 The extent of the BMAC (according to theEncyclopedia of Indo-European Culture)  Female statuette, an example of a "Bactrian princess"; late 3rd–early 2nd millennium BC;steatite orchlorite andalabaster; 9 × 9.4 cm;Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City) | |
.png)  Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex Shown within Continental Asia | |
| Location | Southern Central Asia, mainly in modern-day EasternTurkmenistan,northern Afghanistan, southernUzbekistan, and WesternTajikistan |
|---|---|
| Region | Margiana,Bactria |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | Viktor Sarianidi (late 1960s to 1979) |
| Condition | Ruins |
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TheBactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) is the modern archaeological designation for a particular MiddleBronze Agecivilisation of southernCentral Asia, also known as theOxus Civilization. The civilisation's urban phase or Integration Era[1] was dated in 2010 by Sandro Salvatori toc. 2400–1950 BC,[2][3] but a different view is held by Nadezhda A. Dubova and Bertille Lyonnet,c. 2250–1700 BC.[3][4]
Though it may be called the "Oxus civilization", apparently centred on the upperAmu Darya (Oxus River) inBactria, most of the BMAC's urban sites are located inMargiana (nowTurkmenistan) on theMarghab delta, and in theKopet Dagh range. There are a few later (c. 1950–1450 BC) sites in northern Bactria, today southernUzbekistan,[5] but they are mostly graveyards belonging to the BMAC-related Sapalli culture.[6][7][8] A single BMAC site, known as Dashli, lies in southern Bactria, current territory of northernAfghanistan.[9] Sites found further east, in southwesternTajikistan, though contemporary with the main BMAC sites in Margiana, are only graveyards, with no urban developments associated with them.[10]
The civilisation was named BMAC by theSoviet archaeologistViktor Sarianidi in 1976 when he was excavating in northern Afghanistan (1969–1979).[11] Sarianidi's excavations from the late 1970s onward revealed numerous monumental structures in many sites, fortified by impressive walls and gates. Reports on the BMAC were primarily published in Soviet journals.[12] A journalist fromThe New York Times wrote in 2001 that during the years of the Soviet Union, the findings were largely unknown to the West until Sarianidi's work began to be translated in the 1990s.[13] However, some publications by Soviet authors, like Masson, Sarianidi, Atagarryev, and Berdiev, had been available to the West, translated in the first half of 1970s, slightly before Sarianidi labelled the findings as BMAC.[14][15][16][17]
Italian archaeologists, like Massimo Vidale and Dennys Frenez, support Sandro Salvatori's hypothesis that Namazga V is the beginning of the ultimate urban phase called BMAC, belonging to the Integration Era (c. 2400–1950 BC).[18] On the other hand, Russian and French archaeologists Nadezhda Dubova and Bertille Lyonnet consider there was a gap between the end of Namazga III phase and the beginning of BMAC in Margiana, and that most of the sites both in Margiana and Bactria were founded on virgin soil only around 2250 BC lasting until 1700 BC.[19]
The region was first named Bakhdi inOld Persian, which then formed the Persiansatrapy ofMarguš (perhaps from the Sumerian termMarhasi),[20] the capital of which wasMerv, in modern-day southeastern Turkmenistan. It was then calledBāxtriš inMiddle Persian, andBaxl inNew Persian. The region was also mentioned in ancientSanskrit texts asबाह्लीक orBāhlīka. The modern termBactria is derived from Ancient GreekΒακτρία (Baktría), modernBalkh.
There is archaeological evidence of settlement in the well-watered northern foothills of the Kopet Dag during the Jeitun era (7200−4600 BC). In this region, mud brick houses were first occupied during the Jeitun, also called the Early Food-Producing Era.[21] The inhabitants were farmers with origins inWest Asia who keptherds of goats and sheep and grew wheat and barley.[22] Jeitun has given its name to the whole Neolithic in the northern foothills of the Köpet Dag. At the late Neolithic site of Chagylly Depe, farmers increasingly grew the kinds of crops that are typically associated with irrigation in an arid environment, such ashexaploid bread wheat, which became predominant during theChalcolithic period.[23] This region is dotted with the multi-period hallmarks characteristic of theancient Near East, similar to those southwest of the Köpet Dag in theGorgan Plain of Iran.[24]
TheRegionalization Era begins inAnau IA with a pre-Chalcolithic phase also in theKopet Dag piedmont region from 4600 to 4000 BC, then theChalcolithic period develops from 4000 to 2800 BC inNamazga I-III, Ilgynly Depe, andAltyn Depe.[21] During this Copper Age, the population of the region grew. Archaeologist Vadim Mikhaĭlovich Masson, who led theSouth Turkmenistan Complex Archaeological Expedition of 1946, saw signs that people migrated to the region from central Iran at this time, bringing metallurgy and other innovations, but thought that the newcomers soon blended with the Jeitun farmers.[25] (Vadim was the son of archaeologistMikhail Masson, who had previously already started work in this same area.) By contrast, a re-excavation ofMonjukli Depe in 2010 found a distinct break in settlement history between the late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic eras there.[26][27]
Major chalcolithic settlements sprang up atKara-Depe andNamazga-Depe. In addition, there were smaller settlements atAnau, Dashlyji, andYassy-depe. Settlements similar to the early level at Anau also appeared further east– in the ancient delta of the riverTedzen, the site of theGeoksiur Oasis. About 3500 BC, the cultural unity of the area split into two pottery styles: colourful in the west (Anau, Kara-Depe and Namazga-Depe) and more austere in the east atAltyn-Depe and the Geoksiur Oasis settlements. This may reflect the formation of two tribal groups. It seems that around 3000 BC, people from Geoksiur migrated into theMurghab delta (where small, scattered settlements appeared) and reached further east into theZerafshan Valley inTransoxiana. In both areas pottery typical of Geoksiur was in use. In Transoxiana they settled atSarazm nearPendjikent. To the south the foundation layers ofShahr-i Sōkhta on the bank of theHelmand River in south-eastern Iran contained pottery of the Altyn-Depe and Geoksiur type. Thus the farmers of Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan were connected by a scattering of farming settlements.[25]
At Altyndepe, the Namazga III phase, which spanned from 3200 to 2800 BCE, exhibited a late Chalcolithic culture at the beginning of the Late Regionalization Era.[28]
In theEarly Bronze Age, at the end of the Late Regionalization Era (2800 to 2400 BC),[21] the culture of the Köpetdagoases in the Altyndepe site developed a proto-urban society. This corresponds to phase IV atNamazga-Tepe. Altyndepe was a major centre even then.Pottery was wheel-turned andgrapes were grown.[citation needed]
The height of the urban development was reached in theMiddle Bronze Age, also known asIntegration Era, mainly in three regions, Kopet Dag piedmont, Margiana, and southern Bactria, as well as some cemetery remains recently found in southwestern Tajikistan.
BMAC's urban period begins in the Kopet Dag piedmont, as per Massimo Vidale, corresponding toNamazga-Depe level V (c. 2400-2000 BC).[21][25]Namazga Depe reaching c. 52 hectares and holding maybe 17,000–20,000 inhabitants, andAltyn Depe with its maximum size of c. 25 hectares and 7,000–10,000 inhabitants, were the two big cities inKopet Dag piedmont.[29] This urban development is considered to have lasted, not from 2400 BC, but fromc. 2250 to 1700 BC by Lyonnet and Dubova's recent publication.[3]
Identification of the first large settling in Margiana was possible through excavations at Kelleli 3 and 4, and these are the type sites of Kelleli phase.[30] Massimo Vidale (2017) considers that the Kelleli phase was characterised by the appearance of the first palatial compounds from 2400 to 2000 BC.[21] Kelleli is located around 40 km northwest of Gonur; featuring Kelleli 3 with four hectares, characterised by towers in a double perimetral wall, four equal entrances, and houses in the southwest of the site. Kelleli 4 settlement is around three hectares, with the same characteristics in its wall.[31] Sandro Salvatori (1998) commented that Kelleli phase began sightly later than Namazga V period.[32]
Gonur phase was considered, by Sarianidi, as a southward movement of the previous Kelleli phase people.[32] In the ancient region ofMargiana, the siteGonur Depe is the largest of all settlements in this period and is located at the delta ofMurghab river in southern Turkmenistan, with an area of around 55 hectares. An almost elliptical fortified complex, known as Gonur North includes the so-called "Monumental Palace", other minor buildings, temples and ritual places, together with the "Royal Necropolis", and water reservoirs, all dated by Italian archaeologists from around 2400 to 1900 BC.[33] However French and Russian scholars like Lyonnet and Dubova date it toc. 2250-1700 BC.[3]
In southernBactria, northern Afghanistan, the site Dashly 3 is regarded to be also from Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age (2300–1700 BC) occupation,[34] but its beginning is probably later than 2300 BC, although earlier than 2000 BC, if new datings for BMAC by Lyonnet and Dubova are taken into account.[35] The old Dashly 3 complex, sometimes identified as a palace, is a fortified rectangular 88 m x 84 m compound. The square building had massive double outer walls and in the middle of each wall was a protruding salient composed of a T-shaped corridor flanked by two L-shaped corridors.[36]
New archaeological research has recently found at three ancient cemeteries in southwesternTajikistan calledFarkhor, Gelot (inKulob District), and Darnajchi, ceramics influenced byNamazga IV andNamazga V transitional period from Early to Middle Bronze Age, which can suggest a presence of BMAC inhabitants in this region earlier considered out of their influx.[37] Gelot's grave N6-13 was dated to 2203–2036 cal BC (2 sigma), and Darnajchi's grave N2-2 as 2456-2140 cal BC (2 sigma).[38] Farkhor's cemetery is located on the right bank ofPanj river, very near theIndus Civilization's siteShortughai.[39]
The inhabitants of the BMAC were sedentary people who practisedirrigation farming ofwheat andbarley. With their impressive material culture including monumental architecture, bronze tools, ceramics, and jewellery of semiprecious stones, the complex exhibits many of thehallmarks of civilisation. The complex can be compared to proto-urban settlements in theHelmand basin atMundigak in western Afghanistan andShahr-e Sukhteh in eastern Iran, or atHarappa andMohenjo-daro in theIndus Valley.[40]
Models of two-wheeled carts fromc. 3000 BC found at Altyn-Depe are the earliest evidence of wheeled transport in Central Asia, though model wheels have come from contexts possibly somewhat earlier. Judging by the type of harness, carts were initially pulled by oxen or a bull. However, camels were domesticated within the BMAC. A model of a cart drawn by a camel ofc. 2200 BC was found at Altyn-Depe.[41]
Fertility goddesses, named "Bactrian princesses", made from limestone,chlorite and clay reflect agrarianBronze Age society, while the extensive corpus of metal objects point to a sophisticated tradition of metalworking.[42] Wearing large stylised dresses, as well as headdresses that merge with the hair, "Bactrian princesses" embody the ranking goddess, character of the Central Asian mythology that plays a regulatory role, pacifying the untamed forces.[citation needed]
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![Seated goddess, an example of a "Bactrian princess", Bronze Age Bactria, Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex, circa 2000 BC. chlorite and limestone. Central Asian art, Miho Museum, Japan.[43][44]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aSeated_Goddess%2c_Western_Central_Asia%2c_Bronze_Age_Bactria%2c_late_3rd-early_2nd_millenium_BCE%2c_chlorite_and_limestone%2c_Miho_Museum%2c_Japan.jpg)
Sarianidi regardsGonur Depe as the "capital" of the complex in Margiana throughout the Bronze Age. The palace of north Gonur measures 150 metres by 140 metres, the temple atTogolok 140 metres by 100 metres, the fort atKelleli 3 125 metres by 125 metres, and the house of a local ruler atAdji Kui 25 metres by 25 metres. Each of these formidable structures has been extensively excavated. While they all have impressive fortification walls, gates, and buttresses, it is not always clear why one structure is identified as a temple and another as a palace.[46]Mallory points out that the BMAC fortified settlements such as Gonur and Togolok resemble theqila, the type of fort known in this region in the historical period. They may be circular or rectangular and have up to three encircling walls. Within the forts are residential quarters, workshops and temples.[47]
The people of the BMAC culture were very proficient at working in a variety of metals including bronze, copper, silver, and gold. This is attested through the many metal artefacts found throughout the sites.[45]
Extensiveirrigation systems have been discovered at Geoksyur Oasis.[25]
The discovery of a single tiny stoneseal (known as the "Anau seal") with geometric markings from the BMAC site at Anau in Turkmenistan in 2000 led some to claim that theBactria-Margiana complex had also developedwriting, and thus may indeed be considered a literate civilisation. It bears five markings which are similar to Chinese "small seal" characters. The only match to the Anau seal is a small jet seal of almost identical shape from Niyä (near modern Minfeng) along the southern Silk Road in Xinjiang, originally thought to be from the Western Han dynasty but now thought to date to 700 BC.[48]
BMAC materials have been found in theIndus Valley civilisation, on theIranian Plateau, and in thePersian Gulf.[46] Finds within BMAC sites provide further evidence of trade and cultural contacts. They include an Elamite-type cylinder seal and aHarappan seal stamped with an elephant and Indus script found at Gonur-depe.[49] The relationship between Altyn-Depe and the Indus Valley seems to have been particularly strong. Among the finds there were twoHarappan seals and ivory objects. The Harappan settlement ofShortugai in Northern Afghanistan on the banks of theAmu Darya probably served as a trading station.[25]
There is evidence of sustained contact between the BMAC and the Eurasian steppes to the north, intensifyingc. 2000 BC. In the delta of theAmu Darya where it reaches theAral Sea, its waters were channelled for irrigation agriculture by people whose remains resemble those of the nomads of theAndronovo culture. This is interpreted as nomads settling down to agriculture, after contact with the BMAC, known as theTazabagyab culture.[50] About 1900 BC, the walled BMAC centres decreased sharply in size. Each oasis developed its own types of pottery and other objects. Also pottery of the Tazabagyab-Andronovo culture to the north appeared widely in the Bactrian and Margian countryside. Many BMAC strongholds continued to be occupied and Tazabagyab-Andronovo coarse incised pottery occurs within them (along with the previous BMAC pottery) as well as in pastoral camps outside the mudbrick walls. In the highlands above the Bactrian oases in Tajikistan,kurgan cemeteries of theVaksh and Bishkent type appeared with pottery that mixed elements of the late BMAC and Tazabagyab-Andronovo traditions.[51] In southern Bactrian sites like Sappali Tepe too, increasing links with the Andronovo culture are seen. During the period 1700 – 1500 BCE, metal artefacts from Sappali Tepe derive from the Tazabagyab-Andronovo culture.[52]
New research in theMurghab region, in excavations at defensive walls of Adji Kui 1, showed pastoralists present, and living on the edge of the town, as early as the second half of the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2210-1960 BC), coexisting with the BMAC population that lived in the 'citadel.'[53]
The Bactria–Margiana complex has attracted attention as a candidate for those looking for the material counterparts to theIndo-Iranians. This branch split off from theProto-Indo-Europeans and is associated withIndo-Iranian languages.
For example, Sarianidi advocated identifying the complex as Indo-Iranian, describing it as the result of a migration from southwestern Iran. Bactria–Margiana material has been found atSusa,Shahdad, andTepe Yahya in Iran.[citation needed]In contrast, Lamberg-Karlovsky did not see this as evidence that the complex originated in southeastern Iran. "The limited materials of this complex are intrusive in each of the sites on the Iranian Plateau as they are in sites of the Arabian peninsula."[citation needed]
Mallory/Adams (1997) associated the Andronovo, BMAC andYaz cultures with Indo-Iranian migrations, writing,
It has become increasingly clear that if one wishes to argue for Indo-Iranian migrations from the steppe lands south into the historical seats of the Iranians and Indo-Aryans that these steppe cultures were transformed as they passed through a membrane of Central Asian urbanism. The fact that typical steppe wares are found on BMAC sites and that intrusive BMAC material is subsequently found further to the south in Iran, Afghanistan, Nepal, India and Pakistan, may suggest then the subsequent movement of Indo-Iranian-speakers after they had adopted the culture of the BMAC.[54]
Anthony (2007) sees the culture as begun by farmers in theNeolithic in the Near East, but infiltrated by Indo-Iranian speakers from theAndronovo culture in its late phase, creating a hybrid. In this perspective, theproto-Indo-Aryan language developed within the composite culture before moving south into what is now Iran and then east into theIndian subcontinent.[51]
As argued byMichael Witzel[55] andAlexander Lubotsky,[56] there is a proposedsubstratum in proto-Indo-Iranian that can be plausibly identified with the original language of the BMAC. Moreover, Lubotsky points out a larger number of words borrowed from the same language which are only attested in Indo-Aryan languages and therefore evidence of asubstratum in Vedic Sanskrit. He explains this by proposing that Indo-Aryan speakers probably formed the vanguard of the movement into south-central Asia and many of the BMAC loanwords which entered Iranian may have been mediated through Indo-Aryan.[56]: 306 Michael Witzel points out that the borrowed vocabulary includes words from agriculture, village and town life, flora and fauna, ritual and religion, so providing evidence for the acculturation of Indo-Iranian speakers into the world of urban civilisation.[55]
In excavations atGonur Depe, at a brick-lined burial pit, grave number 3200 of the Royal necropolis, a horse skeleton was found in period I, dated around 2200 BCE along with a four-wheeled wooden wagon with bronze rims.[57] Archaeologist Julio Bendezu-Sarmiento, mentioning N. A. Dubova's (2015) article, comments that this was an "almost complete skeleton of a foal" resting on the wagon with "wheels circled by bronze bands" and radiocarbon-dated to 2250 BCE.[58] So he considers this horse and the wagon are "one and a half century prior" to similar burials ofSintashta culture.[58] A stone statuette that seems to be a horse with saddle was found in burial number 3210 also in the Royal necropolis and was reported by Sarianidi in 2005, and in burial 3310 parts of a stallion's body were found, the stallion lacked its head, rump, and tail, and was considered as a cult burial of a domestic horse by archaeologist Sarianidi in his 2008 publication.[57]
In 2019, Narasimhan and co-authors analysed BMAC skeletons from the Bronze Age sites ofBustan,Dzharkutan,Gonur Tepe, and Sappali Tepe. The BMAC population largely derived from preceding localCopper Age peoples who were in turn related toNeolithic farmers from theIranian plateau and to a lesser extent earlyAnatolian farmers, as well ashunter-gatherers from Western Siberia (WSHG). They are inferred to have formed primarily from Iran_N (60–65%) and Anatolia_N (20–25%) ancestries, with the remainder (~10%) being derived from a WSHG-like source. The samples extracted from the BMAC sites did not derive any part of their ancestry from theYamnaya people, who are associated withProto-Indo-Europeans, although some peripheral samples did already carry significant Yamnaya-likeWestern Steppe Herders ancestry, inline with the southwards expansion of Western Steppe Herders from theSintashta andAndronovo cultures towards Southern Central Asia at c. 2100 BCE.[60][61] Succeeding cultures, specifically theYaz culture, was characterised by a combination of BMAC and Yamnaya/WSH ancestries, and associated with earlyIndo-Iranians.[62] Narasimshan et al. (2019) found no essential genetic contributions from the BMAC in later South Asians, suggesting that the Steppe-related ancestry was mediated via other groups.[63] The male specimens belonged primarily tohaplogroup J, specifically J* (3/26),J1 (1/26),J2 (7/26), as well asG (2/26),L (2/26),R2 (3/26),R1b (1/26),R* (2/26),H1a (1/26),P (1/26),Q (1/26),T (1/26) andE1b1b (1/26).[63][64]
Genetic data onIron Age samples from modern-dayTurkmenistan andUzbekistan confirm the admixture between local BMAC groups andAndronovo-related populations, at the end of Oxus Civilization. These Southern Central Asian Iron Age population derived around 57% of their ancestry from Western Steppe Herders (Andronovo) and c. 43% from the BMAC culture population. Modern dayTajiks andYaghnobis were found to be direct descendants of the Bronze and Iron Age Central Asian populations, deriving ancestry from both the Yamnaya-likeWestern Steppe Herders and BMAC groups, and showing genetic continuity to historicalIndo-Iranians.[65] These Iron Age Central Asians also displayed a higher genetic affinity to present-day Europeans than present-dayUzbeks, who harbour an additional component derived from an East Asian-like source "through several admixture events over the past ~2,000 years", absent from Iron Age Uzbeks and modern Europeans.[61]
In Afghanistan
%2c_3rd_millennium_BCE%2c_National_Museum_of_Afghanistan.jpg)
In Turkmenistan
In Uzbekistan
Representative qpAdm-based admixture models of ancient Eurasian groups (Supplementary Data 1D–I).
We infer three primary genetic sources: early Iranian farmer-related ancestry (~60–65%), and smaller proportions of Anatolian farmer- (~20–25%) and WSHG-related ancestry (~10%).
The BMAC populations were previously shown to be primarily a mixture of Iranian (~60–65%) and Anatolian (~20–25%) farmer ancestries (Narasimhan et al. 2019). Some BMAC individuals were found to have high Yamnaya/Steppe-related ancestry, suggesting this ancestry began appearing in Central Asia by around ~4100 BP (Narasimhan et al. 2019). - We observe a greater genetic affinity of Uz_IA to present-day Europeans than to the present-day Uzbekistan populations (supplementary fig. S7, Supplementary Material online). This higher genetic affinity for European populations is due to the similar components of Anatolian farmer and Steppe-related ancestries observed both in Uz_IA and European present-day populations. Lower genetic affinity for the present-day Uzbekistan populations indicates substantial demographic changes through several admixture events over the past ~2,000 years whereby present-day Uzbekistan populations now show additional ancestries derived from East Asian and Siberian populations (Irwin et al. 2010; Yunusbayev et al. 2015).
37°18′04″N64°09′19″E / 37.30111°N 64.15531°E /37.30111; 64.15531
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