Kara-tepe, Karakalpakstan: Agropastoralism in a Central Eurasian Oasis in the 4th/5th century A.D. Transition

ABSTRACT

This paper reports on the results of archaeological field excavations at the site of Kara-tepe, in the semi-autonomous region of Karakalpakstan in northwestern Uzbekistan. Investigations at the site in 2008–2009 turned up an unusually rich assemblage of remains from a household context. Combined analysis of the household botanical and faunal remains has allowed us to reconstruct the agropastoral practices of local inhabitants in this oasis region during a critical period of social and environmental change in the Early Medieval transition (4th–5th centuries a.d.). The results of the study raise important new questions about agropastoralism in the oases of Central Eurasia, highlighting continuities of practice between oasis and steppe populations, and revealing dynamic changes in these systems over time.

KEYWORDS:

• Agropastoralism
• Central Eurasia
• oasis
• steppe
• archaeobotany
• faunal analysis
• household

Acknowledgements

Fieldwork and research on the site of Kara-tepe was funded by the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (doctoral dissertation grant #7948). Additional research funding was provided by the G.F. Dales Foundation, the UCLA Department of Anthropology, the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology (UCLA), the Center for European and Eurasian Studies (UCLA), and the UCLA Friends of Archaeology. Logistical and research support in Uzbekistan was provided by the Institute of History, Archaeology, and Ethnography, Karakalpak Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the University of Sydney. The authors would like to especially thank the members of the Karakalpak-Australian Archaeological Expedition to Chorasmia: Alison Betts, Vadim N. Yagodin, Shamil Amirov, Aysulu Iskanderova, Dmitry V. Yagodin, Vanessa Terrapon, and Till Sonneman for their contributions. A special thanks also to Thomas Wake and Hannah Lau for their contributions to the faunal identifications. The magnetometer survey was made possible by the Carlyle Greenwell Research Grant and the Near Eastern Archaeology Foundation, University of Sydney, and we thank Dr. Armin Schmidt for advice and assistance with the survey and data processing. Marston thanks the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown University, the Fiske Center of the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and especially Virginia Popper and Heather Trigg for logistical support in the analysis of the Kara-tepe archaeobotanical remains. We also would like to express our gratitude to the anonymous reviewers who provided feedback that strengthened the arguments herein.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on Contributors

Elizabeth B. Brite (Ph.D. 2011, University of California, Los Angeles) is a clinical assistant professor in the Honors College, Purdue University. Her research interests include Central Asian archaeology, agricultural change and innovation in prehistory, food, and sustainability.

Gairatdin Khozhaniyazov (Ph.D. 1997, Institute of History, Archaeology, and Ethnography, Karakalpak Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan) is the head of the Department of Archaeology, Karakalpak Scientific Research Institute of Human Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan. His research interests include Central Asian archaeology, history of fortifications in ancient and medieval Khorezm, and ethnoarchaeology.

John M. Marston (Ph.D. 2010, University of California, Los Angeles) is an assistant professor in the Department of Archaeology, Boston University. His research interests include archaeobotany, agricultural systems, climate-change adaptation, environmental archaeology of empire, and Mediterranean, Near Eastern, and Central Asian archaeology.

Michelle Negus Cleary (Ph.D. 2015, University of Sydney) is a researcher at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research interests include Central Asian and Caucasian archaeology, Eurasian settlement patterns and urbanism, landscape and conflict archaeology.

Fiona J. Kidd (Ph.D. 2005, University of Sydney) is an assistant professor of history and art and art history at New York University Abu Dhabi. Her research interests include Central Asian art and archaeology, identity, images, and the built environment.

ORCID

Elizabeth Baker Brite http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5859-3377

John M. Marston http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1412-9695

Michelle Negus Cleary http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0052-742X