Assessing Hellenistic to nomadic cultural patterns through pottery in ancient Termez, Uzbekistan

Abstract

We present the archaeological contextualization and the archaeometric characterization of slipped and nonslipped tableware and common wares from Termez in south Uzbekistan. The aims are, first, to evaluate the manufacture of pottery in the city and region (ancient Bactria) after the conquest of Alexander the Great in the late 4th century B.C. so as to detect Hellenistic Mediterranean influences, and, second, to investigate the evolution in pottery manufacturing following the arrival of the Yuezhi nomadic tribes in the mid‐2nd century B.C. X‐ray fluorescence, X‐ray diffraction, and thin‐section analyses were performed on vessels and on various local raw materials to examine the provenance and the technological processes involved in production (raw materials procurement and processing, shaping, and firing). Surface treatments were analyzed by using scanning electron microscopy equipped with an energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectrometer. The study reveals that all the analyzed wares are local/regional wheel‐thrown products, suggesting a high degree of technological standardization in the procurement and processing of raw materials in the period considered. The main difference between the two pottery traditions concerns the shape of the vessels, pointing to new consumption patterns after the nomadic invasion.

Islamic glazed wares from ancient Termez (southern Uzbekistan). Raw materials and techniques

“…Even if some chemical differences have been detected among the vessels classified in groups A and B, all of them have been considered as local products. They consist of calcareous pastes (CaO: 10-11 wt%) with similar chemical composition to the local productions from Termez related to the pre-Islamic period (Tsantini et al, 2016;Martínez Ferreras et al, 2019b). Indeed, the mineralogical and petrographic composition of these vessels is consistent with the local raw materials (clayey sediments) also analysed from Termez and with the geological composition of the region.…”

Rapid Intensity Decrease During the Second Half of the First Millennium BCE in Central Asia and Global Implications

“…Moreover, the compositional differences detected among these samples and those found at Kampyr Tepe and Termez reveal that they were not produced in the Amu Darya floodplain. At Termez, all the samples analyzed were recovered from the alluvial plain (sectors AC1 and AC2) and have been considered as local/regional products (Martínez Ferreras et al., 2019). In contrast, for the tableware from the Tchingiz Tepe, dated to the Kushan and Kushano‐Sasanian periods, a local provenance has been established (Gurt Esparraguera et al., 2015).…”

“…The chemical, mineralogical, and petrographic composition of the studied collection was characterized in previous studies (Gurt Esparraguera et al., 2015; Martínez Ferreras et al., 2016, 2019) by using an ensemble of archeometric techniques, including Wavelength Dispersive X‐Ray Fluorescence, X‐Ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy Dispersive X‐Ray Spectroscopy, and thin section optical microscopy. These studies prove that the chemical variability is very low between the ceramic vessels found in the same site, suggesting the use of very similar raw materials and therefore, a common local/regional origin.…”

“…It has systematically been excavated since the 1990s; one of the most active archaeological research teams from the last decades is the Uzbek‐Spanish team IPAEB, led by the University of Barcelona and the Institute of Fine Arts of Uzbekistan. The city developed from the original fortress, the citadel, was built probably by the successors of Alexander in Seleucid times (first half of the 3rd century BCE) (Martínez Ferreras et al., 2019). It was extended during the Greco‐Bactrian (mid‐3rd to mid/late‐2nd century BCE), Yuezhi (mid/late 2nd century and 1st century BCE) and Kushan periods (1st to mid‐3rd centuries CE), becoming an important Buddhist center.…”

“…The results suggest an occupation between the late‐3rd century BCE and the 1st century CE for the alluvial plain. The materials from Tchingiz Tepe here studied are dated between the 2nd and the 4th centuries CE (Martínez Ferreras et al., 2014, 2019 and Supporting Information S1 for details).…”