Cultural Alignment of Prehistoric Gandhara with Central Asia
The northwestern regions of Pakistan, watered by the Kabul, Swat and Indus Rivers, were known in ancient times as Gandhara. This region was influenced by Indus Civilization in 3rd milennium BC. After demise of Indus Civilization a regional culture developed in Gandhara in the period 1600-600 BC, which was closely aligned to the cultures in the Central Asian region.
Cultural alignment of Prehistoric Gandhara with Central Asia
Rafi Samad
Key words: Gandhara- Murghabo-Bactrian region-South Caspian region- Gandhara Grave Culture – common technologies and agricultural practices – female figurines and beads used as charms.
Greater Gandhara: Defination
The term Greater Gandhara used in this article includes the valleys of the Swat and the Kabul Rivers and their tributaries, and the piedmont zones south of the Hindu Kush and Karakoram mountains.
Background
In the period from 3000-1500 BC two great civilizations dominated the cultural scene in the Indus Valley, West Asia and the Central Asian Region south of the Oxus River. These were the Indus and the Mesopotamian Civilizations.
Each of these great Civilizations had carved out their respective areas of influence. The collapse of these Civilizations in the period around 1500 BC released the Indus Valley, West Asia and Central Asian Region south of the Oxus from the dominating influence of the great Civilizations. The immediate result of the collapse of the Indus and Mesopotamian Civilizations was the creation of a cultural vacuum over a vast region. This vacuum soon began to be filled up through a number of local initiatives.
Cultural Status of Iran in the transitional phase
In the period around 1500 BC, Iran was a culturally and ethnically divided country. Western Iran continued to be influenced by West Asian, Elamite and Assyrian, cultures; North-western Iran somewhat isolated from the West-Asian cultural influences, sought to build its own cultural base and became more closely aligned with Central Asia. These two diverse ethnic and cultural groupings were to be fused together initially in the Median Empire and then in 6th century BC into the Achaemenid Empire.
Transitional Phase in the Gorgan Plains, Transoxiana and Bactria
In the transitional phase preceding the establishment of the Median Empire, a new phase of cultural development began in Tepe Hissar, Tureng Tepe and other settlements in the Gorgan Plains. These developments led to growing trade and cultural interactions between Northeastern Persia, Central Asia and Gandhara.
In the period around mid-second millennium BC, larger settlements like Namazge and Altyn Tepe were abandoned and new settlements began to appear in the previously less settled regions of Southern Turkmenistan, Sogdiana and Bactria. Settled agriculture became a prominent feature of these new settlements in the delta plains of the Tedzen, Murghab and Amu Darya. With newfound successes in the field of agriculture, the search for areas, where the agricultural activities could be pursued more efficiently, gained momentum. Migrations from Central Asia to the more fertile areas of North-eastern Iran and Gandhara registered a sharp increase.
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