Andronovo

Ground-level stone structures constructed of unworked or minimally shaped slabs and cobbles are a ubiquitous feature of the archaeological landscape of western Tian Shan. However, little is known about their architecture other than surface morphology, which can appear quite homogeneous. This article presents the latest results of surveys and excavations of selected clusters of Bronze Age stonework from the contiguous Bortala River Valley and Ili River Valley in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. In examining the distinctive forms and layouts applied to different building functions, including burial and habitation, we delve into regional variations in construction and land use straddling the intermontane valleys. In Bortala, the configuration and characteristics of the building components evince cumulative phases of use and construction on staggered timescales resulting from the aggregation of burials, repurposing of building parts, and designation of specific locales as alternately transhumant encampments and sites of burial and commemoration of broad social networks and lineal relations. In comparison, the architectural remains in Ili reflect a prolonged temporality that correlates with sedentary agricultural practices, diversified space use, and localized craft production and exchange. The field research provides important data for identifying autochthonous features of building practices independent of existing typologies of highly homogenized architectural schemas to inform broader contexts of subsistence patterns and social customs that resurgent interests in the Andronovo of Xinjiang seek to address.

As a disruption in the historical development of southern Central Asia, the disappearance of the Oxus Civilization between the Bronze and Iron Ages in the middle of the second millennium BCE forms an interesting case study of sociocultural transitions. Through the examination of the evolution of ceramic production in this period, this article discusses the impact of cultural interactions on the overall social changes, as well as the spatio-temporal variability of the transition. Contrary to earlier ideas of a sudden sociocultural rupture, a model based on gradual and heterogeneous developments over a long period of time is proposed.

Nel primo giorno del convegno si tratterà di tematiche storiche a partire dalle prime testimonianze di tessuti asiatici nel mondo occidentale, al riconoscimento e apprezzamento del loro valore come manufatti di pregio, fino a diventare, in seguito, elementi di commercio e scambio da parte delle varie potenze coloniali. I loro percorsi in rotte diverse tra Asia ed Europa crearono da un lato relazioni economiche di rilevanza, dall'altro vere e proprie mode, influenzando il costume europeo e lo stile manifatturiero del tempo

Miklós Banai PhD and Prof. Béla Lukács PhD, held a lecture about their research on the origins of Central Europe's peoples, by the invitation of the Széll Kálmán Foundation, on the 28th of November, 2014.

They have established the fact that Central European identity has dual roots and it originates in two contemporary Bronze Age civilizations. While the identity of the Western part stems from the traditions of the well-known Mycenaean culture, the Eastern part stems from the much less known Andronovo culture. Incorporating these findings in European public discourse could significantly shape and strengthen Central European peoples' alliance.