Kelteminar Culture
c. 5500–3500 BCE
Overview
Neolithic hunter-fisher-gatherer culture of the Kyzylkum Desert and the lower Amu Darya / Khwarezm oasis (modern Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan). Known for microlithic flint tool industries, reed and timber dwellings near lakes and river deltas, and a foraging-fishing adaptation that persisted while farming spread elsewhere; it is the principal Neolithic horizon of the western Central Asian lowlands.
Kelteminar Culture
The Kelteminar culture (c. 5500-3500 BCE), the major Neolithic/Eneolithic archaeological culture of the Central Asian steppe and desert zone, centered on the Aral Sea basin and ancient Khwarezm. Mobile hunter-fisher-gatherers exploiting the rich aquatic resources of the Aral Sea shorelines and river channels. Named for the type site discovered by the Khorezm Archaeological Expedition in 1939.
Territory Phases
Kelteminar Culture (Early)5500 BCE – 4500 BCE
Early Kelteminar (c. 5500-4500 BCE), centered on the Aral Sea basin and the Amu Darya delta in ancient Khwarezm (modern Uzbekistan/Kazakhstan). Mobile hunter-fisher-gatherers exploiting the rich aquatic resources of the Aral Sea shorelines, river channels, and oxbow lakes. Large communal oval pit-houses on lake and river shores (e.g., Dzhanbas-Kala 4). Characteristic microlith toolkit and comb-stamped coarse pottery. The Aral Sea at this period was larger than today, with multiple distributary channels and lake systems supporting dense fish populations.
Kelteminar Culture (Late)4500 BCE – 3500 BCE
Late Kelteminar (c. 4500-3500 BCE). The culture expands along the Syr Darya basin to the northeast and persists through the Eneolithic. Continued dependence on aquatic resources; some evidence of early animal domestication (cattle, possibly sheep/goat) in contact with neighboring steppe cultures. After c. 3500 BCE the Kelteminar horizon gives way to early Bronze Age cultures including the pre-BMAC horizon in Turkmenistan and the early Andronovo antecedents in Kazakhstan. The increasing aridity of the Aral Sea basin after 3500 BCE may have contributed to the culture's transformation.
Key Events
Kelteminar Lake Shore Settlements5000 BCE
Establishment of Kelteminar lake-shore settlements in the Khwarezm region, including the large communal pit-house complex at Dzhanbas-Kala 4. These sites represent some of the earliest substantial occupation of the Central Asian desert zone, made possible by the rich aquatic resources of the former Aral Sea lake system.
Sources
- Harris, David R. (ed.) (1996) The Origins and Spread of Agriculture and Pastoralism in Eurasia: Crops, Fields, Flocks and Herds(Confirmed. General Eurasian Neolithic context; coverage of Kelteminar is indirect (comparative discussions of Central Asian Neolithic subsistence strategies). Cited for regional ecological context.)
- Kohl, Philip L. (2007) The Making of Bronze Age Eurasia(Confirmed: ISBN 978-0-521-84780-3. Standard synthesis of Eurasian Bronze Age prehistory with coverage of pre-Bronze Age Neolithic Central Asian cultures including Kelteminar as the antecedent to BMAC and steppe Bronze Age.)
- Kuz'mina, Elena E. (2007) The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. Edited by J.P. Mallory(Confirmed: ISBN 978-90-04-16054-5. Title is singular "The Origin" (not "Origins"). Discusses Kelteminar in the context of pre-Andronovo Neolithic and Eneolithic Central Asian cultures and their relationship to early Indo-Iranian speakers.)
- Parzinger, Hermann (2014) "Central Asia before the Silk Road"(Best English-language handbook chapter on Central Asian prehistory including the Kelteminar culture. Parzinger is a leading authority on Eurasian prehistory (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation).)
- Vinogradov, A.V. (1981) Drevnie okhotniki i rybolovy Sredneaziatskogo mezhdurech'ya [Ancient Hunters and Fishermen of the Central Asian Interfluve](The foundational monograph on the Kelteminar culture, produced by the Khorezm Archaeological and Ethnographic Expedition. Primary Russian-language source for Kelteminar sites, chronology, and material culture.)