CONTENTS Introduction xi PART ONE THE ANDRONOVO CULTURAL ENTITY Chapter 1: History of Research on the Andronovo Culture 3 Chapter 2: Methodological Aspects of Ethnocultural Reconstruction 9 Chapter 3: Classification of Sites and the Primary Features of Andronovo Unity 17 Petrovka 19 Alakul' 20 Fedorovo 23 Sol'-Iletsk 26 Kozhumberdy 27 Atasu 27 Amangel'dy 28 Tautary 29 Semirech'e 29 Chapter 4: Settlements and Domestic Architecture 31 Settlements and houses 31 House-plan 36 House Type I 40 House Type II 60 House Type III 66 Chapter 5: Ceramics 67 Petrovka 68 Alakul' 69 Fedorovo 71 Mixed types 74 Alekseevka 75 Dongal 77 Dandybay 78 Chapter 6: Mining, Metallurgy and the Metal Industry 85 Chapter 7: Textiles and Dress 101 Chapter 8: Transport 107 Vehicles 107 Chariots of the Eurasian steppe 109 Cheek-pieces 115 Frontlet 131 The tactics of chariot warfare and horse riding 131 CONTENTS viii Chapter 9: Economy 141 Farming 141 Stockbreeding 146 The Indo-Iranian economy 157 Chapter 10: The Ethnogenesis of the Indo-Iranians and the Ethnic Attribution of the Andronovo Culture 163 The retrospective approach 163 The evidence of material culture 164 Chapter 11: Verification of the Hypothesis 169 Anthropological evidence 169 Toponymic evidence for the Indo-Iranian homeland 173 Indo-Iranian traditions on the homeland 174 Art and mythology 175 Some mythological representations 183 Chapter 12: Mortuary Practice 185 Chapter 13: Indo-Iranian Contacts with Other Linguistic Groups 199 Indo-Iranians and Finno-Ugrians 199 Indo-Iranians and Greeks 204 Chapter 14: Conclusions to Part One 205 PART TWO THE MIGRATIONS OF TRIBES AND THEIR CULTURES IN CENTRAL ASIA Chapter 15: Cultures of Central Asia in the 4th-3rd Millennia BC 211 Chapter 16: The Indo-Aryan Migration and the First Stage of the Andronovo Migration to the South 217 The problem of migration 217 Migration in the Eurasian Steppe and neighboring regions 220 The first stage of Andronovo migration 220 Chapter 17: The Agricultural Tribes of South Central Asia in the 2nd Millennium BC 225 Chapter 18: The Occupation of Central Asia by Pastoral Tribes 229 The first Indo-Aryan migration to the south 229 The second stage of Andronovo migration 234 Chapter 19: The Settlement of Pastoral Tribes in Central Asia 237 The Tazabagyab culture: The Aral Sea Littoral variant 238 The Tazabagyab culture: The Lower Zeravshan variant 240 Sites of the Central Zeravshan 240 The Tashkent Oasis 241 The Timber-grave culture 241 Fedorovo type sites of the Andronovo culture 242 Andronovo sites of the Fedorovo type in Kirgizia 242 The Semirech'e-Fergana type 243 Sites of the North-eastern Tian-Shan 246 Sites of southern Fergana 247 Fergana valley: Late sites of the Kayrak-Kum type 248 Chapter 20: Relation of the Andronovans with the Population of Xinjiang and Central Asia 251 ix CONTENTS Chapter 21: Cultures of Northern Bactria in the Late Bronze Age 267 BMAC sites in Uzbekistan 267 Northern Bactria and Tadzhikistan 271 BMAC sites in Tadzhikistan 271 Bishkent-Vaksh culture 275 The Andronovo culture in Tadzhikistan 278 Andronovo sites of the Pamirs 285 The Andronovo culture in southern Bactria 286 The culture of the Barbarian Occupation Period 289 Chapter 22: Trans-Caspia and Turkmenia 291 PART THREE THE GENESIS OF THE DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF INDO-IRANIANS Chapter 23: Modern State of the Problem of Indo-Iranian Origins 297 Chapter 24: The Genesis of the Dards and Nuristani 307 Chapter 25: The Genesis of the Indo-Aryans 321 Is Vedic archaeology possible? 322 The Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Culture 323 The Andronovo culture 325 Settlements and dwellings 326 Ceramics 327 Metal articles 328 Horses and chariots in Hindustan 329 Burial rite 339 The Andronovo burial rite 340 Burial rites in Baluchistan 342 Burial rites in the Harappan civilization 342 Burials in the post-Harappan cultures of North-Western India 343 Anthropological and genetic data 345 PART FOUR THE GENESIS OF THE IRANIANS Chapter 26: The Genesis of the Iranians 349 The history of research on the Timber-grave culture 349 The culture of the Eurasian steppes in the Final Bronze Age 358 The genesis of the West Iranians 367 The genesis of Eastern-Iranian nomadic peoples: the Scythians and the Saka 379 The anthropological data 383 The formation of the Scythian complex 388 The genesis of the Eastern Iranians of South Central Asia, Afghanistan and Baluchistan 413 The formation of the farming culture of the Iranian-speaking peoples in North Central Asia 436 The Chust culture 437 The Burgulyuk culture 441 The problem of the date of Zarathustra 448 CONTENTS X Conclusion 451 Post Scriptum 458 APPENDICES Appendix I: The Chronology of the Andronovo Culture 459 The methods of determining chronology 459 The new radiocarbon dates of the steppe cultures 460 The European line of synchronization 461 The South-Asian line of synchronization 462 The Chinese line of synchronization 464 Conclusion 465 Appendix II: Radiocarbon dates 467 BIBLIOGRAPHY 477 MAPS 583 FIGURES 609 INDEX 731.