BOB2024MOOT

Sarazm, in modern-day Tajikistan, is rightly famous as an archaeological site. A Chalcolithic and Bronze Age settlement, it formed part of a cultural and economic network that stretched from the steppe of Central Asia across to the Iranian Plateau and the Indus. Between 1984 and 1994, fieldwork led by a joint Tajik-French project took place at Excavation VII, yielding unique archaeological contexts and materials that shed light on Sarazm’s multicultural nature, its evolution through time, and the varied activities that took place at the site. Now, in this new volume, the first comprehensive description and analysis of all available data from Excavation VII is presented, and the data from this excavation contextualized both at site level and within the broader setting of the Steppe and Oasis cultures of the IVth and IIIrd millennia bce. The author offers functional, cultural, and chronological conclusions about the exposed occupations, as well as putting forward new interpretations and hypotheses on this important settlement.

This volume investigates settlement trajectories and systems of movement in the Birecik-Carchemish sector of the Euphrates River Valley from the fifth to the third millennium BCE. Integrating remote sensing analyses, published data of individual surveys and excavations, and the original results of the ‘Land of Carchemish Project’, this multi-scalar study shows the significant longevity of settlement choices and the role of small sites in shaping the cultural landscape of the region, both along the Euphrates and in the uplands. Attention is paid to the dynamics behind settlement creation and continuity, while the author also provides a reassessment of the radiocarbon dates from sites in the area of study.