Late Bronze Age to Iron Age land use and subsistence strategies in the Semirech'ye region of Kazakhstan Rebecca Claire Roberts A thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Supervised by: Prof. Dorian Fuller Dr. Mark Altaweel Dr. Alison Weisskopf University College London 1 I, Rebecca Claire Roberts, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Abstract This thesis presents the results of phytolith and faecal spherulite analysis from three sites in the Semirech’ye region of south-eastern Kazakhstan, dating from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age (3rd to 1st millennia BC). The primary aim of the research is to generate new data relating to the exploitation of plant resources that can inform on changing land use and subsistence strategies over time. The research is placed in the context of the current understanding of the archaeological and palaeoclimatic record for the region, and aims to offer new insights into the transitional period from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age, around the turn of the 1st millennium BC. During this period both the archaeological and palaeoclimatic records point to significant changes in material culture, social organisation, and climate, and this thesis proposes resilience theory as a theoretical model with which to integrate these multi-level data and conceptualise human-environment interactions in the Semirech’ye region and the wider Eurasian steppe zone. 3 Acknowledgements This research was funded through an AHRC studentship. Fieldwork and conference travel were funded through UCL Institute of Archaeology Awards, which were gratefully received. Thanks to my supervisors at UCL, Arlene Rosen and Stephen Shennan, who started me on this journey, and Dorian Fuller, Mark Altaweel, and Alison Weisskopf who saw me through to the end. Thanks to Arlene Rosen for steering me towards phytolith analysis as the means to answer my questions, and to Richard McPhail for his advice on faecal spherulites. I would like to express particular thanks to Alison Weisskopf for all the support and time she has given me over the years, which cannot be fully conveyed in these few words here. Thank you also to Lisa Daniel for her seamless administrative support when I needed it most, and Sandra Bond for technical support in the laboratory. I would like to thank my colleagues working in Kazakhstan who generously gave me access to their sites: Claudia Chang, Perry Tourtellotte, Michael Frachetti, Paula Doumani Dupuy, and Alexander Goryachev. Thanks also to my other colleagues in Kazakhstan who have been so open in their collaboration and sharing of ideas and resources over the years, in no particular order: Alexei Rogozhinskiy, Gian Luca Bonora, Jean-Marc Deom, Renato Sala, Saida Nigmatova, the laboratory team at the Institute of Geology, my fellow PhD students at the A. Kh. Margulan Institute of Archaeology in Almaty, and last but not least Bolat Aubekerov, who sadly passed away before I finished this thesis. Thanks to Rob Spengler for fruitful discussions while we were working on our respective theses, and for sharing of his vast botanical knowledge with me while in the field. My deep and particular thanks to Claudia Chang and Perry Tourtellotte for opening their home (and garage) in Kazakhstan to me in my hour of need, for their generous sharing of time, data, and ideas, and the personal and professional support that they have given me. Without them this research would have never been carried out successfully. 4 I would also like to thank my examiners, Louise Martin and Emma Jenkins for their insightful comments, pertinent questions, and helpful suggestions in the viva. Thanks to you both for your time. Finally, thanks to my family on both sides of the Atlantic, who have given me so much support. Thanks to my parents and grandparents, and to Mum in particular for providing endless hours of baby care while I was writing up, and my parents-in-law for providing the means to cover the rest. To Kevin, Thank You doesn’t even begin to express how much you have carried me through the many lows of this journey: you are my rock. Finally, thanks to Edmund for coming into being and reminding me that I am more than my thesis. Here’s looking at you, dear child. 5 List of contents, figures and tables Table of Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. 4 Chapter 1 : Introduction ........................................................................................................ 16 1.1. Overview of research aims .......................................................................................... 17 1.2. Structure of thesis ....................................................................................................... 18 Chapter 2 : Background to phytoliths and faecal spherulites and their application in archaeology ............................................................................................................................................... 21 2.1. Phytoliths .................................................................................................................... 21 2.1.1. History of phytolith research in archaeology ....................................................... 21 2.1.2. Formation and preservation of phytolith assemblages ....................................... 23 2.1.3. Phytolith extraction from sediment, identification, and quantification .............. 27 2.1.4. Uses of phytolith data in archaeology ................................................................. 31 2.2. Spherulites .................................................................................................................. 33 2.2.5. Structure and formation of faecal spherulites ..................................................... 33 2.2.6. Preservation of faecal spherulites........................................................................ 35 2.2.7. Use of faecal spherulites in archaeological analyses ........................................... 36 Chapter 3 : Context and research questions ......................................................................... 37 3.3. Political and academic context ................................................................................... 38 3.4. Archaeology ................................................................................................................ 39 3.4.8. Chronology ........................................................................................................... 39 3.4.9. Late Bronze to Iron Age transitions in Central Asia ............................................. 43 3.4.10. Archaeology of Semirech’ye .............................................................................. 48 3.4.11. Archaeology of the exploitation of plant resources in Central Asia .................. 54 3.5. Palaeoclimate .............................................................................................................. 65 3.5.1. Geography and geology ....................................................................................... 65 6 3.5.2. Modelling climate mechanisms ........................................................................... 67 3.5.3. Late Holocene climate ......................................................................................... 74 3.6. Research aims and original contribution of research ................................................. 88 Chapter 4 : Theoretical approach .......................................................................................... 92 4.1. The purpose of archaeological theory ........................................................................ 92 4.2. Resilience theory ........................................................................................................ 95 4.3. Resilience Theory and Archaeology .......................................................................... 103 4.4. Resilience theory in the case of Semirech’ye ........................................................... 106 Chapter 5 : Background to the sites in this study ................................................................ 116 5.1. Soils and vegetation in Semirech’ye ......................................................................... 116 5.2. Tuzusai ...................................................................................................................... 128 5.2.1. Archaeology ....................................................................................................... 130 5.2.2. Palaeoclimate .................................................................................................... 135 5.3. Tasbas ....................................................................................................................... 139 5.3.1. Archaeology ....................................................................................................... 143 5.3.2. Palaeoclimate .................................................................................................... 145 5.4. Turgen II .................................................................................................................... 145 5.4.1. Archaeology ....................................................................................................... 147 5.4.2. Palaeoclimate ...................................................................................................