Regions play an important part in scholarly discussions on Hellenistic Central Asia. Most commonly the concept of regions is determined by historically testified administrative entities. They also form the basis for many art-historical and archaeological considerations which seek to define specific regional characteristics. At the same time, such qualities are often used to define regional boundaries or elucidate political relationships. Taking the perspective of ceramic evidence, we highlight the complexities of interpreting pottery assemblages with regard to regional identities and inter-regional variations. Examining the different properties of ceramics, including their form, surface appearance and decoration, we demonstrate how changeable the notion of ‘region’ can be in this context. Distinct criteria and even minor chronological variations lead to the description of different regions, showing that we should use such definitions with care.
{"title":"Regions and regional variations in Hellenistic Central Asia: what pottery assemblages can tell us","authors":"G. Puschnigg, Jean-Baptiste Houal","doi":"10.3366/AFG.2019.0028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/AFG.2019.0028","url":null,"abstract":"Regions play an important part in scholarly discussions on Hellenistic Central Asia. Most commonly the concept of regions is determined by historically testified administrative entities. They also form the basis for many art-historical and archaeological considerations which seek to define specific regional characteristics. At the same time, such qualities are often used to define regional boundaries or elucidate political relationships. Taking the perspective of ceramic evidence, we highlight the complexities of interpreting pottery assemblages with regard to regional identities and inter-regional variations. Examining the different properties of ceramics, including their form, surface appearance and decoration, we demonstrate how changeable the notion of ‘region’ can be in this context. Distinct criteria and even minor chronological variations lead to the description of different regions, showing that we should use such definitions with care.","PeriodicalId":40186,"journal":{"name":"Afghanistan","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2019-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46495115","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Helmand Sistan Project, conducted by the Smithsonian Institution and Afghan Directorate of Archaeology and Historic Preservation in the 1970s but hitherto unpublished, uncovered through survey and excavation an extensive settlement system along the lower Helmand River dating to the late second and early first millennia BCE. Of note were a series of platform-based settlements in the Sar-o-Tar region east of the Helmand River along of a series of large canals first constructed at this time, which allowed for extensive cultivation in the otherwise deserted region. Excavations at one of these sites, Qala 169, gave us a rich understanding of the settlement pattern and material culture of the early Iron Age, including a style of hitherto-unknown fine ware wheel-made painted ceramics. Finds from Qala 169 are compared to at least 21 other related sites surveyed by the project in the lower Helmand Valley and in Sar-o-Tar. Comparisons are also made between this corpus and early Iron Age sites elsewhere in Afghanistan, Iran, South Asia, and Central Asia, showing that this material represented a unique regional style.
{"title":"Early Iron Age culture of Sistan, Afghanistan","authors":"Mitchell Allen, W. Trousdale","doi":"10.3366/AFG.2019.0025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/AFG.2019.0025","url":null,"abstract":"The Helmand Sistan Project, conducted by the Smithsonian Institution and Afghan Directorate of Archaeology and Historic Preservation in the 1970s but hitherto unpublished, uncovered through survey and excavation an extensive settlement system along the lower Helmand River dating to the late second and early first millennia BCE. Of note were a series of platform-based settlements in the Sar-o-Tar region east of the Helmand River along of a series of large canals first constructed at this time, which allowed for extensive cultivation in the otherwise deserted region. Excavations at one of these sites, Qala 169, gave us a rich understanding of the settlement pattern and material culture of the early Iron Age, including a style of hitherto-unknown fine ware wheel-made painted ceramics. Finds from Qala 169 are compared to at least 21 other related sites surveyed by the project in the lower Helmand Valley and in Sar-o-Tar. Comparisons are also made between this corpus and early Iron Age sites elsewhere in Afghanistan, Iran, South Asia, and Central Asia, showing that this material represented a unique regional style.","PeriodicalId":40186,"journal":{"name":"Afghanistan","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2019-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48583566","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The practice of dispatching kharita had been part of the royal correspondence of Muslim rulers for centuries, particularly in Persia and India. Originating from Arabic, the term kharita refers to a pouch fabricated from leather or silk, or possibly other material. Although the dictionary definition applies to the pouch itself, the act of sending a kharita indicates that a royal letter is placed inside the pouch. Therefore, a kharita is the pouch and its contents. The article examines one particular kharita (Mss Eur F111/361, ff 2–5 at the British Library). The study identifies the elements that comprise the kharita item, and make it a piece of royal art.
{"title":"Kharita: the royal art of letter dispatching","authors":"Ula Zeir","doi":"10.3366/AFG.2019.0030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/AFG.2019.0030","url":null,"abstract":"The practice of dispatching kharita had been part of the royal correspondence of Muslim rulers for centuries, particularly in Persia and India. Originating from Arabic, the term kharita refers to a pouch fabricated from leather or silk, or possibly other material. Although the dictionary definition applies to the pouch itself, the act of sending a kharita indicates that a royal letter is placed inside the pouch. Therefore, a kharita is the pouch and its contents. The article examines one particular kharita (Mss Eur F111/361, ff 2–5 at the British Library). The study identifies the elements that comprise the kharita item, and make it a piece of royal art.","PeriodicalId":40186,"journal":{"name":"Afghanistan","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2019-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48642978","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper deals with the presence at Mes Aynak (Logar, Afghanistan) of a luxury ware, which is well known from various Bajaur sites, and stratigraphically well documented in Late Kushan/Kushano-Sasanian phases at the urban site of Barikot (Swat, Pakistan). In the latter site this luxury ware represents a distinct chronological marker for the 3rd century CE phases, and, moreover, it is often associated to cultic contexts. The paper concludes with a note on a single finding of a tulip-bowl vessel at Mes Aynak (Site 100) which might have important implications on the chronology of the area's early occupation.
{"title":"Fashion Ware in Mes Aynak, Logar: Chronology and comparison (with an Appendix on a single specimen of tulip-bowl from Site MA-100)","authors":"Noorulhaq Noori, L. Olivieri, E. Iori","doi":"10.3366/AFG.2019.0027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/AFG.2019.0027","url":null,"abstract":"This paper deals with the presence at Mes Aynak (Logar, Afghanistan) of a luxury ware, which is well known from various Bajaur sites, and stratigraphically well documented in Late Kushan/Kushano-Sasanian phases at the urban site of Barikot (Swat, Pakistan). In the latter site this luxury ware represents a distinct chronological marker for the 3rd century CE phases, and, moreover, it is often associated to cultic contexts. The paper concludes with a note on a single finding of a tulip-bowl vessel at Mes Aynak (Site 100) which might have important implications on the chronology of the area's early occupation.","PeriodicalId":40186,"journal":{"name":"Afghanistan","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2019-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3366/AFG.2019.0027","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42037170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In 1972, a brief article titled “Khandud, Village de la Vallée du Wakhan” appeared in Afghanistan 25. The subsequent decades of conflict precluded any follow-up research in Wakhan. The current article, based on field work from 2004 to 2016, examines the present condition of the sites described in 1972, offers a revised analysis of their significance, and introduces newly discovered rock art that connects Wakhan with the Saka culture of Central Asia and illustrates indigenous traditions of the Pamir-Hindukush ethnolinguistic region.
1972年，阿富汗出现了一篇题为《Khandud, Village de la vallsame du Wakhan》的简短文章。随后几十年的冲突阻碍了在瓦罕的后续研究。本文基于2004年至2016年的实地工作，考察了1972年描述的遗址的现状，对其意义进行了修订分析，并介绍了新发现的岩石艺术，这些艺术将瓦罕与中亚的萨卡文化联系起来，并说明了帕米尔-兴都库什民族语言地区的土著传统。
{"title":"Khandut revisited: Monuments, shrines, and newly discovered rock art in Wakhan District","authors":"J. Mock","doi":"10.3366/AFG.2018.0018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/AFG.2018.0018","url":null,"abstract":"In 1972, a brief article titled “Khandud, Village de la Vallée du Wakhan” appeared in Afghanistan 25. The subsequent decades of conflict precluded any follow-up research in Wakhan. The current article, based on field work from 2004 to 2016, examines the present condition of the sites described in 1972, offers a revised analysis of their significance, and introduces newly discovered rock art that connects Wakhan with the Saka culture of Central Asia and illustrates indigenous traditions of the Pamir-Hindukush ethnolinguistic region.","PeriodicalId":40186,"journal":{"name":"Afghanistan","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69479778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Future generations of scholars may see Mes Aynak as an unique archaeological complex which comprises an extraordinary number of diverse functions and thus provides crucial primary evidence for the history of Inner and South Asia during the 1st millennium AD and most likely earlier—that is, with luck. Historians and archaeologists are uncertain what the future will bring—will the site be destroyed by war, copper mining or a lack of controlled excavation? All of these circumstances have threatened the integrity of the site since exploration first began in the 1960s. This short article presents a brief summary of the literature on Mes Aynak and the present archaeological situation.
{"title":"Contextualizing Mes Aynak","authors":"D. Klimburg-Salter","doi":"10.3366/AFG.2018.0015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/AFG.2018.0015","url":null,"abstract":"Future generations of scholars may see Mes Aynak as an unique archaeological complex which comprises an extraordinary number of diverse functions and thus provides crucial primary evidence for the history of Inner and South Asia during the 1st millennium AD and most likely earlier—that is, with luck. Historians and archaeologists are uncertain what the future will bring—will the site be destroyed by war, copper mining or a lack of controlled excavation? All of these circumstances have threatened the integrity of the site since exploration first began in the 1960s. This short article presents a brief summary of the literature on Mes Aynak and the present archaeological situation.","PeriodicalId":40186,"journal":{"name":"Afghanistan","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44618090","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This is an account of the contemporary reconstruction of Abu'l-Walid complex (mosque and mausoleum) in Herat, the burial-place of a widely-respected-Muslim scholar of the third/ninth century. This structure was destroyed by aerial bombardment in 1985. Part of the complex was restored as a post-war measure to rehabilitate social and educational space for the inhabitants and children of the nearby village. The project also trained young architects and masons of Herat in the conservation of historic buildings. The mausoleum remained in ruins until the Department of Herat Monuments (DoHM) with support of local resources and pious endowments (waqf), reconstructed it between 2004 and 2007. Restoration of heritage buildings is a challenge in Afghanistan today. Absence of public awareness of the value of cultural heritages, government's limited technical capacity combined with scarcity of funds for preservation, and lack of budget for post-conservation maintenance, exacerbates the challenges of safeguarding historic sites and monuments.
{"title":"The restored mausoleum of Abu'l-Walid in Herat: Challenges in heritage restoration in Afghanistan","authors":"A. W. Najimi","doi":"10.3366/AFG.2018.0019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/AFG.2018.0019","url":null,"abstract":"This is an account of the contemporary reconstruction of Abu'l-Walid complex (mosque and mausoleum) in Herat, the burial-place of a widely-respected-Muslim scholar of the third/ninth century. This structure was destroyed by aerial bombardment in 1985. Part of the complex was restored as a post-war measure to rehabilitate social and educational space for the inhabitants and children of the nearby village. The project also trained young architects and masons of Herat in the conservation of historic buildings. The mausoleum remained in ruins until the Department of Herat Monuments (DoHM) with support of local resources and pious endowments (waqf), reconstructed it between 2004 and 2007. Restoration of heritage buildings is a challenge in Afghanistan today. Absence of public awareness of the value of cultural heritages, government's limited technical capacity combined with scarcity of funds for preservation, and lack of budget for post-conservation maintenance, exacerbates the challenges of safeguarding historic sites and monuments.","PeriodicalId":40186,"journal":{"name":"Afghanistan","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45638044","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The shaykh al-Islam emerged in early Islamic Khurasan. A shaykh al-Islam's social-political roles developed organically, and his duties were exogenous to state bureaucracies. The Seljuq vizier, Niẓām al-Mulk, struck upon a “brilliant and original” scheme, to use the shaykh al-Islam to shape Islamic curricula and control lecturers. He officialized the position by appointing his “own lieutenant” as the shaykh al-Islam of Nishapur. Shāh-Rukh restarted the Seljuq initiative by appointing the shaykh al-Islam of Herat. The Timurid initiative was continued by the Safavids. The Ottoman şeyhülislam became the Empire's most formidable religious official. He presided over its educational system (ilmiye). There are two classes of shaykhs al-Islam: urban and rural. A city's shaykh al-Islam was the chief of its educational network of seminaries, hospices, teachers, and students; he examined the qualifications of lecturers, arbitrated disputes, and harmonized conflicts of law. A rural shaykh al-Islam was a local lord: major landholder, administrator, and magistrate. Typically, he was the custodian of a prominent Sufi shrine. The shaykh al-Islam's/shrine custodian's standing, and the influence and affluence of his institution within its catchment area, were enhanced by the Ilkhanids, Kartids, and Timurids when they tasked him with managing hydrological systems and agricultural production.
{"title":"The Shaykh al-Islam in Medieval Khurasan","authors":"Shivan Mahendrarajah","doi":"10.3366/AFG.2018.0017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/AFG.2018.0017","url":null,"abstract":"The shaykh al-Islam emerged in early Islamic Khurasan. A shaykh al-Islam's social-political roles developed organically, and his duties were exogenous to state bureaucracies. The Seljuq vizier, Niẓām al-Mulk, struck upon a “brilliant and original” scheme, to use the shaykh al-Islam to shape Islamic curricula and control lecturers. He officialized the position by appointing his “own lieutenant” as the shaykh al-Islam of Nishapur. Shāh-Rukh restarted the Seljuq initiative by appointing the shaykh al-Islam of Herat. The Timurid initiative was continued by the Safavids. The Ottoman şeyhülislam became the Empire's most formidable religious official. He presided over its educational system (ilmiye). There are two classes of shaykhs al-Islam: urban and rural. A city's shaykh al-Islam was the chief of its educational network of seminaries, hospices, teachers, and students; he examined the qualifications of lecturers, arbitrated disputes, and harmonized conflicts of law. A rural shaykh al-Islam was a local lord: major landholder, administrator, and magistrate. Typically, he was the custodian of a prominent Sufi shrine. The shaykh al-Islam's/shrine custodian's standing, and the influence and affluence of his institution within its catchment area, were enhanced by the Ilkhanids, Kartids, and Timurids when they tasked him with managing hydrological systems and agricultural production.","PeriodicalId":40186,"journal":{"name":"Afghanistan","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3366/AFG.2018.0017","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43501470","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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