The Stone Age of Central Asia 3101-DM0019
During the lectures the problems concerning the oldest periods of Central Asia /from the first humans to the end of the Neolithic/ are discussed. The particular problems are presented on wide background, in connection with the general directions of the development of human culture. A special attention is paid to the most recent results of a research, carried on, among others, by Polish-Uzbek, and French-Polish-Uzbek Archaeological Expeditions. The following questions are touched:
a. Central Asia - geography, geomorphology, climate, some aspects of geology, plant and animal world.
b. Lower Palaeolithic - a problem of chronology, characteristics of the most important finds.
c. Middle Palaeolithic - general characteristics, differentiation of the lithic industries, stratification and phases, the main sites.
d. Excavation on the site Kuturbulak.
e. A problem of the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic turn, the presence of a Neanderthal Man - the most recent data and hypotheses.
f. The specificity of the Central Asian Upper Palaeolithic.
g. Mesolithic - the regional differentiation, characteristics of the lithic industries, the cultural relations.
h. Neolithic - the basis for cultural differentiation.
i. The Dzheytun culture - the farmers in the southern part of Central Asia.
j. The Hissar culture - the shepherds from the mountains.
k. The Kelteminar culture - general characteristics, basic chronological differentiation.
l. Ayakagytma 'The Site' - the results of an excavation.
m. Kelteminarian economics - domestication of animals, lithic raw materials, red dye working, organization of flint processing.
n. A settlement collapse on the Central Asian Lowlands at the turn of the Neolithic and Early Bronze periods.
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
1. Has the deepened knowledge about the place and importance of the archaeology of the Stone Age of Central Asia;
2. Has the well organized knowledge about the cultural units of the Stone Age of Central Asia, together with specialized terminology and scientific hypotheses;
3. Has the well organized knowledge about the connections of the Central Asian Stone Age archaeology with: geography, geomorphology, geology, paleoclimatology, plants, and animals characteristic of the region;
4. Has the deepened knowledge about the most recent hypotheses concerning the human evolution on the territory of Central Asia;
5. Can recognize the detailed types and assemblages of the artifacts characteristic of the Central Asian Stone Age archaeology, and is able to put them on an order proper to the taxonomic units they represent;
6. Is conscious of the meaning of the heritage of the Stone Age of Central Asia in a process leading to forming the more advanced civilizations;
7. Is conscious of the unique value of the Central Asian Stone Age archaeological sources, in reconstructing the earliest periods of human history
Assessment criteria
Criteria of evaluation: oral exam at the end of the course
Bibliography
Derevianko A. P., 2001, The Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transition in the Altai (Mongolian and Siberia), , Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia, No. 3 (7):70 - 103.
Derevianko A. P. /ed./, 2004, Grot Obi-Rakhmat /Obi-Rakhmat Grotto/, Izdatelstvo Instituta arkheologii i etnografii SO RAN, Novosibirsk.
Dolukhanov P. M., 1986, Foragers and farmers in West-Central Asia, [in:] Hunters in Transition. Mesolithic Societies of Temperete Eurasia and Their Transition to Farming, edited by M. Zvelebil, Cambridge-London-New York-New Rochelle-Melburne-Sydney:121 - 132. Islamov U. I., 1980, Obishirskaya kultura, Izdatelstvo ‘FAN’ Uzbekskoy SSRTashkent.
Islamov U. I, Timofeev V. I, 1986, Kultura kamennogo veka Tsentralnoy Fergani, Izdatelstvo ‘FAN’ Uzbekskoy SSR, Tashkent.
Masson V. M., 1971, Poseleniye Dzheytun (problema stanovleniya proizvodiyashchey ekonomiki), Materiali i Issledovaniya po Arkheologii SSSR, No. 180, Izdatelstvo „Nauka”, Leningradskoe Otdelenie, Leningrad.
Masson V. M., Sarianidi V. I., 1972, Central Asia, Turkmenia before the Achaemenids, London.
Szymczak K. Khudzhanazarov M., with the contribution of M. Fontugne, A. Gręzak, A. Lasota-Moskalewska, R. Michniak,. J. Piątkowska-Małecka, M. Przeździecki, 2006, Exploring the Neolithic of the Kyzyl-kums; Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ and other collections, Światowit Supplement Series P: Prehistory and Middle Ages, vol. XI, K. Lewartowski /ed./, Central Asia – Prehistoric Studies, vol. II, T. Shirinov, K. Szymczak /eds./, preface by T. Shirinov and K. Szymczak, Institute of Archaeology, Warsaw University, Warsaw, pp. 252, figs. 70, tables 12, pls. 110.
Teshik-Tash. Paleoliticheskiy chelovek, 1949, edited by M. A. Gemiatskiy and M. F. Nesturkh, Izdatelstvo Moskovskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta, Moskva.
Vinogradov A. V., 1968, Neoliticheskiye Pamyatniki Khorezma, Materiali Khorezmskoy Ekspeditsii 8, Moskva.
Vinogradov A. V., 1972, Kizilkumskiye yuveliri, Uspekhi Sredneazyatskoy Arkheologii, vipusk 2, pp. 43 – 45.
Vinogradov A. V., Mamedov E. D., 1975, Pervobitniy Lavlakan, Izdatelstvo “Nauka”, Glavnaya Redaktsya Vostochnoy Literaturi, Moskva.
Vinogradov A. V., Mamedov E. D., Sulerzhitskiy L. D., 1977, Perviye radiouglerodniye dati dla neolita Kyzylkumov, Sovetskaya Arkheologiya, No. 4, pp. 267 – 269.
Vinogradov A. V, 1981, Drevniye okhotniki i ribolovi sredneazyatskogo mezhdurechya, Trudi Khorezmskoy Arkheologo-Etnograficheskoy Ekspeditsii 13, Izdatelstvo “Nauka”Moskva.
Vishnyatsky L. B., 1999, The Palaeolithic of Central Asia, Journal of World Prehistory, Vol. 13, No. 1, 1999:69-122.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: