On the way to the mountains - Relation between the lowland and piedmont areas in the Late Bronze Age
Abstract
The paper focuses on the settlement pattern in the area of central Asia (Surkhan Darya Province - south Uzbekistan) during the Late Bronze Age. It deals with the question of the presence of the LBA settlement in the piedmont and on the relation with settlement in the lowland.
The studied region is delimited by the natural borders - on the south by the river Amu Darya and on the north, west and east by the mountain ranges (Bauysun, Kugitang and Babatag Ranges). The area consists of three landscape types and each of the milieu differs in the natural conditions.
The irrigated lowlands serve mainly for the agricultural purposes, semi-arid piedmonts are used for pastoralism and small-scale agriculture and the mountain areas are used for seasonal transhumance. Few years ago it seemed that the LBA population occupied almost exclusively the fertile lowlands, where the settlement was concentrated into a several clusters.
During several last years a new LBA sites were discovered in the piedmont area, too. Although the density of the settlement in the piedmonts seems to be lower than in lowlands, it is obvious that the people in LBA expanded also there.
One of the possible explanations why they do that is, that the population of LBA extended towards the mineral sources that are located at the foothills of the mountains. It is also possible to consider that the placement of the LBA sites in piedmont is related to the path system that leads though the mountain passes into the neighbouring regions.