Illuminating the Black Sands: survey and settlement in the Bronze Age Murghab Delta, Turkmenistan

This thesis examines the Bronze Age settlement distribution in the Lower Murghab Delta, Turkmenistan. The delta represents a visually obstructed landscape in which the reconstruction of past archaeological patterns is extremely difficult. Drawing on concepts of distributional archaeology and 'siteless surveys', the research focuses on the distribution of surface pottery as the primary dataset in an examination of local and regional settlement distributions and their significance with respect to the proto-urban landscape of the delta. The survey data is assessed within the context of past and present landscapes, examining issues of visibility and recovery potential en route to a better understanding of the archaeological significance of the Bronze Age settlement pattern. While the central trajectory of the thesis is to address these issues, a secondary goal is to examine the nature of survey itself in the region. The field results are therefore considered in light of earlier Soviet/Russian and Italian research in the Murghab, assessing the effectiveness of that work and the research potential of intensive survey in the region. In addressing these questions, newer methodologies that incorporate spatial analysis and remote sensing data are examined, both on their own merits and as adjunct methods to support field survey. Ultimately, these questions are synthesised in order to examine the relationships between surface distributions and the landscape, and ultimately to better understand settlement phenomena in the northern Murghab

An investigation of local scale human/landscape dynamics in the endorheic alluvial fan of the Murghab River, Turkmenistan

Endorheic or inland deltas, commonly found across the deserts of Central Asia, represent unique and dynamic ecotones that are still not fully understood. These regions of environmental and landscape transition as well as social liminality straddle the line between fertile, sustainable environments and less productive desertic regions less capable of sustaining significant human occupation. Because such boundary areas are dynamic and often unpredictable, they are excellent case studies through which to study the complex processes that have characterized human/environmental relationships throughout the late Holocene. This paper focuses on the local variability that characterizes these relationships in one such region, the terminal fan of the Murghab River in Turkmenistan. Populated since at least the late 5th millennium BP and likely earlier, the region has been variously described as an oasis environment in which desertic processes have been more or less stagnant throughout the late Holocene, or, alternatively, as a fertile, continuously occupied and heavily-cultivated alluvial fan in which desertification was a relatively late process, intensifying only in the mid 4th millennium BP. This paper presents geoarchaeological data from a series of test pits in the distal portion of the terminal fan to show that local-scale analysis indicates a far more complex interpretation, one shaped by the continuous and non-uniform interaction of aeolian and alluvial depositional environments, and one that bears substantially on human/landscape dynamics in the region. The late Holocene development of the distal fan is examined using proxy data from granulometric analysis, Loss on Ignition (LoI) and geochemical analysis, as well as a series of new OSL dates that refines the depositional chronology of the region. Ultimately, we show that landscape change throughout the Holocene has been characterized by pronounced variability at the local level not fully described by regional scale approaches. While differential aeolian encroachment, non-uniform alluvial processes, and climatic conditions bear significantly on the initial conditions for human occupation, human/environmental processes are ultimately co-evolutionary in nature.Peer Reviewe

An investigation of local scale human/landscape dynamics in the endorheic alluvial fan of the Murghab River, Turkmenistan

Endorheic or inland deltas, commonly found across the deserts of Central Asia, represent unique and dynamic ecotones that are still not fully understood. These regions of environmental and landscape transition as well as social liminality straddle the line between fertile, sustainable environments and less productive desertic regions less capable of sustaining signi\ufb01cant human occupation. Because such boundary areas are dynamic and often unpredictable, they are excellent case studies through which to study the complex processes that have characterized human/environmental relationships throughout the late Holocene. This paper focuses on the local variability that characterizes these relationships in one such region, the terminal fan of the Murghab River in Turkmenistan. Populated since at least the late 5th millennium BP and likely earlier, the region has been variously described as an oasis environment in which desertic processes have been more or less stagnant throughout the late Holocene, or, alternatively, as a fertile, continuously occupied and heavily-cultivated alluvial fan in which deserti\ufb01cation was a relatively late process, intensifying only in the mid 4th millennium BP. This paper presents geoarchaeological data from a series of test pits in the distal portion of the terminal fan to show that local-scale analysis indicates a far more complex interpretation, one shaped by the continuous and non-uniform interaction of aeolian and alluvial depositional environments, and one that bears substantially on human/landscape dynamics in the region. The late Holocene development of the distal fan is examined using proxy data from granulometric analysis, Loss on Ignition (LoI) and geochemical analysis, as well as a series of new OSL dates that re\ufb01nes the depositional chronology of the region. Ultimately, we show that landscape change throughout the Holocene has been characterized by pronounced variability at the local level not fully described by regional scale approaches. While differential aeolian encroachment, non-uniform alluvial processes, and climatic conditions bear signi\ufb01cantly on the initial conditions for human occupation, human/environmental processes are ultimately co-evolutionary in nature

Numerical simulation of cohesive sediment transport: intercomparison of several numerical models

Five different numerical models are used to reproduce estuarine cohesive sediment transport and intercomparisons are made of the resulting predictions. Comparison with test cases have shown that the numerical treatment of cohesive sediment is very sensitive to model parameters and formulations, and requires good calibration. Some of the specific processes that have been developed through the MAST.3-COSINUS European project are used here to improve the ability of numerical models to reproduce the sediment behaviour in real estuaries. Despite this progress, it is shown that numerical models results still have many limitations, and their results should always be interpreted with great care