The Mortuary Practices of the Early Iron Age Populations: Recent Discoveries at Dzharkutan in Northern Bactria

Погребальная практика населения раннего железного века: новые находки из Джаркутана в Северной Бактрии

Julio Bendezu-Sarmiento (1, 2) , Johanna Lhuillier (3) , Samariddin Mustafakulov (4) , Komil Rakhimov (4)

1 ArScAn - Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité
2 Délégation Archéologique Francaise en Afghanistan
3 Archéorient - ARCHEORIENT - Environnements et sociétés de l'Orient ancien
4 Institut d'Archéologie de l'Académie des Sciences d'Ouzbékistan

At the beginning of Iron Age, graves disappear almost completely among the sedentary populations of southern Central Asia. It is clear that across southern Central Asia, indications of burials are rare, with the exception of the discovery of some isolated primary graves and secondary burials. Recent discoveries on the site of Dzharkutan by the French Archaeological Mission in Uzbekistan - Protohistory shed new light on the diverse funerary practices of the Iron Age. These findings demonstrate that practices vary more from the generally accepted absence of bodies and artefacts - supposed to indicate a single funerary treatment: excarnation. Indeed, graves - primary, secondary and multiple - do exist.

Mots clés: Archaeology; Central asia

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire

Julio Bendezu-Sarmiento, Johanna Lhuillier, Samariddin Mustafakulov, Komil Rakhimov. The Mortuary Practices of the Early Iron Age Populations: Recent Discoveries at Dzharkutan in Northern Bactria. Bulletin of the International Institute of Central Asian Studies, 2015, 22, pp.26-45. ⟨halshs-01534942⟩