Spatial Dynamics of Urbanization at the Onset of the First Turk Empire

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of Medieval Eurasian Steppe Urbanism" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The contours of medieval urban transformation astride the Tarim-Tian Shan mid-latitudes are to a large extent viewed through the lens of religious iconography and Chinese political history. Thus, research is often directed at finds evincing the materiality of interregional cultural forms that demarcate routes of transmission conforming to purported topographical perimeters. Most notable examples include murals, religious buildings, and ornamental objects made of precious metals and textiles. This paper redirects the attention to the built environments that engendered some of these finds. It questions the social impact of space use as well as the spatial patterns of cultural change with respect to building form, function, layout, and site selection. The paper finds explanation for the character of cultural heterogeneity across the region’s desert and montane steppes at the onset of the First Turk empire (late sixth–early seventh centuries) in syntaxes of built landscape that are the legacy of coterminous protectorates, kingdoms, and confederate groups of preceding centuries.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeology of Medieval Eurasian Steppe Urbanism   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36844.0