13 Sarianidi 1998, 59-60. 14 Hallaq 1994a; 1994b.

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The presence of seal impressions directly on the storage vessels is also a novelty of the period.15 A complete storage jar with impression of a cylinder seal was found at Gonur South, in the corner of a “courtyard associated with domestic architecture”.16 At Taip Depe, a fragment of storage jar with the imprint of two different cylinder seals and possibly that of a stamp seal was found on the surface of the site.17 It was suggested that these stamped vessels were used to control the volume of the products they contained.18 However, it would be expected that such practice of impressing vessels would have left more traces than those sporadically observable in the region. Seal-impressed vessels are well attested in the Ancient Near East and beyond.19 Numerous examples occur also in Eastern Iranian sites dating from the 3rd to the 2nd millennia BC (Shahr-i Sohkta and Shahdad).20 It is worth to note here that the seals used for this purpose at Shahdad indicate a link with Central Asia sites during the early 2nd millennium BC.21 In all cases, both in Iran and in Margiana, seal impressions occur on large vessels, locally produced and, because of their large-scale, very likely intended for local use. As the seals were impressed prior to the firing of the vessels, the special purpose of these ceramic containers must have been already known at the time of their production. To which specific purpose the seal-impressed jars have likely served? They could have been intended for installation in a specific place (which is not the case of the Margiana jars) or they could have been produced to store a specific product. The latter possibility seems to be more likely. If the fortified settlements of the Bactria Margiana Archaeological Complex were excavated, recorded, and published in a scientific way, they would probably provide essential information on the storage practices of the period, adding to the discussions on Bronze Age Central Asian societies. Regrettably, this is not the case. The only exception to this unfortunate case, is the archaeological work carried out during the 1988-89 field seasons at Gonur Depe South by F. T. Hiebert on behalf of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University and

15 Hiebert 1994, 152-153; Sarianidi 1998, 62-63; Massimov 1981, fig. 10. The same practice of impressing storage vessels with seals has been also identified for the site of Dzharkutan, in northern Bactria, see Bendezu-Sarmiento & Mustafakulov 2013, 220, fig. 10. 16 Hiebert 1994, 119. 17 Masimov 1981, figs. 10-12. 18 Hiebert 1994, 153. 19 Flender 2000, 295-296. 20 See Ferioli et alii 1979; Hakemi & Sajjadi 1989. 21 Salvatori 2000.

Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to SiberiaDownloaded 24 from (2018) Brill.com10/07/2021 440-466 04:12:57PM via free access Storage Practices in the Merv and Serakhs Oases 445 that carried out at Dzharkutan during the years 2007-2012 by the French-Uzbek Archaeological Expedition (MAFOUZ – Protohistoire).22 Gonur Depe is the largest Bronze Age site of the Murghab delta, occupy- ing c. 55 hectares. The site consists of three parts: a large Middle Bronze Age settlement with a palatial complex (Gonur Depe North), and an associated Middle Bronze Age necropolis, and a Late Bronze Age settlement (Gonur Depe South). As regards to the archaeological excavation of Gonur Depe North data on storage practices in the available publications are scant. A storage function is suggested for a group of rooms unearthed in the southern part of the palace. The floor of one of these rooms was covered by a thick layer of charred wheat grain.23 We are informed also that several dozens storage vessels set into floors were found in other adjacent rooms. Unfortunately, due to the lack of information on the total number of jars then discovered, it is not possible to make further considerations on the amount of stored goods and, in consequence, whether they were intended to just meet the needs of the court members or they were redistributed. Nevertheless, given the fact that these storerooms were part of the palatial complex it is seems plausible to consider that they were used for palace-based redistributive uses.24 Redistributive storage could be also suggested by a group of 26 clay tokens bearing seemingly numeri- cal signs found by V. Sarianidi in a room nearby the entrance of the palace.25 At Gonur Depe South multiple storage container types as well as large-scale communal spaces for storage practices (or combined storage and production usages) were identified within the domestic building complex on the western side of the site, between the exterior west wall of the site and the Central Building.26 It is exactly within this domestic context that the jar with a cylinder seal impression on its shoulders, as well as a bulla, were found.27 Therefore, even in Bronze Age Margiana the use of seals cannot be regarded as a practice evidence of a centralised administrative system.28 Instead, clay sealings which could be considered as evidence of a structured process concerning a centralized storage and administration of goods, should be evidenced by abun- dant clusters coming from buildings thus controlled by central institutions.

22 Hiebert 1994. 23 Sarianidi & Puschnigg 2002, 81-82; Sarianidi 2005, 79. 24 Polanyi 1971a; 1971b. 25 Sarianidi 1998, fig. 41. 26 Hiebert 1995, 95, 97, 102, 106, 119 and 124-126. 27 Hiebert 1995, 119, 124. 28 Contrary to Hiebert 1995, 152.

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They should also be associated with others evidence regarding bureaucratic administration, such as door sealings and/or written documents. This is not the case of Bronze Age Margiana. This statement can be also applied to other areas of the Bactria Margiana Archaeological Complex. In Late Bronze Age Dzharkutan (northern Bactria) a very specific way to store goods is attested. A freestanding large storage building housing large and deep storage pits – in which products were kept in big storage vessels – was discovered in the area of the fortified citadel of Dzharkutan within layers dated to the Sapalli culture, a local variant of the BMAC.29 Although most of these pits (about forty) were found empty, some yielded fragments or almost complete large jars with a maximum diameter of 1 m. Sealings were neither found inside the pits nor nearby.30 Still, given the location of the storage building within a fortified citadel, the archaeologists assumed that it was controlled by a local elite.31 The fact that a storage structure clearly was set apart from the elite buildings (and the domestic units built in other parts of the citadel) may suggests that a community storage model could in this case be considered. As “community” or “local storage strategy” M. Smyth deﬁnes the storage approaches adopted by provincial rulers, local elites and their communities.32 In this type of storage system (not to be confused with communal storage), stored goods (mainly alimentary supplies) are still under the control of the authorities but this is delegated to a sub/local level. Storage resources are used by local leaders to fulfil their obligations with the central authority by collect- ing taxes or tributes, to meet their own needs and to ensure economic stability of the local population dependent on seasonal agriculture. Fortified settlements of the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex are often compared to the traditional qala, a type of feudal agricultural manor serving as the residence of the local leader, his family and servants.33 On the basis of ethnographic and historical evidence, the similar social structure is suggested for the BMAC settlements. Regrettably, there is no research on storage practices within the qalas of modern times, so it is not possible to make comparison between storage practices of this two periods.

29 Bendezu-Sarmiento & Mustafakulov 2013, 215-223. 30 A sealing of Late Bronze date was found on Tepe VI (“temple”) located 350 m south-east of the citadel at Dzharkutan, see Shaydullaev et alii 2002, fig. 2. 31 Bendezu-Sarmiento & Mustafakulov 2013, 220. 32 M. Smyth in his ethno-archaeological study on domestic storage behaviour in Mesoamerica identifies three storage systems: a central system, a community system, and a domestic system (Smyth 1989, 92). 33 Hiebert 1994, 176-177; Lamberg-Karlovsky 2013, 28-29.

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The reasons of the collapse of the proto-urban centres of the Bactria- Margiana Archaeological Complex and of the end of the Late Bronze Age (2nd half of the 2nd millennium BC) are still matter of debate. Around 1450-1300 BC, in the Early Iron Age (Yaz I), these centres were replaced by rural settlements.34 What also differentiates the Yaz I horizon from the earlier one is the change in funeral practices, the presence of handmade painted pottery, and the absence of objects of art, and of seals and seal impressions. The Yaz I cultural complex disappeared around 1000 BC, marking the begin- ning of the Middle Iron Age (Yaz II). The Middle Iron Age brought new changes in material culture, such as wheel-made unpainted pottery and iron metallurgy. The Yaz II glyptic material from Ulug-depe comprising seals, sealings and bullae, proves the revival of the practice of using seals as administrative tools. Clay sealings were recovered from the excavations of storage rooms and corridors on the first floor of the “Citadel” building.35 The corridors, as well as the rooms of this structure, had low brick platforms or benches running along its walls. Storage jars were either kept on the platforms, or embedded into the floor between the platforms.36 The majority of the 45 sealings found at Ulug Depe were used to close containers, of which more than a half were jars. Sealings at Ulug-depe were also used for large storage vessels lodged into the floor. The practice of sealing textile bags, doors or wooden containers is also attested. Several sealings had a flat and smooth backside, which suggests that they were once attached to walls or furniture. Around a third of the Ulug-depe’s sealings bears one seal impression, whereas others carry several impressions of same seal. There are also at least ten sealings bearing the impressions of two different seals which were used to close storage jars lodged into floors and probably bags.37 The content of these objects must have been particularly precious as its securing required the presence of two officials. Moreover, the sealing of doors at Ulug-depe,38 if identified correctly, proves the emergence of a new administrative procedure consisting in controlling and limiting accesses. Moreover, the fact that, at least in some cases, the same seal was used to close both doors and containers, indicate that the same per- son (or groups of persons) were charged with control duties relative to both spaces and containers.

34 Lhuillier 2013. 35 Boucharlat et alii 2005, 482-483; Wu & Lecomte 2012. 36 Mission Archéologique Franco-Turkmène 2015, 13. 37 Wu & Lecomte 2012. 38 Wu & Lecomte 2012, 314, 320.

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It is remarkable that three different groups of sealings were uncovered during the excavation at Ulug-depe.39 The first and largest group of sealings was found clustered in a way that suggests that they were originally kept in a bag, probably for control and archiving reasons, once they were removed from the object they sealed.40 This specific finding suggests a multistage control system of managing goods and distribution that in theory, should have increased its complexity after the integration of Central Asia into the Achaemenid empire (c. 550-330 BC). Regrettably the Achaemenid domination of Central Asia left us scanty evidence regarding storage devices then in use.41 On the contrary, on the storage procedures of the Hellenistic period we have abundance of material. The texts inscribed on storage jars recovered from the palace treasury at Ai Khanoum and containing the formula “sealed by” prove that the practice of sealing was well-known in this Hellenistic city.42 It seems, however, that sealings were used to secure only portable vessels containing coins, imported olive oil or incenses and there is no evidence relative neither to big storage jars nor doorways. The latter were blocked with bricks screens, the practice which is observed also during the following Parthian period at Old Nisa in Parthia and at Gobekly- depe in Margiana.43 More abundance of data on storage and administration practices stems from the Parthian Old Nisa with its buildings and large quantities of vessels designed for this specific purpose. Old Nisa is also the only Central Asian site that yielded large quantities of sealings and ostraca which give an insight on the administration of the stored goods and on the distribution of resources.44 The YuTAKE excavations in the northern sector of the citadel revealed several consecutively built storerooms (khumkhanas).45 In one of these (khum- khana III), several large storage vessels rested on benches running along the walls. In other khumkhanas, storage jars were set into the floor to one-third or more of their height. All the storerooms together yielded c. 3000 ostraca dating to the 1st century BC. Some of them record deliveries from royal estates,

39 Wu & Lecomte 2012, 316. 40 Wu & Lecomte 2012, 317. 41 The only sealing bearing an Achaemenid seal impression so far known was found on the surface of site 234 in Margiana (Collon 1998, 137-139). 42 Rapin 1983; 1992, 95-114. 43 Masson & Pugachenkova 1954, 160; Gaibov 2015, 92. 44 Masson & Pugachenkova 1954; Lippolis & Manassero 2015. 45 Pilipko 2001, 163-171.

Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to SiberiaDownloaded 24 from (2018) Brill.com10/07/2021 440-466 04:12:57PM via free access Storage Practices in the Merv and Serakhs Oases 449 including specifically transports of wine, while other texts are actually labels describing the content of the vessels.46 The largest corpus of clay sealings of Old Nisa comes from the Square House located to the west of the storerooms. During the excavations of the Square House, clay sealings were unearthed on its floors, on the benches running along its walls, and in the vicinity of its doors. Some of these clay sealings show the impressions of several different seals (a variable number from 4 to 7). Some others specimens were impressed twice by the same seal. The shapes of some sealings suggest that these were used to close containers or doors in the Square House, a structure which became a treasury in its last occupational phase datable to the 1st century AD.47 To seal the doors of the treasury with several different seals (for which most probably the presence of several officials was necessary) surely can be seen as the sign of the extra care employed to secure these spaces where, additionally, some specific objects were also further individually sealed.48 Such particular care was probably dictated by the value of objects stored in the Square House. Much less care was required to control the access of the rooms of the South-Western Building and thus of products stored therein. The South- Western Building has been recently discovered by the joint Turkmen-Italian expedition at Old Nisa.49 According to the excavators’ estimates, c. 200 storage vessels were there stored during various occupational phases.50 Most of these vessels were lodged into the floor one-third of their height, while others either rested on clay or brick bases or were wholly set into the floor up to their mouths and closed with a brick, clay or stone lid. The diameters of the pits in which the vessels were installed, slightly exceed those of the vessels. The interior of the pits shows traces of fine greenish clay mixed with chalk. According to C. Lippolis, this mixture was used to securely anchor the vessels to the ground and provide protection from humidity.51 Information about the contents of these large jars comes from ostraca found in the rooms of the South-Western Building near the jars. The documents record mainly products such as grain, flour, and wine which were redistributed as rations or wages to the officials.52 Therefore it seems likely that these

46 Diakonoff & Livshits 1960; 1976. 47 Masson & Pugachenkova 1954, 161; Nikitin 1993/1994. About the function of The Square House, see Invernizi 2000. 48 Masson & Pugachenkova 1954, 161. 49 Lippolis 2010. 50 Lippolis & Manassero 2015, 122-123. 51 Lippolis & Manassero 2015, 127. 52 Morano 2013, 111-117.

Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia 24Downloaded (2018) 440-466 from Brill.com10/07/2021 04:12:57PM via free access 450 Kaim goods were stored in sealed storage vessels in the South-Western Building. In fact sealings were unearthed also in the South-Western Building. Almost all the sealings from the South-Western Building bear several impressions of only one recurrent seal. As most of the sealings were found inside (or close) to storage vessels, or in pits from which the vessels had been removed, it is reasonable to believe that the sealings were used for those vessels. Some sealings were also found near accesses of the rooms, and they were probably related to access- controlled doors.53 Such spatial distribution of sealings suggests the possibility that sealings once removed from the storage vessel or doors, were kept nearby until the end of an administrative procedure. Some morphological and functional characteristics differ the sealings found in the South-Western Building from these found in the Square House. The Square House sealings usually bear impressions of several different seals, while those from the South-Western Building bear several impressions of the same seal. The sealings used in the South-Western Building were larger than those used in the Square House. They also show a different iconographic repertoire and different stylistic features.54 The differences between these Nisean two contemporary corpuses of clay sealings probably highlight differences in functions of the buildings within which they were found. In the Square House, after the building was converted into the royal treasury, the precious items were col- lected and stored. We know nothing about their redistribution whereas more common goods stored in the South-Western Building were redistributed to members of the royal court. Several clay sealings were also recorded in the khumkhanas.55 Unfortunately, the sealings are unpublished. There is also no information on where precisely they were found. So that it is impossible to reconstruct the way of managing of these storerooms. A large pit discovered in the vicinity of the storerooms of the northern complex of Old Nisa yielded also a fragment of a seal-impressed vessel. Known already from the Bronze Age, this specific practice of imprinting seals on jars suggests yet another type of administrative activity which appears to be quite common in the Parthian period, at least in the settlements of the piedmont zone of the Kopet Dagh.56 It is not doubt that the storehouses at Old Nisa were part of a centralised, redistributive system, while community storage strategy could be suggested for Garrÿ Kyariz, a site located in the foothills of Kopet Dagh, 56 km north-west

53 Lippolis 2010, 38, 40. 54 Lippolis & Manassero 2015, 135. 55 Pilipko 2001, 321. 56 For further details, see Pilipko 1970.

Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to SiberiaDownloaded 24 from (2018) Brill.com10/07/2021 440-466 04:12:57PM via free access Storage Practices in the Merv and Serakhs Oases 451 from Ashgabat. The site comprises several artificial mounds of various sizes and heights, of which nine are dated to the Parthian period by V. Pilipko.57 Excavated mounds yielded large-scale buildings. The largest one was unearthed at Garrÿ Kyariz 7. It is an oval building (c. 24 × 20.5 m) consisting of different size rooms irregularly arranged along a massive outer wall and a central open area. During last occupational phase, at least four out of thirteen rooms within the building were used for storage purposes, in next four rooms one or two storage jars were discovered. Most of the storage jars in the storerooms were lodged into the floor for one-third of their height. Other jars were either standing and anchored with gypsum to stone slabs, or wholly set into the floor and stabilized with the aid of sand or gravel firmly packed around the walls of their housing pits. Several stone lids were found near the jars. Given the number of storage jars found within the rooms (156 sherds of storage jars and 32 more complete specimens),58 their storage capacity surely exceeded the needs of one family, even if an extended one. Hence it is possible that the storage vessels at Garrÿ Kyariz 7 house were not exclusively used to store goods by its inhabitants, but also by kindred peoples living in the nearby buildings. However, it is worth underlining that at Garrÿ Kyariz 7 no physical evidence, including sealings, for the existence of access control policy appli- cable to the rooms or storage jars kept therein has been identified. The seal and sealing practices mark individual or group ownership, and pro- tect goods from unauthorized use or access. These practices seem to be useless at the single-household level/small social unit where resources are distributed according to familiar needs and control can be limited to oral prescriptions. Hence the absence of sealings at Garrÿ Kyariz speaks in favour of the hypothesis presented by V. Pilipko who argues that Garrÿ Kyariz settlement was inhabited by an agnatic group.59 The agnatic group included several patriarchal families, all descended from a common ancestor. In addition to the community of wor- ship, the agnatic groups were bonded by collectively owned land, collective activities in production and consumption of resources and, by shared political and economic obligations towards central authorities.60 Within such a milieu, the absence of strict administrative control over the distribution of stored goods seems then to be understandable.

57 Pilipko 1975, 29-41. 58 Pilipko 1975, 88. 59 Pilipko 1975, 102-103. Similar to Garrÿ Kyariz type of dispersed settlement has been identified by Pilipko at Kosha-Haudan, 51 km west of Ashkhabad (see Pilipko 1990, 6-24). 60 Perikhanian 1983, 642-643.

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This overview on ancient Central Asian storage methods (and related administration practices), albeit far to be exhaustive, it is necessary to put the storage practices of the Merv and Serakhs oases in the right historical perspective. On this regard, it is important to underline that the earliest unquestionable evidence relative to a specialized group of officials involved in storage and redistribution activities, comes from the Middle Iron Age Ulug-depe. This fact may be of particular importance when interpreting the social and political conditions of the region prior and during the Iron Age. On the other hand, we have seen that data from Parthian Old Nisa and Garrÿ Kyariz point to two different storage practices, i.e. the central storage and the community storage systems (following M. Smyth’s definitions). Can these latter two cases of storage methods be also expected in Parthian Margiana and in the Serakhs Oasis?

3 Storage Practices in Parthian Margiana and Serakhs Oasis

Margiana (fig. 1) was incorporated into the Parthian empire under Phraates II (138-127 BC)61 and continued to be governed by local royal family members (or satraps) most likely until the mid-1st century AD. As no written sources are available, the dynastic history of Margiana is almost entirely reconstructed from the locally minted coinage. Phraates IV (c. 37-2 BC) was the last Arsacid ruler to mint silver coins with the “П” mark in Merv. Sometime later, this mark made its return on Parthian official bronze coins and on their imitations always struck in Merv.62 Between the mid-1st century AD and the Sasanian conquest of the region in the 3rd century AD, the mark appears on bronze drachms minted by the local rulers of Margiana who, then had seemingly a considerable political autonomy.63 Apparently, the Serakhs Oasis shared the fate of Margiana and it was probably incorporated into the Parthian empire by Artabanus II (127-124 BC). Coins issued by this ruler were found in the ruins of the fire temple of Mele Hairam, in association with coins issued by local Margiana rulers, the Kushano-Sasanians and Shapur II.64

61 But it is not unlikely, however, that Margiana was taken earlier, soon after Mithridates I defeated Eucratides, see Smirnova 2007, 382-383. 62 Loginov & Nikitin 1996; Alram 1998, 371-372. 63 Koshelenko 1966, 67-69; Pilipko 1980, 106-124. 64 Grabowski forthcoming 2018.

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figure 1 Map of Turkmenistan with location of the Merv and Serakhs oases.

Surveys carried out in Margiana from 1990 to 1994 in the frame of the “Archaeological Map of the Murghab Delta” international project, identified approximately 70 archaeological sites dating to the Parthian period.65 Regrettably, just few of them were investigated in detail (Merv, Gobekly-depe and Djin Depe). A joint Turkmen-Russian archaeological expedition (Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Turkmen State University) carried out from 1981 to 2001 excavations at the site of Gobekly-depe (c. 35 km north- west of Bairam Ali). The excavations revealed the remains of a Late Parthian fortress (1st-3rd centuries AD) built over the ruins of an earlier settlement.66 The Parthian fortress was marked by the presence a rectangular building built at the centre of a walled area. It had a central bock of rooms surrounded on three sides (north, east and west) by a corridor for communication with rooms adjoining the outer wall of the building. The southern portion of the building was probably an open area (a courtyard). The excavations in this Parthian fortress yielded circa 3000 complete and fragmentary clay sealings bearing one or several (up to 7) impressions of the same seal.67 The sealings were found on the floor of the northern and western part of the corridor, in some rooms adjoining the outer wall of the building

65 Gubaev et alii 1998. 66 Gaibov et alii 1999; 2000. 67 Bader et alii 1990; Koshelenko 1996; Gaibov 2007.

Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia 24Downloaded (2018) 440-466 from Brill.com10/07/2021 04:12:57PM via free access 454 Kaim as well as in the courtyard. It should be noted that the publication relative to the early phases of the archaeological work at the site – during which only the northern part of the corridor was excavated – records sealings concentrated under its southern wall.68 This concentration of sealings suggests that the practice of archiving (at least temporarily) the sealings removed from sealed objects as observed at Ulug-depe was also implemented at Gobekly-depe. The sealings, once removed from containers/doors, might thus have been retained as documents for accounting and to verify the activities of the seals’ owners.69 Another method of archiving has been suggested for Old Nisa (supra). Some of the clay sealings found at Gobekly-depe show both the impressions of a string and of textiles. Therefore, it is likely that these sealings were originally attached to a string which fixed cloths covering the mouths of clay storage vessels, to a string wrapped around bags or around bundles of textiles. Other clay sealings have the impression of a cylindrical object (with a variable diameter from 8 to 60 mm) tied up with a string on their backside.70 Additionally, one clay sealing still including the remains of reeds was found. Some other specimens from the site have traces of plaster on their backs, so the excavators believed that they were originally attached to walls in order to seal doors.71 One of these sealings was discovered still in situ attached to the wall of a passage used to gain access to what was probably a treasury.72 Moreover, sealed clay stoppers of small and large vessels are also attested at Gobekly- depe.73 Unfortunately, all the available excavation reports on Gobekly-depe contain no information whether fragments of storage jars were found in the rooms in which the clay sealings were discovered. The discovery in the Gobekly-depe fortress of a large number of sealings is clearly symptomatic of a high level of storage activity. Thus, it is not unlikely that the fortress might have been the seat of a local high-ranking official, perhaps the fortress commander involved in the collection, storage and redistribution of goods on behalf of his ruler quartering in Merv.74 If it so happened, the storage modality observed at Gobekly-depe should be defined as a “community storage system”.

68 Bader et alii 1990, 61-62. 69 Ferioli & Fiandra 1990. 70 Koshelenko 1996, 378-379; Bader et alii 1990, 78. 71 Bader et alii 1990, 76-77. 72 Gaibov 2015. 73 Koshelenko 1996, 379. 74 According to the excavators, sealings reached Gobekly-depe along with containers as part of the production redistribution process from the redistribution centre, i.e. ancient Merv, or the fortress was a sort of “custom terminal” (Gaibov 2007, 286).

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Storage facilities which functioned in a different social context, were discovered near the northern city gate in Trench 6 at Old Merv by the South Turkmenistan Archaeological Inter-Disciplinary Expedition (YuTAKE). This complex of about 50 rooms dates to the 2nd-4th centuries AD.75 According to the archaeologists who investigated the area, these 50 rooms were part of a residential quarter for which the name “millers’ quarter” was adopted on account of the find of a quantity of quern-stones. Most of these quern-stones were found in rooms containing large storage jars mostly standing along walls. It is possible to assume that the quern-stones served to grind the grains stored inside these jars. The absence of sealings suggests that those individuals who had access to the rooms had also unlimited access to the content of the unsealed storage jars. The report on excavation in Trench 6 at Old Merv provides some interesting information on how the storage jars were arranged inside the rooms. In rooms XXIV, XLVI and XLI (fig. 2), the jars stood within large niches opened in the walls. In many cases, to increase stability, the jar bottoms were supported by broken pieces of other similar jars, trapezoid-shaped fired bricks or fragments of quern-stones. In Room II, the storage jars were installed on the benches running along its walls. The top parts of these benches were hardened with potsherds (once again of storage jars) pressed into the clay. According to the excavators, during the second occupation phase of Room II, the floor of this space was raised up to the level of the benches although the placing of the storage jars was left unmodified (fig. 3). Similarly, it seems that also rooms XX, XXV and XVII had a second phase with a raised floor level. Considering that the height of the storage jars of Old Merv exceeded 1 m, the floor levels needed to be raised to a similar height, which is considerable. Such a significant raising of floor levels could have been the result of a temporary abandonment of the area. Regrettably, the archaeological reports on the work undertook in the “millers’ quarter” do not provide enough information to confirm such an hypothesis. Moreover, only a few door openings have been identified in the walls of excavated rooms. That is why, unfortunately neither the identification of individual houses nor the analysis of availability of storage rooms is possible and in consequence it is also difficult to understand the kind of storage there once in use. Mele Hairam is the only archeologically explored site of the Parthian period of the Serakhs Oasis. The remains of a fire temple operating between the 1st and the 4th centuries AD were discovered at the site.76 The temple building consists of eight rooms, five of which were directly related to the cult. An hour-

75 Katsuris & Buryakov 1963. 76 Kaim 2002; 2004.

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figure 2 Ancient Merv. Plan of “millers’ quarter” (adapted from Katsuris & Buryakov 1963, fig. 7). 1: Storage jar; 2: quern; 3: handstone of a rotary quern; 4: pottery fragments. glass-shaped fire altar stood in the center of an almost square room (4.95 × 4.90 m), the most important chamber of the complex. The archaeological excavations brought to light numerous fragments of storage jars. Most of the fragments were inserted into mortar joints between bricks to strengthen the temple structure, including specifically its vaulting.77 Only two storage jars were found in situ, each set into the floor up to its mouth

77 This practice is also attested in Chorasmia, see Minardi & Khozhaniyazov 2015, 135, n. 38.

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figure 3 Ancient Merv “millers’ quarter”. Cross-section through rooms XXV-XIV (adapted from Katsuris & Buryakov 1963, fig. 9).

figure 4 Mele Hairam. Storage jar set into the floor and covered with a clay lid. and covered with a clay lid (figs. 4 and 5). These two vessels were found with a gypsum coating applied around their mouths. This may suggest that the jars could have been used as containers for liquids, the gypsum being applied to avoid the content spill. Although the fact that these jars were set into the floor (which ensured a cooling effect) seems to further support the hypothesis that they were used to store liquids, gas chromatography – mass spectrometry analyses on the residues contained in the vessels did not give any conclusive result. The storage jars of Mele Hairam were left in situ by the excavators, so that the exact method used for their lodgement into the ground remains unclear. It is, however, likely that this method was similar to those ones used in Old Nisa and Garrÿ Kyariz. It is quite probable that both the storage vessels found at Mele Hairam were used in the religious activities which took place in the temple, so that they hardly took part in any storage system. Thus, the only incontestably storage system attested in Margiana and in the Serakhs Oasis during the Parthian period, is the community storage system identified at Gobekly-depe.

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figure 5 Mele Hairam, Storage jar and a layer of gypsum around its mouth.

4 Storage Practices in Sasanian Merv and the Serakhs Oasis

From the concise descriptions of the excavations of the structure built above the ruins of the Parthian fortress of Gobekly-depe, it appears that several storage jars were located in some of its rooms, but no sealings were there found.78 The structure, which was enclosed by a defensive wall built over the ruins of an earlier Parthian wall, it surely was an official building, though its specific function rests unclear. The absence of sealings in this period could, therefore, result from a shift in the function of the site. It should be noted that during the Sasanian period different devices using keys/locks gained large popularity and that they could have been an alterna- tive to the traditional sealing, at least, especially, to doors sealing.79 In imperial storehouses or at aristocratic courts, officials with seals might have been replaced by officials with keys. Perhaps the officials with keys were subordi- nates of a high official holding the title of the master of storehouse (ʾnblkpty). At Durnali, north-west of ancient Merv, the name of the master of the storehouse was found impressed along with the traditional Zoroastrian formula GDH’pzwt “may his splendour grow” on the rim of a large storage jar unearthed in the ruins of the Sasanian fortress.80 Anyway, the sealings as part of door- locking systems or containers closing mechanisms seem to disappear during

78 Koshelenko 2007, 277. 79 Iron locks and keys were found at Hellenistic Ai Khanoum (Rapin 1992, 21, pl. 59), Sasanian Qasr-i Abu Nasr, in Fars (Whitcomb 1985, 160, fig. 60) and Sogdiana of the 6th-8th centuries AD (Raspopova 1980, 55-64). 80 Bader et alii 1994, 126. The title is also attested on seals, see Humbach 1998.

Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to SiberiaDownloaded 24 from (2018) Brill.com10/07/2021 440-466 04:12:57PM via free access Storage Practices in the Merv and Serakhs Oases 459 the Sasanian period,81 and the seals were most frequently impressed on clay bullae attached to written documents or directly to goods.82 In ancient Merv, excavations in the residential quarter of the middle Sasanian period at Gyaur Kala have revealed several residential complexes.83 One of these included an elongated room with eleven large storage jars arranged in rows. According to the excavators, this room, part of a five-room house, was only accessible from the city street and it did not communicate directly with other rooms.84 The fact that this space was accessible only from the exterior may hint on the possibility that it was also used by residents of the neighbouring house(s). Moreover, this seems likely considering that, as it appears in the preliminary excavation reports, some of the jars had a capacity of 489 litres.85 Considering that the total number of jars in the Merv storeroom, the stored quantities seem to have exceeded the needs of a single family if, as it seems, alimentary supplies were there stored. However, to solve the problem of whether we are dealing with a communal or a domestic storage system organised at a single household level, we have to wait for the full publication of the excavations at Merv. A storage procedure, which is completely different from those discussed till now, has been identified at Gurukly Depe, in the Serakhs Oasis, excavated by the Turkmen-Polish expedition since 2010.86 Gurukly Depe is an approximately rectangular site (160 × 130 m) and consists of two parts of different height: the western part is much higher than the eastern one. In the south- western part of site, the most elevated one, the remains of a Late Sasanian structure surrounded by a strong wall have been unearthed. The building was initially identified as the seat of a local landowner. Among the several rooms so far identified within the structure, two have a kind of storage basement which subsisted for two successive occupational phases both datable in the 6th century AD. In the first stage, benches (approximately 1 m high) were built along the longer walls of the room. Between these benches, some jars were set directly into the floor or on low-fired brick platforms (fig. 6). At a certain point

81 The exceptions seem to be rare, see the sealing probably applied to a bottle-neck (Gyselen 2007, 25) or the sealing affixed to a jar which, according to its label, contained Khosrow II coins (Gignoux 1978, 141). 82 For the discussion about the function of bullae in Sasanian empire, see Frye 1996, 410. For indisputable examples of the use of bullae for sealing documents, see Azarpay 2003. 83 Herrmann & Kurbansakhatov 1995, 34-42; Herrmann et alii 1996, 4-15. 84 Herrmann & Kurbansakhatov 1995, 39-41; Herrmann et alii 1999, 5, fig. 1. 85 Herrmann & Kurbansakhatov 1995, 40. 86 Kaim 2011; 2012; 2013; 2014; 2015. Archaeological excavation at Gurukly Depe was funded by Research Grant No. 2012/07/B/HS3/00908 from the Polish National Science Centre.

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figure 6 Gurukly Depe. Reconstruction of the storage basement.

figure 7 Gurukly Depe. Two successive occupational phases of the storage basement system. in time, the empty spaces between the jars and the benches were filled up with dirt and bricks up to c. 12 cm below the mouth of the jars. On the surface thus created, one or two brick layers were laid to create an uniform floor level within the room, except in the areas correspondent to the jars which were pro- vided with lids made of fired bricks. In consequence, the entire floor area of the room available for uses other than storage, with the jars set into the ground accessible when necessary (fig. 7). The method for lodging the storage jars into the floor at Gurukly Depe resembles that observed in the “millers’ quarter” at Gyaur Kala (Merv) and may be considered the prototype for the building of basements in Central Asia dwellings. It is still too early to draw a conclusion on the storage system used at Gurukly Depe. The excavations on the site are ongoing and new discoveries can and

Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to SiberiaDownloaded 24 from (2018) Brill.com10/07/2021 440-466 04:12:57PM via free access Storage Practices in the Merv and Serakhs Oases 461 undoubtedly add new data not only regarding the current knowledge on this particular storage method in the basements but will also provide us with addi- tional information on the nature of the excavated structure and about the storage system there implemented. In the absence of written sources dealing with the economy of the Merv and Serakhs oases, archaeological evidence regarding storage systems should be considered crucial for any attempt in reconstructing the social structure and the economic organization of the region.

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