Archaeological culture · c. 2500–1700 BCE
Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (Oxus civilisation)
A Bronze Age civilisation of the oases of southern Central Asia, in the Murghab delta (Margiana) of Turkmenistan and along the upper Amu Darya (Bactria) in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Its people built fortified, square or round compounds of mudbrick such as Gonur Depe, irrigated their fields, and made fine metalwork and small stone figurines of seated women.
They traded with Iran, Mesopotamia and the Indus. Its links to later Indo-Iranian speakers are debated.
See Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (Oxus civilisation) on the map in 2500 BCE
- On the map
- 2500–1700 BCE
How we know
No writing has been found; known from excavations of fortified towns and cemeteries and radiocarbon dates.
Sites
- Gonur Depe c. 2400–1600 BCE