Nomad state formation and urbanization on the northern Silk Road:The early medieval town of Dzhankent (Aral Sea region, Kazakhstan)

这个在发展中国家的合作项目将在游牧国家形成和长途贸易的背景下，探索中世纪早期北部丝绸之路的城市化过程。关键的地点是被遗弃的城镇赞肯特，在10世纪到12世纪的阿拉伯文献中，它是奥古兹游牧帝国的首都。关键问题包括城镇及其前身定居点的建立日期，其布局和功能要素，其人口的组成，结构和不断变化的经济活动，以及其消亡的原因。这些问题将以一种跨学科的地质考古学方法加以解决，方法是在城镇内部及其邻近地区进行非破坏性的勘探、挖掘和环境研究，并对发现和发现进行分析。该项目有望通过引入新的方法，并首次将这一主题置于从中亚到西欧的理论和辩论的背景下，推动对哈萨克斯坦西部中世纪早期城市化的研究。该遗址的重要性源于其历史背景和自然环境：9 /10世纪奥古兹游牧国家的形成及其同时代的城市化，其主要城镇位于锡尔河的巨大河流三角洲。刺激这里城市发展的因素之一可能是与中亚的南北贸易（包括奴隶和牲畜）。Khorezmian中间商在这种贸易中的作用似乎反映在陶器、家庭建筑和城市规划上。它的位置使该项目具有更多的环境相关性，因为它有助于更广泛地研究咸海地区的沙漠化。我们的研究项目的环境因素将包括对Dzhankent附近的河流三角洲古河道进行年代测定，并对该遗址的土壤、动物骨骼和鱼类遗骸进行科学分析。因此，该项目将在分析咸海以东的城市化进程时处理社会经济和环境因素。研究结果将在中亚和欧洲关于中世纪早期国家形成中城市起源和功能的辩论框架内进行解释；到目前为止，这些争论实际上是毫无关联的。计划中的项目将由来自德国和哈萨克斯坦机构的考古学家团队进行，他们具有互补的专业知识和经验，并由德国、英国和俄罗斯的签约科学家和学者以及一个国际咨询委员会提供支持。

This cooperative project in a developing country will explore the process of early medieval urbanization on the northern Silk Road in the context of nomad state formation and long-distance trade. The key site is the deserted town of Dzhankent which is recorded in Arab sources of the 10th to 12th centuries as the capital of the Oguz nomad empire. Key questions include the date of the foundation of the town and its predecessor settlement, its lay-out and functional elements, the composition, structure and changing economic activities of its population, and the reasons for its demise. These questions will be tackled with an interdisciplinary geoarchaeological approach by non-destructive prospection, excavation and enviromental studies in the interior of the town and in its immediate surroundings, and by analysis of finds and findings. The project promises to give an impetus to the study of early medieval urbanization in western Kazakhstan by introducing new methodologies, and by putting the subject for the first time in the context of theories and debates from Central Asia to Western Europe. The significance of the site derives from its historical context as well as its natural environment: the formation of the Oguz nomad state in the 9th/10th centuries and its contemporaneous urbanization, with its main towns located in the huge river delta of the Syr-Darya. One of the stimuli for urban development here may have been north-south trade (including slaves and livestock) to Central Asia. The role of Khorezmian middlemen in this trade appears to be reflected in the pottery, domestic architecture and urban planning of Dzhankent. Its location gives the project an added environmental relevance in that it contributes to the wider study of the desertification of the Aral Sea region. Environmental elements of our research programme will include the dating of river delta palaeochannels close to Dzhankent, and scientific analyses of soils, animal bones and fish remains from the site. The project will, thus, address socio-economic as well as environmental factors in the analysis of the urbanization process east of the Aral Sea.The results are to be interpreted within the framework of Central Asian and European debates about urban origins and functions in early medieval state formation; these have so far been virtually unconnected debates. The planned project will be conducted by a team of archaeologists from German and Kazakh institutions with complementary expertise and experience, supported by contracted scientists and scholars from Germany, Britain and Russia, and by an International Advisory Committee.