Research project
Adaptation strategies, water management and social changes: the case of Turkmenistan
The main question I want to answer is about the mutual influence between the cultural and settlements changes that occurred between the Bronze and the Early Iron Age in Margiana and the management of water resources.
- Duration
- 2015 - 2019
- Contact
- Roberto Arciero
Short Abstract
The PhD project aims to examine the human-environmental interactions and the water managements strategies adopted by sedentary farmers in the arid lands of the Murghab region (Turkmenistan) between the middle of the third and the early first millennium BC.
Project description
The present PhD proposal aims to examine the human-environmental interactions and the environmental adaptation strategies adopted by sedentary farmers in the arid lands of the northern fringe of the Murghab alluvial fan (Turkmenistan) between the middle of the third and the early first millennium BC. The research aims to understand how sedentary farmers have interacted and changed the arid landscape and what changes occurred in the management of the river network at the time of the arrival of the nomadic groups from the north at the end of the Bronze Age. I will do this through the investigation of the spatial distribution of ancient river networks, analysing the diachronic sequence of the paleochannels and the different water management strategies adopted over time in selected areas. I will adopt a GIS-based approach that combines data generated through remote sensing studies and intensive field survey, both done in cooperation with the “Italian Archaeological Mission in the Murghab Delta”.
