“We always remember for whom we make a tandyr”. Ethnoarchaeological research on tandyrs in southern Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

The article has two informative levels: (a) describes the construction, distribution and use of tandyr cores as a traditional product of the bread-baking culture in southern Kyrgyzstan; compares these processes with the well-documented phenomenon of tandyrs in the Middle East and (b) tries to define the implications for potential archaeological research of tandyrs in this area, where (despite their claimed general distribution and use) these products have not been archaeologically identified to date. The basic method of the work is the direct collection of ethnographic data at four production locations and dozens of consumption locations through direct observation and formalized questionnaires.