The Oxus Route toward the South

Abstract

In this contribution, in view of the striking evidence from the site of Akchakhan-kala which is casting a completely new light on the archaeology of the Chorasmian polity and the Central Asian region, I explore relations between Ancient Chorasmia and its neighbouring regions to the south, in particular Bactriana. I will try to argue that the oft-referred to favoured political relations of Chorasmia with the Arsacid empire, considering all the evidence now at our disposal, have been misjudged. The material culture of Ancient Chorasmia, throughout the history of the region, clearly shows the existence of a privileged, albeit not exclusive, exchange route toward the region to its south. Chorasmia has always been, since its birth in the 6th century BC, a bridge from the sedentary world toward the steppes and a polity with a distinctive culture that the scarcity of written sources has often deprived of historical individuality and speciously relegated to the periphery of modern western historiography, in the shadow of the better-known superregional powers that established control over Asia and Iran.