 Archaeological cultures associated withIndo-Iranian migrations (afterEIEC). TheAndronovo,BMAC and Yaz cultures have often been associated withIndo-Iranian migrations. TheGGC (Swat),Cemetery H,Copper Hoard andPGW cultures are candidates for cultures associated withIndo-Aryanmigrations. | |
| Period | EarlyIron Age c. 1500–500 BC orc. 1500–330 BC |
|---|---|
| Type site | Yaz-Tappe, Yaz Tepe, or Yaz Depe, nearBaýramaly,Turkmenistan |
| Preceded by | |
| Followed by | |
TheYaz culture (named after thetype siteYaz-Tappe,Yaz Tepe, orYaz Depe, nearBaýramaly,Turkmenistan[1]) was an earlyIron Age culture ofMargiana,Bactria andSogdia (c. 1500–500 BC,[2] orc. 1500–330 BC[3][4]). It emerges at the top of lateBronze Age sites (BMAC), sometimes as mud-brick platforms and sizeable houses associated withirrigation systems. Ceramics were mostly hand-made, but there was increasing use ofwheel-thrown ware. Bronze and iron arrowheads, ironsickles andcarpet knives are among other artifacts that have been found.[5][6][7]
With the farming citadels and absence of burials it has been regarded as a likely archaeological reflection of earlyEast Iranianculture as described in theAvesta.[8][9] So far, no burials related to the culture have been found, and this is taken as possible evidence of theZoroastrian practice of exposure orsky burial.[10][11][12][13]
In the region of SouthernCentral Asia, the Bronze Age Oxus civilization (orBMAC) was characteristic for irrigation and proto-state society based on long distance trade of raw materials and goods. However, it suddenly disappeared in theLate Bronze Age (c. 1900–1500 BC), and in its place emerged theEarly Iron Age (c. 1500/1400 – 1000 BC)[3] Yaz I culture with rural settlements based around fortified structures, control of irrigation systems, with specific hand-made ceramic type, as well as the almost complete disappearance of graves, compared to thousands ofkurgans in the north.[14] The ceramics, and spherical stone maces, show continuity and contemporaneity between Yaz Depe andUlug Depe of the Early Iron Age and Tekkem Depe among others of theNamazga-Tepe VI period.[7]
Yaz I culture is argued to be related to the sedentarisation of the nomadicIndo-Iranians in theEurasian Steppe, a synthesis with autochthonous traits.[10][15][16][17][18][19] It extended from the central part of theKopet Dag mountains to the fertile delta of theMurghab River.[20] It is characterised for total lack of necropolises and tombs, as well as painted ceramic with triangle and ladder patterns. Recent research shows four groups of patterns, the triangular (triangles andchevrons),lozenges,bands, and of additional elements.[21] It seems to be connected to theChust culture ofFergana Valley,Mundigak V–VI inSistan, andPirak I–III on theKacchi Plain. Compared to the Chust culture, no tombs from the Yaz culture have been found.[10][22]Asko Parpola and Fred Hiebert argued that these cultures seemingly derived from the Haladun culture (1750–1200 BC) ofXinjiang, and someAndronovo culture contacts, indicating a Europid upper strata who spoke East Aryan.[23][24] The introduction of the culture is seemingly related to the sound change*s >h whenIranian language came in the Indo-Iranian borderlands ofRgvedic tribes around 1500 BC, seen in the change of theVedic riverSindhu into AvestanHindu (Indus River),Sarasvati intoHarahvaiti.[25]
It is dated circa 1100–700 or 1000–540 BC[3] in Middle Iron Age, however some recent research consider no accurate boundary between the Yaz I and Yaz II.[26] It moved to the north and northeast.[27] It is characterized by wheel-made pottery type (reappearance of the wheel like inNamazga-Tepe V[28]), iron metallurgy, large fortified sites, as well as the occupation of previous sites and the continuation of the funerary practices.[29][14]
The Yaz II complex seemingly correlates with theAiryanem Vaejah, homeland of those tribes who spokeAvestan language, different from bothWestern andEastern Iranian languages, to be replaced in Bactria by the former at the end of the 1st millennium BC.[30]Asko Parpola associated the change from Yaz I to Yaz II around 1000 BC with the migration of the Western Iranians (Medians,Persians).[31] He considered that the Yaz I people spoke Proto-Eastern Iranian or Proto-Saka.[19][better source needed]
The ruins of the ancient city ofNad-i Ali (9th-8th century BC) which has been identified with the capital of theKayanian dynasty kingdom which coincides with the Yaz II/A (10th–8th century BC), while date of the lateKayanian capitalBalkh to Yaz II/B period (7th–6th century BC).[30]
At the end of Yaz II/B (8th–7th/6th century BC) the Murghab oasis (Yaz Depe, Aravali Depe, Takhirbay Depe) became deserted. It is probably explained by the bloody revolt of Frada (521 BC) mentioned inBehistun Inscription in which reportedly 55,243 Margians were killed and 6,972 taken as prisoners, and the conquest of Bactria.[32][33][34]
It is dated circa 700–400 BC, or second half of the 6th and end of the 4th century BC (c. 540–329 BC) in the Late Iron Age, part of theAchaemenid Empire period, but is still characterized by the same cultural and funerary continuity.[35][36][37] The beak-shapedrim is replaced in form of a flattened roller, vessels are cylindrical-conical,[38] and a bronze three-bladed arrow, ironaxes andadzes were discovered.[39]
The widely used nameYaz for the Iron age cultures of southern Central Asia is derived from thetype siteYaz-Tepe. Apart from this naming scheme, different authors have used other names to describe this phenomenon. A. A. Marushchenko initially introduced the termEpoch of Barbarian Occupation due to the "reduction of the area of the settlement and the decline of handcrafts" observed in the archeological record. This proposal was followed by other Soviet archeologists like A. F. Ganyalin andE. E. Kuz’mina.[41]
Both the earlier BMAC culture as well as the later Yaz II period usedwheel thrown ware. In contrast, Yaz I only usedhandmade ware which led to the useHandmade Painted Ware Cultures for this period.[42] In addition, the Yaz culture, as well as the closely relatedChust culture, is characterized by a widespreadlack of burial sites, which led to the use of the termSine Sepulchro (without graves)Cultural Complex.[43]
The Yaz Tepe settlement was the central district in the then metropolitan part ofMargiana.[44][45] It covered 1 ha in Iron Age phase, and stood on brickplatform mound 8 m high, while thestratigraphic excavations in the area revealed Yaz I (900–650 BC) complex (with bronze arrowheads and iron artefacts inTillya Tepe), Yaz II (650–450 BC) and Yaz III (450–350 BC) house remains,[46] although the chronology was later updated to Yaz I (ca. 1500/1400–1000 BC), Yaz II (ca. 1000–540 BC), and Yaz III (ca. 550–330 BC).[3] The Yaz I complex was similar to those in northernBactria, thus the culture was noted for the development of large settlements (sometime small[47]) centred around fortifiedkeeps built on massive platforms, but the excavations failed to locate the transition from the Late Bronze Age unlike other cultures.[48] Other Margian well known sites with Yaz I ceramics areGonur Tepe, Togoluk, Uch Tepe, Adam Basan, Taip, Garaoj Tepe, Takhirbaj Tepe.[10]
Kuchuk Tepe settlement inBactria (todayUzbekistan) is also related to the Yaz I culture.[10][49] It looked like a flattened circular hill with an area of 0.5 hectares and height 8 m. The structures were built on a clay platform surrounded by a defensive wall. At the end of the first period (10th to mid-8th centuries BC) the building had twenty-five chambers; apparently it was a large fortified house, while towns start appearing in the region towards the end of that period.[45] Other Bactrian well known sites with Yaz I ceramics areTillya Tepe in northeasternAfghanistan, and Kyzyl Tepe, Dzharkutan, Kangurt-Tut, and Teguzak inTajikistan.[10][50] The single purely Yaz I site in Tajikistan is Karim-berdy which measures 500 x 300 m.[51] Along theKunduz River are located oasis Naibabad and Farukabad.[52] The settlements at Bandykhan, betweenShirabad andDenov in Uzbekistan, show Yaz I (14th–11th century BC), Yaz II/A (10th–9th/8th century BC), Yaz II/B (8th–7th/6th century BC), and Yaz III (6th–4th century BC).[53]
Some Yaz I hand-made decorated pottery sites were investigated in southernTurkmenistan (previously northernParthia). Some Yaz I strata was found in Parthia at Elken Depe,Ulug Depe and the northern mound atAnau, and all complexes overlieNamazga-Tepe VI type of Late Bronze Age strata. Unlike the Bronze Age centres, the Early Iron Age Yaz I settlements were much larger, in Elken Depe c. 12 ha, ringed with ramparts, while the citadel stood on a 6 m platform. At the site in Anau was found iron sickle from Yaz I period dated to the beginning of the 1st millennium BC.[54][7] Askarov argued that it cannot be excluded that the Elken Depe was then the capital of northern Parthia.[48]
There 20 Iron Age sites of Yaz I–III culture (1400–300 BC) inSerakhs oasis, the sub delta ofTedjen River in southern Turkmenistan.[55][56] The sites follow the irrigation system, with average distance of 123 m between sites and rivers, however there is some scientific uncertainty about the irrigations in the Iron Age. The average distance between Yaz sites is 879 m. Most of them are dated to Yaz II–III periods, but once was found Yaz I decorated pottery. In the northern cluster of the sites mostly there is no trace of later occupation, indicating they were abandoned in the Iron Age.[57]
At the village Anaw east ofAshgabat in Turkmenistan are two mounds (kurgans), of which the south kurgan's Iron Age materials (Anaw IV) from ca. 900 to 650 BC, like ceramics and metals, are related to those of Yaz I.[45][58]
Regarding Turkmenistan, many notable archaeologist investigated Yaz ceramic assemblage; A. F. Ganialin and A. A. Maruschenko considered northern pastoralist influence, V. M. Masson it is connected to the Namazga-Tepe VI, but with a break of 100–150 years in-between, whileV. Sarianidi that the Yaz I assemblage arrived from easternKhorasan.[59][60] There three groups of hand-made ware in shape, color of sherd, and the admixture of crushed ceramics into the body ofvessels.[59] Recent research confirmed of the three the Masson's thesis that the Yaz I type ceramics in the foothill ofKopet Dag mountain are a natural development of the Late Bronze Age assemblage from Namazga VI period, but without any time lapse and external influence.[61]
Several recent 2008–2012 discoveries of Early Iron Age burials on the sites of Dzharkutan inSurxondaryo Region ofUzbekistan, andUlug Depe in Turkmenistan shown diverse funerary practices of the Iron Age in Central Asia.[62] It shows burials still existed, but were not numerous. They were primary, secondary, multiple burials, and silo tombs, divided on seasonal and permanent dwellings.[63] In the silos were buried mostly adult females, while in the others the head was mostly removed, indicating symbolic, cult or social reason.[64]
The Yaz culture is often discussed as a candidate for the culture of theearly Iranians as described in theAvesta, i.e., the collection ofreligious literature ofZoroastrianism.[65] Its texts were passed onorally for a long time, which makes an identification with a precise archeological culture difficult.[66] Regardless, the identification of the Yaz culture with the civilization described in the Avesta is based on a number of factors that correlate the textual and archeological evidence.[67]
First, thegeographical horizon of the Avesta makes it clear that the Avestan people lived in the eastern portion ofGreater Iran.[68] As regards the time frame, the oldest texts are assumed to correspond to the late second millennium BCE,[69] whereas the later texts were probably composed in the first half of the first millennium BCE.[70] The Avesta is therefore probably connected with the southward movement of Iranian tribes from theEurasian steppe into southernCentral Asia and eventually onto the Iranian plateau during the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age.[71]
Moreover, the archeological features of the Yaz I culture are seen as the results of the intrusion of nomadicIndo-Iranians from the northernAndronovo culture and their interaction with indigenous traditions from the precedingBMAC culture.[10][19] This is also substantiated by the genetic makeup ofIranophone populations of southern Central Asia. A 2021 study by Kumar et al. shows how by the late Iron Age, the population of this region was characterised by a combination of BMAC and Andronovo ancestries.[72] Likewise, a 2022 study also shows how the ancestry of modernTajiks andYaghnobis largely formed during the early Iron Age by a mixture between these two groups.[73]
Finally, a lack of graves andexcarnations emerged in the Early Iron Age, especially in Yaz I and II cultures,[74] the same period in whichZoroastrianism developed (works such as theGathas often being dated to the second half or end of the2nd millennium BC); the contemporary occurrence falls in line with certain traditions (seeTower of Silence) and cultural schools of thought, but there is ongoing scholarly debate surrounding such a connection.[10][75][76] There is evidence for excarnation in non-Zoroastrian cultures like those inSiberia andMongolia, as well excarnation anddakhmas in some Bronze Age sites likeGonur Tepe andAltyndepe, thus it could have persisted into Early Iron Age as a notion for the long process of formation of the Proto-Zoroastrianism andAvesta.[77][78][13]
Some sites which had Yaz culture layers like the Yaz Depe, Takhirbaj Depe, Taip, Gonur, Togoluk are on theUNESCO'sWorld Heritage List of the State Historical and Cultural Park "AncientMerv" (1999).[79][80]
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