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Yaz culture

Coordinates:37°45′06″N61°59′54″E/ 37.7517°N 61.9984°E/37.7517; 61.9984
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Yaz culture
Map showing the extent of the Yaz culture
Archaeological cultures associated withIndo-Iranian migrations(afterEIEC). TheAndronovo,BMACand Yaz cultures have often been associated withIndo-Iranianmigrations. TheGGC(Swat),Cemetery H,Copper HoardandPGWcultures are candidates for cultures associated withIndo-Aryanmigrations.
PeriodEarlyIron Age
c. 1500–500 BCorc. 1500–330 BC
Type siteYaz-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 Ageculture ofMargiana,BactriaandSogdia(c. 1500–500 BC,[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]orc. 1500–330 BC[9][10]). It emerges at the top of lateBronze Agesites (BMAC), sometimes as mud-brick platforms and sizeable houses associated withirrigationsystems. Ceramics were mostly hand-made, but there was increasing use ofwheel-thrownware. There have been found bronze or iron arrowheads, also ironsicklesor carpet knives among other artifacts.[11][12][13]

With the farming citadels and absence of burials it has been regarded as a likely archaeological reflection of earlyEast Iraniancultureas described in theAvesta.[14][15]So far, no burials related to the culture have been found, and this is taken as possible evidence of theZoroastrianpractice of exposure orsky burial.[2][16][17][18]

Overview

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Yaz I

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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)[9]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 ofkurgansin the north.[19]The ceramics, and spherical stone maces, show continuity and contemporaneity between Yaz Depe andUlug Depeof the Early Iron Age and Tekkem Depe among others of theNamazga-TepeVI period.[13]

Yaz I culture is argued to be related to the sedentarisation of the nomadicIndo-Iraniansin theEurasian Steppe,a synthesis with autochthonous traits.[2][20][21][22][23][24]It extended from the central part of theKopet Dagmountains to the fertile delta of theMurghab River.[5]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 (trianglesandchevrons),lozenges,bands,and of additional elements.[25]It seems to be connected to theChust cultureofFergana Valley,MundigakV-VI inSistan,andPirakI-III on theKacchi Plain.Compared to the Chust culture, no tombs from the Yaz culture have been found.[2][26]Asko Parpolaand Fred Hiebert argued that these cultures seemingly derived from the Haladun culture (1750–1200 BC) ofXinjiang,and someAndronovo culturecontacts, indicating a Europid upper strata who spoke East Aryan.[27][28]The introduction of the culture is seemingly related to the sound change*s>hwhenIranian languagecame in the Indo-Iranian borderlands ofRgvedic tribesaround 1500 BC, seen in the change of theVedicriverSindhuinto AvestanHindu(Indus River),SarasvatiintoHaraxhvaiti.[29]

Yaz II

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It is dated circa 1100–700 or 1000–540 BC[9]in Middle Iron Age, however some recent research consider no accurate boundary between the Yaz I and Yaz II.[7]It moved to the north and northeast.[30]It is characterized by wheel-made pottery type (reappearance of the wheel like inNamazga-TepeV[31]), iron metallurgy, large fortified sites, as well as the occupation of previous sites and the continuation of the funerary practices.[32][19]

The Yaz II complex seemingly correlates with theAiryanem Vaejah,homeland of those tribes who spokeAvestan language,different from bothWesternandEastern Iranian languages,to be replaced in Bactria by the former at the end of the 1st millennium BC.[33]Asko Parpolaassociated the change from Yaz I to Yaz II around 1000 BC with the migration of the Western Iranians (Medians,Persians).[34]He considered that the Yaz I people spoke Proto-EasternIranian or Proto-Saka.[24][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 dynastykingdom which coincides with the Yaz II/A (10th-8th century BC), while date of the lateKayaniancapitalBalkhto Yaz II/B period (7th-6th century BC).[33]

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 Inscriptionin which reportedly 55,243 Margians were killed and 6,972 taken as prisoners, and the conquest of Bactria.[35][36][37]

Yaz III

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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 Empireperiod, but is still characterized by the same cultural and funerary continuity.[38][39][40]The beak-shapedrimis replaced in form of a flattened roller, vessels are cylindrical-conical,[41]and a bronze three-bladed arrow, ironaxesandadzeswere discovered.[42]

Research

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The Yaz Tepe settlement was the central district in the then metropolitan part ofMargiana.[43][44]It covered 1 ha in Iron Age phase, and stood on brickplatform mound8 m high, while thestratigraphicexcavations 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,[45]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).[9]The Yaz I complex was similar to those in northernBactria,thus the culture was noted for the development of large settlements (sometime small[46]) centred around fortifiedkeepsbuilt on massive platforms, but the excavations failed to locate the transition from the Late Bronze Age unlike other cultures.[47]Other Margian well known sites with Yaz I ceramics areGonur Tepe,Togoluk, Uch Tepe, Adam Basan, Taip, Garaoj Tepe, Takhirbaj Tepe.[2]

Kuchuk Tepe settlement inBactria(todayUzbekistan) is also related to the Yaz I culture.[2][48]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.[44]Other Bactrian well known sites with Yaz I ceramics areTillya Tepein northeasternAfghanistan,and Kyzyl Tepe, Dzharkutan, Kangurt-Tut, and Teguzak inTajikistan.[2][49]The single purely Yaz I site in Tajikistan is Karim-berdy which measures 500 x 300 m.[50]Along theKunduz Riverare located oasis Naibabad and Farukabad.[51]The settlements at Bandykhan, betweenShirabadandDenovin 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).[52]

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 Depeand the northern mound atAnau,and all complexes overlieNamazga-TepeVI 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.[53][13]Askarov argued that it cannot be excluded that the Elken Depe was then the capital of northern Parthia.[47]

There 20 Iron Age sites of Yaz I-III culture (1400–300 BC) inSerakhsoasis, the sub delta ofTedjen Riverin southern Turkmenistan.[54][55]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.[56]

At the village Anaw east ofAshgabatin 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.[44][57]

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. Sarianidithat the Yaz I assemblage arrived from easternKhorasan.[58][59]There three groups of hand-made ware in shape, color of sherd, and the admixture of crushed ceramics into the body ofvessels.[58]Recent research confirmed of the three the Masson's thesis that the Yaz I type ceramics in the foothill ofKopet Dagmountain are a natural development of the Late Bronze Age assemblage from Namazga VI period, but without any time lapse and external influence.[60]

Burials

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Several recent 2008–2012 discoveries of Early Iron Age burials on the sites of Dzharkutan inSurxondaryo RegionofUzbekistan,andUlug Depein Turkmenistan shown diverse funerary practices of the Iron Age in Central Asia.[61]It shows burials still existed, but were not numerous. They were primary, secondary, multiple burials, and silo tombs, divided on seasonal and permanent dwellings.[62]In the silos were buried mostly adult females, while in the others the head was mostly removed, indicating symbolic, cult or social reason.[63]

A lack of graves andexcarnationsemerged in the Early Iron Age, especially in Yaz I and II cultures,[64]the same period in whichZoroastrianismdeveloped (works such as theGathasoften 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[2][65][66][67]There is evidence for excarnation in non-Zoroastrian cultures like those inSiberiaandMongolia,as well excarnation anddakhmasin some Bronze Age sites likeGonur TepeandAltyndepe,thus in could have persisted into Early Iron Age as a notion for the long process of formation of the Proto-Zoroastrianism andAvesta.[68][69][18]

Legacy

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Some sites which had Yaz culture layers like the Yaz Depe, Takhirbaj Depe, Taip, Gonur, Togoluk are on theUNESCO'sWorld Heritage Listof the State Historical and Cultural Park "AncientMerv"(1999).[70][71]

See also

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References

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Citations

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  1. ^"Yaz Tepe".Brill Reference.Koninklijke Brill NV. October 2006.Retrieved1 October2016.
  2. ^abcdefghParpola 1995,p. 372.
  3. ^Mallory & Adams 1997,p. 653.
  4. ^Kuzmina 2007,p. 416–417, 426–428, 431, 157, 449–450:V. Sarianidi and G. Gutlyev in the 1970s and 1980s suggested a date at the end of the 2nd millennium BC.Elena Efimovna Kuzminaconsidered that some Yaz I sites belonged to the 10th-9th centuries BC, while the cultural synthesis at the border of the 2nd/1st millennium BC, circa 1000–800 BC.Vasily Abaevconsidered the nomads to be related to theScythiansorSaka,which relates to theYasht13.143 "the territory ofArya...Turya,Sairima,Daha".
  5. ^abBuławka 2009–2010,p. 121.
  6. ^Raffaele Biscione; Ali Vahdati (2012)."The Iranian-Italian archaeological mission: Season 2012: The identification of cultural areas"(PDF).Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici.54.Edizioni dell'Ateneo & Bizzari: 358.
  7. ^abBoroffka & Sverchkov 2013,p. 49.
  8. ^Parpola 2015,p. 298.
  9. ^abcdLhuillier, Johanna, (2018)."Central Asia During the Achaemenid Period in Archaeological Perspective",in Sébastien Gondet and Ernie Haerinck (eds.), Acta Iranica 58, L'Orient Est Son Jardin, Hommage á Rémy Boucharlat, Peeters, Leuven, Paris, Bristol, p. 258.
  10. ^Bendezu Sarmiento, Julio, Philippe Marquis, Johanna Lhuillier, and Hervé Monchot, (2018)."A sepulchral pit from the Late Iron Age in Bactra: The site of Tepe Zargaran (Afghanistan)",in: Johanna Lhuillier and Nikolaus Boroffka (eds.),A Millennium of History,Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Berlin,p. 319:"...In southern Central Asia, the Iron Age saw the almost-complete disappearance of burial (Sine Sepulchro period covering the Yaz I-III sequence, ca. 1500-330 BCE)..."
  11. ^Mallory & Adams 1997,p. 653–654.
  12. ^Kuzmina 2007,p. 430.
  13. ^abcKhlopina 2015,p. 55.
  14. ^Mallory & Adams 1997,p. 310–311.
  15. ^Kuzmina 2007,p. 444.
  16. ^Mallory & Adams 1997,p. 311.
  17. ^Bendezu-Sarmiento & Lhuillier 2013,p. 282.
  18. ^abParpola 2015,p. 103, 106, 298.
  19. ^abBendezu-Sarmiento & Lhuillier 2013,p. 281.
  20. ^Lamberg-Karlovsky 2005,p. 162.
  21. ^Kuzmina 2007,p. 425–432.
  22. ^Kuzmina 2008,p. 74–75.
  23. ^Boroffka & Sverchkov 2013,p. 69–70.
  24. ^abParpola 2015,p. 299.
  25. ^Buławka 2009–2010,p. 123–130.
  26. ^Kuzmina 2008,p. 107.
  27. ^Parpola 2012,p. 196.
  28. ^Askarov 1999,p. 451.
  29. ^Parpola & Carpelan 2005,p. 133.
  30. ^Boroffka & Sverchkov 2013,p. 70.
  31. ^Khlopina 2015,p. 52.
  32. ^Kuzmina 2007,p. 419, 440.
  33. ^abBoroffka & Sverchkov 2013,p. 67.
  34. ^Parpola 2015,p. 54, 149.
  35. ^Diakonoff 1985,p. 130.
  36. ^Boroffka & Sverchkov 2013,p. 65.
  37. ^Dandamaev, M. A. (1989),A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire,BRILL, pp. 125–126,ISBN90-04-09172-6
  38. ^Kuzmina 2007,p. 417, 419, 440.
  39. ^Bendezu-Sarmiento & Lhuillier 2013,p. 281–282.
  40. ^Boroffka & Sverchkov 2013,p. 49, 70.
  41. ^Boroffka & Sverchkov 2013,p. 49, 64.
  42. ^Kuzmina 2007,p. 417, 419.
  43. ^Kuzmina 2007,p. 418.
  44. ^abc"Excavations III: In Central Asia: Early Iron Age".Encyclopædia Iranica.Retrieved1 October2016.
  45. ^Askarov, A., 1999."The Beginning of the Iron Age in Transoxania",inAhmad Hasan Daniand Vadim Mikhailovich Masson (eds.), History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume I, The Dawn of Civilization: Earliest Times to 700 B. C., Motilal Banasidass Publisher, Delhi, p. 452.
  46. ^Kuzmina 2008,p. 74.
  47. ^abAskarov 1999,p. 453.
  48. ^Kuzmina 2007,p. 270–272, 288–290, 421–422, 428, 430.
  49. ^Kuzmina 2007,p. 290, 420–423, 428.
  50. ^Kuzmina 2007,p. 289.
  51. ^Kuzmina 2007,p. 423.
  52. ^Boroffka & Sverchkov 2013,p. 54–56, 59–63.
  53. ^Kuzmina 2007,p. 425.
  54. ^Buławka & Kaim 2015,p. 792–793.
  55. ^Buławka 2017,p. 143–170.
  56. ^Buławka & Kaim 2015,p. 793–794.
  57. ^"Anaw".Encyclopædia Iranica.Retrieved1 October2016.
  58. ^abKhlopina 2015,p. 45.
  59. ^Kuzmina 2007,p. 417.
  60. ^Khlopina 2015,p. 45–51, 60.
  61. ^Bendezu-Sarmiento & Lhuillier 2013,p. 282–283, 291.
  62. ^Bendezu-Sarmiento & Lhuillier 2013,p. 304–305, 308.
  63. ^Bendezu-Sarmiento & Lhuillier 2013,p. 307.
  64. ^Diakonoff 1985,p. 141.
  65. ^Kuzmina 2007,p. 161, 219, 301, 368, 417, 448–456.
  66. ^Bendezu-Sarmiento & Lhuillier 2013,p. 449.
  67. ^Parpola 2015,p. 106, 298.
  68. ^Kuzmina 2007,p. 456.
  69. ^Bendezu-Sarmiento & Lhuillier 2013,p. 309–310.
  70. ^"State Historical and Cultural Park" Ancient Merv ""(PDF).UNESCO. 4 December 1999.Retrieved1 October2016.
  71. ^"UNESCO Representative visits ancient city of Merv".UNESCO. 21 August 2016.Retrieved1 October2016.

Sources

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37°45′06″N61°59′54″E/ 37.7517°N 61.9984°E/37.7517; 61.9984

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