The Oxus Civilization
This is a tale of two books. I'll get to the second book later - for now, let's consider this one:
Origins on the Bronze Age Oasis Civilization in Central Asia
by Fredrik Talmage Hiebert, 1994, 240pp
This book contains an archaeological survey of the oasis civilizations Margiana (and by extension, of Bactria, which is closely related). Together, these are known as the BMAC (Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex) cultures, of which little is written in English.
The author spent a fair amount of time excavating at Gonur Depe, one of the more impressive archaeological sites in the Mugrab delta in Turkmenistan, and it's quite clear he's a expert on the subject. The constructed remains of this ancient civilization are impressive. The finds of artifacts are a little less so, but they reveal interesting ties to both the Indus civilization, and to Sumer/Akkad/Early Babylonia. The oasis civilizations were rich in agriculture, and consequently in food, human resources, and textiles - much like Sumer and Akkad. But also like Sumer and Akkad, they were poor in minerals and metals, necessitating trade with the nearby mountainous communities (which are not covered in this book, and which were likely the source of both lapis-lazuli and tin for both of these civilizations).
To understand this importance of this culture a little more, check out this image of the site of Gonur Depe in Turkmenistan - the one at which Talmadge excavated:
Gonur is the largest ruin in the Murghab Delta region, but over 150 other settlements have also been found so far.
The remains are as impressive as any to be found c.2000 BC. It's really too bad more isn't written about them in English. An updated survey, geared to the lay-person, is sorely needed.
This particular book offers such a survey, but it's now more than 20 years out of date, and spends far too much time describing the ceramic complex of the sites to be of interest to the general reader. Apart from that, the book is well written offers a sufficient survey of the archaeological remains of these sites, but doesn't offer much synthesis - it doesn't spend much time trying to put all the pieces together to create a picture of the civilization.
A more contemporary take - one that builds upon both early and late excavations, and takes into account our understanding of other cultures both near and far, would be a far more interesting read. Such a book hasn't been available in English, as far as I can tell.
At least not until now. Luckily for us ancient history junkies, Routledge has released a monster entry in their 'World Of' series, called The World of the Oxus Civilization. The hardback version available now sells for a mere $200 U.S. dollars and is nearly 1000 pages. But there's a more affordable Kindle version on the market, and a paperback is scheduled to be released next March.
These books contain collections of articles, each in its own chapter and each by a different author. Each chapter deals with a special topic, such as a specific period in history, writing, the law, social organization, kingship, queenship, and what have you. My copy of The Elamite World, for example, has 41 chapters and is split into 8 parts. These parts are:
1. Imagining Elam (Research & Sources),
2. Land and Peoples,
3. Elam Through History,
4. Close Encounters on Eastern and Western Fronts,
5. Language and Writing,
6. The Material Culture of Elam
7. Elamite Society, and
8. The Legacy of Elam
So I'm expecting something similar from this book, and I'm very much looking forward to it.
https://www.routledge.com/The-World-of-the-Oxus-Civilization/Lyonnet-Dubova/p/book/9781138722873
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