Relationships of Intensity and Impact: Archaeological Investigation of Nomadic-Sedentary Interaction in Bronze Age Turkmenistan (Research Brief)

This research focuses on Central Asia as a region where the deep history of mobile-sedentary relationships continues to influence modern society, despite our present inability to characterize the nature and motivations of these interactions in prehistory. The unique history of Central Asia as a locus of mobile-sedentary interaction has often been interpreted using geographically and temporally inappropriate anthropological models, effectively denying this region its significance in local and regional developments. My project utilizes archaeological data from the Murghab Delta in southern Turkmenistan to examine mobile-sedentary interaction in the pivotal Bronze Age period, when independent groups of mobile pastoralists appear to interact with urban, agrarian communities for the first time. The general results suggest that mobile groups were far more integrated and had more regular and intense contact with sedentary communities during this time than has previously been recognized.

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Lynne M. Rouse, of Washington University in St. Louis, was a 2009-10 Individual Advanced Research Opportunities (IARO) fellow.