A Tale of Two Surveys: Ongoing investigations in landscape archaeology in Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan

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Abstract

Landscape archaeology, as a conceptual approach to contextualizing a site within its socio-natural world, does not have a robust history in Central Asian archaeology. With few exceptions, excavations and surveys carried out in the region during the 20^th century were focused on building site-based chronologies and identifying localized developments in material styles and economic organization. The legacy of these “regional archaeologies” runs deep, and is perpetuated through a variety of methods and interpretive frameworks still common in Central Asian archaeology. In this presentation, I outline the potential of modern landscape archaeology to reframe the ways we think about materials, peoples, spaces, and society – and their intersections – in ancient Central Asia. I introduce some aspects of Soviet archaeology as they relate to the practice and conceptualization of modern landscape archaeology. I then turn to two case studies as illustrative of ways we might integrate long-extant archaeological datasets with newly-generated ones as a productive approach to our interpretations of the past. The first case study examines palimpsest land use and its social meanings in highland Kyrgyzstan, while the second case study focuses on lowland southern Turkmenistan and the difficulties of defining archaeological communities. Although these two case studies differ in their analytical scales and data sources, and they represent distinct regional histories, bringing them together provides an opportunity to reflect on our own processes of knowledge building in the reconstructions of archaeological landscapes.

Learn more about Lynne M. Rouse and her research here: https://lynnemrouse.wordpress.com/lynne-m-rouse/

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