Ulug-depe and the transition period from Bronze Age to Iron Age in Central Asia. A tribute to V.I. Sarianidi

Johanna Lhuillier (1)

1 Archéorient - ARCHEORIENT - Environnements et sociétés de l'Orient ancien

After the pioneering excavations of V.I. Sarianidi at Ulug-depe in the late 1960s, the site appeared as one the rare settlements of Central Asia with an occupation during both the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. For him as for the French-Turkmen Archaeological Mission currently working at the site, it offers an excellent opportunity to study the transition period between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. In this paper, we bring together some unpublished data from V. I. Sarianidi’s excavations and the first results of our recent work concerning this issue. In order to reach an understanding, we set back Ulug-depe in the context of the neighbouring settlements of the Kopet Dagh piedmont, but also of the contemporary sites of Margiana and Bactria. All together, the data evidence a continuity of the occupation between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age, in a context of coexistence of different cultural communities, and a progressive, but short transition phase.

Mots clés: Central asia; Archaeology

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire

Johanna Lhuillier. Ulug-depe and the transition period from Bronze Age to Iron Age in Central Asia. A tribute to V.I. Sarianidi . Dubova, N.A., Antonova, E.V., Kozhin, P.M., Kosarev, M.F., Muradov, R.G., Sataev, R.M. & Tishkin A.A. Transactions of Margiana Archaeological Expedition, To the memory of Professor Viktor Sarianidi, 6, Staryj Sad, pp.509-521, 2016, 978-5-89930-150-6. ⟨halshs-01534928⟩