Ulug-Depe in the frame of Turkmenistan Iron Age: an overview

Johanna Lhuillier (1) , Julio Bendezu-Sarmiento (2, 3) , Olivier Lecomte

1 AOROC - Archéologie et Philologie d'Orient et d'Occident
2 Délégation Archéologique Francaise en Afghanistan
3 ArScAn - Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité

Since 2001, the French-Turkmen Archaeological Mission (MAFTur) carried out excavations at the site of Ulug-depe, located near Dushak in the Kopet Dagh range piedmont. The site displays the longest stratigraphy in Central Asia, from the late Neolithic to the Middle Iron Age. The work carried out during the last 3 seasons focused on the Iron Age; it is yielding a better understanding of this period in the Kopet Dagh region. Two periods were identified, the Early Iron Age (Yaz I period) and the Middle Iron Age (Yaz II period). The main features of the occupation of each of these two periods are presented in this article (stratigraphy and architecture, ceramics, funerary practices). Furthermore, as Ulug-depe is one of the few sites of Central Asia that displays Bronze Age levels as well as Iron Age ones, we turned our attention more particularly to the transition between these two periods.

Mots clés: Central Asia; Turkmenistan; Iron Age; Archaeological excavation; Archaeological materials

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire

Johanna Lhuillier, Julio Bendezu-Sarmiento, Olivier Lecomte. Ulug-Depe in the frame of Turkmenistan Iron Age: an overview. Journal of iranian archaeology, 2015, 4, pp.78-89. ⟨halshs-01187610⟩