Kazakhstan
Talgar Archaeological Project
Claudia Chang and her colleagues started working in eastern Kazakhstan on the Talgar alluvial fan in 1994, three years after the Soviet Union collapsed. She recognized early in her work that agriculture was important in the economy of the former occupants of the Talgar region, despite reading numerous published sources that argued for specialized pastoralism in this region during the first millennium B.C. The Talgar Archaeological Project has incorporated several paleoethnobotanists over the years, interested in both micro- and macrobotanical approaches. Naomi Miller of Pennsylvania University joined the team in 1994, and Arlene Rosen conducted some of the first phytolith research in Central Asia during 1995 and 1997. Reinder Neef, of the German Archaeological Institute, conducted botanical studies on these sites in the late 1990s. Dr. Spengler conducted macrobotanical analyses on material from 2008, 2009, and 2010, culminating in a synthetic published account of the importance of agriculture, noting the array of crop varieties (Spengler et al. 2013). Dr. Spengler also pulled together all of these studies into one comprehensive discussion (Spengler et al. 2017). After a hiatus of more than a decade, Dr. Spengler and members of his team returned to the Talgar region in 2023 to continue research.
The settlement site of Tuzusai (410 – 150 cal B.C.) is located on the Talgar alluvial fan, in the Tien Shan Mountains of southeastern Kazakhstan, about 15 km east of the former Kazakh capital of Almaty. Today, this rich alluvial fan fosters irrigated agriculture. Excavations at Tuzusai, Taldy Bulak 2, Tseganka 8, and Tseganka 4, all on the Talgar alluvial fan, were conducted by Chang and her colleagues as part of the International Kazakh-American Talgar Archaeological Project. Survey work by Chang and Perry Tourtellotte has identified as many as 80 archaeological sites across the fan, mostly dating to the first millennium B.C. These settlements were occupied during the Iron Age by people in the Saka (800 – 200 B.C.) and Wusun culture groups (200 B.C. – A.D. 500). The domesticated crops identified at Tuzusai included: hulled barley (likely all six-rowed [Hordeum vulgare var. vulgare]), naked barley (H. vulgare var. nudum), free-threshing compact wheat and free-threshing lax-eared wheat (likely hexaploid [Triticum aestivum/turgidum]), broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), and grape seeds (Vitis vinifera). While there is a range of morphological variation among the free-threshing wheats and many landraces express extreme variation within a single crop harvest, Dr. Spengler suggests that there is a wide enough range to represent two crop varieties or distinct landraces. In addition, hulled and naked varieties of barley are genetically distinct and would have been cultivated separately to maintain their separate phenotypical traits. Research in this region has challenged preconceived ideas about the lifestyles of people in the past, notably questioning the nomadic narratives that have dominated Central Asian archaeology (Spengler et al. 2021).
Awards & Recognition:
With data gathered on this project, the search for the world’s oldest apple was rated one of the 2019 Top Ten Discoveries by Archaeology Magazine.
The Dzhungar Mountains Archaeological Project (DMAP)
Dr Spengler joined the Dzhungar Mountains Archaeological Project (DMAP) during his dissertation research and continued to collaborate with the team until 2010. The collaborations resulted in a series of publications that laid a strong foundation for the current reappraisals of Inner Asian paleoeconomy. Michael Frachetti of Washington University directs DMAP and has focused on several important archaeological sites in Kazakhstan, including Begash, Mukri, and Tasbas. From 2004 to 2010, the team worked in the Koksu River valley, a location rich in archaeological material that has received limited attention from other researchers. From 2011 until the present day, they have focused their attention on the Byan-Zherek valley, a botanically rich upland valley with a dense archaeological landscape. Much of this new research has been directed by Paula Doumani-Dupry of Nazerbayev University in Astana. Although several Soviet survey projects have been conducted in the region, a comprehensive understanding of the archaeological sequence remains incomplete.
DMAP focuses on the Bronze Age (3500-800 cal. B.C.), which comprises a poorly understood aggregate of varying culture groups sharing some similarities in material remains, often grouped under the title Andronovo Cultural Complex. The Koksu River valley is significant in the broader archaeological context due to its proximity to the surrounding mountain ranges and the Dzungarian Gate, a traversable pass through the mountains. The route connects Gansu to Kazakh Dzhungaria and goes north of the Tien Shan Mountains. The Dzhungarian Gate and nearby passes played a major role in trade between Asia and Europe. Excavations were conducted by the DMAP in an attempt to identify regional variations in the mobile pastoral economy of local populations during the Bronze Age and later periods. As the project paleoethnobotanist, Dr. Spengler worked in the field for numerous summer excavation seasons with this team (and in the lab for much of the last decade); he conducted flotation of soil sediments from the sites of Begash, Mukri, Tasbas, and Dali. Among other findings, these studies have produced the earliest evidence for agricultural goods in northern Central Asia and provided indisputable evidence showing that a mixed agropastoral system was in place in parts of the mountain ecotone by the second millennium B.C. (Spengler et al. 2014 a, b; Spengler 2015; Spengler et al. 2016; Spengler et al. 2021; Doumani Dupuy et al. 2015, 2017).
Begash is one of many documented Bronze Age settlement sites in eastern Kazakhstan; however, it is the only site to be well-dated radiometrically, as well as having incorporated systematic stratigraphy-based excavation methods. These two qualities make Begash a unique settlement case study with robust analysis. Occupation at Begash was divided into six chronological phases. The earliest botanical material from Begash dates back to Phase 1, which is published in Frachetti et al. (2010) and Spengler et al. (2014a). The botanical remains recovered from the Iron Age layers are mentioned in Frachetti et al. (2010) and presented in detail in Spengler’s dissertation.
A flagstone-lined human cremation burial cist was also excavated at the Begash site. The flotation of ash deposits (roughly 90 liters of sediment) in this sealed context has provided some of the oldest evidence for domesticated crops in the broader Eurasian region, north of the Pamir Mountains. A similar burial context was excavated by the DMAP in 2011 at the site of Tasbas (discussed below); flotation of the Tasbas burial remains has proved even older evidence for domesticated crops (Spengler et al. 2014b). While these contexts do not say anything about the nature of the domestic economy, they do show that free-threshing wheat (Triticum aestivum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), and broomcorn millet were present in the region millennia earlier than previously argued.
The Tasbas Archaeological Project
The ancient settlement of Tasbas was first excavated in 2001 by Alexei Mar’yashev and returned to in 2011, under the directorship of Michael Frachetti, Paula Doumani Dupuy, and Alexei Mar’yashev. Dr Doumani Dupuy has subsequently returned to the site to continue her research agenda. Tasbas is located in the Byan-Zherek Valley, at an elevation of 1,492 m above sea level. A single house feature and a well-preserved domestic oven characterize the Late Bronze Age phase (2a) at the site. Botanical remains recovered from the baking oven in Phase 2a (1490 and 1260 cal. BC; Doumani et al. 2015) are contributing to a revision of the scientific community’s understanding of Central Asian prehistory. The recovery of domesticated crops in high density and ubiquity raises questions about the former view that all prehistoric peoples in this part of the world were primarily focused on specialized pastoral pursuits. The paleoethnobotanical data indicate that a mixed agropastoral economy existed in the mountains of eastern Central Asia by the second millennium B.C. – direct dates on two domesticated barley grains were obtained, spanning 1441-1262 and 1405-1133 cal B.C. (calibrated at 95 percent confidence level, two sigma). The Late Bronze Age archaeobotanical assemblage at the site consisted of naked split-apex compact barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum), a specific morphotype of highly compact free-threshing wheat, peas (Pisum sativum), broomcorn millet, and foxtail millet, along with a wide variety of wild herbaceous seeds (Spengler et al. 2014b) - (for further results see Spengler 2015). These data have contributed to a comprehensive reassessment of Central Asian prehistory, recently summarized by Spengler et al. (2021).
