Archaeology of Central Asia during the 1st millennium BC, from the Beginning of the Iron Age to the Hellenistic period

The present volume, edited by Johanna Lhuillier, gathers contributions presented during the workshop “Archaeology of Central Asia during the 1st millennium BC” at the 10th ICAANE in Vienna in April 2016. Designed to treat both the Iron Age and the Hellenistic period, it aims to capture the diversity of current archaeological work on the 1st millennium BC in Central Asia. It sheds new light on this challenging period by characterizing its cultural, socioeconomic, and political transformations and focusing on broader interactions with neighbouring cultures. The contributions are based on previously unpublished data and ongoing fieldwork, addressing key aspects of the covered period, like chronology, the development of settlements and architecture, and the distribution and evolution of material culture. They present the most recent research on the archaeology of the first millennium BC in Central Asia, based on ongoing fieldwork and studies, including in countries or areas hard to reach or even inaccessible, be it for practical (Dehistan, Karakalpakstan) or political reasons (Afghanistan, Pakistan). In an interdisciplinary perspective, this volume reflects the diversity of current scientific approaches: chronologically, covering a period of more than a millennium; geographically, with contributions on Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan (Karakalpakstan), Afghanistan, and Pakistan; thematically, with material culture, subsistence economy, religious architecture and religion, and settlement patterns; methodologically, including, of course, the presentation of fieldwork at representative sites, as well as material culture studies and bioarchaeological analyses.