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98-536: The Chemurchek culture (Ch:切木尔切克, Qièmùěrqièkè ; Ru: Чемурчекская культура), also called Khemtseg , Hemtseg , Qiemu’erqieke , Shamirshak (2750-1900 BCE), is a Bronze Age archaeological culture of western Mongolia and the borders of neighbouring countries, such as the Dzungarian Basin of Xinjiang and eastern Kazakhstan . It immediately follows the Afanasievo culture , and is contemporary with

196-644: A Turkic language – settled in the region and founded the Kingdom of Qocho that ruled the Tarim Basin. The peoples of the Tarim city-states intermixed with the Uyghurs, whose Old Uyghur language spread through the region. The Tocharian languages are believed to have become extinct during the 9th century. Around the beginning of the 20th century, archaeologists recovered a number of manuscripts from oases in

294-611: A carnelian bead identified with the Middle Kingdom pharaoh Senusret I , whose reign is dated to 1971–1926 BC. A stela and a statuette of the Egyptian pharaohs Senusret III and Amenemhet III have also been found. However, it is unclear when they first arrived at Ugarit. In the Amarna letters , messages from Ugarit c.  1350 BC written by Ammittamru I , Niqmaddu II , and his queen have been discovered. From

392-636: A "dark period" in ancient Egyptian history, spanned about 100 years after the end of the Old Kingdom from about 2181 to 2055 BC. Very little monumental evidence survives from this period, especially from the early part of it. The First Intermediate Period was a dynamic time when the rule of Egypt was roughly divided between two areas: Heracleopolis in Lower Egypt and Thebes in Upper Egypt. These two kingdoms eventually came into conflict, and

490-578: A 3rd-millennium BC culture postulated based on a collection of artefacts confiscated in 2001. In modern scholarship, the chronology of the Bronze Age Levant is divided into: The term Neo-Syria is used to designate the early Iron Age . The old Syrian period was dominated by the Eblaite first kingdom , Nagar and the Mariote second kingdom . The Akkadians conquered large areas of

588-665: A derivation meaning "borderers, marchers". One of the Tocharian A texts have ārśi-käntwā as a name for their own language, so that ārśi may have meant "Agnean", though "monk" is also possible. Tocharian kings apparently gave themselves the title Ñäktemts soy (in Tocharian B), an equivalent of the title Devaputra ("Son of God") of the Kushans . The Tocharian languages are known from around 7600 documents dating from about 400 to 1200 AD, found at 30 sites in

686-681: A loanword etymologically connected to the Turkic sun goddess Gun Ana . Besides this, they might have also worshipped a lunar deity ( meñ- ) and an earth one ( keṃ- ). The murals found in the Tarim Basin , especially those of the Kizil Caves , mostly depict Jataka stories, avadanas , and legends of the Buddha, and are an artistic representation in the tradition of the Hinayana school of

784-402: A permanence not enjoyed by manuscripts. These inscriptions can commonly be subdivided into four parts: a reference to the date and place, the naming of the event commemorated, the list of gifts given to the artisan in exchange for the bronze, and a dedication. The relative points of reference these vessels provide have enabled historians to place most of the vessels within a certain time frame of

882-579: A power vacuum in Mesopotamia. At its beginning, Mitanni's major rival was Egypt under the Thutmosids . However, with the ascent of the Hittite empire, Mitanni and Egypt allied to protect their mutual interests from the threat of Hittite domination. At the height of its power during the 14th century BC, Mitanni had outposts centred on its capital, Washukanni , which archaeologists have located on

980-481: A small administrative town) appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC. The Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over a century later, it briefly took over the other city-states and formed the short-lived First Babylonian Empire during what is also called the Old Babylonian Period . Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia used

1078-485: A variety of Tocharian, dubbed Tocharian C or Kroränian, which may have been spoken by at least some of the local populace. Burrow's theory is widely accepted, but the evidence is meagre and inconclusive, and some scholars favour alternative explanations. Most of the Tocharian inscriptions are based on Buddhist monastic texts, which suggests that the Tocharians largely embraced Buddhism . The pre-Buddhist beliefs of

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1176-639: Is an argument to be made that the Bronze Age never properly ended in China, as there is no recognisable transition to an Iron Age. Together with the jade art that precedes it, bronze was seen as a fine material for ritual art when compared with iron or stone. Bronze metallurgy in China originated in what is referred to as the Erlitou period, which some historians argue places it within the Shang. Others believe

1274-576: Is called the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex . The Kulli culture , similar to that of the Indus Valley Civilisation , was located in southern Balochistan (Gedrosia) c.  2500–2000 BC . The economy was agricultural. Dams were found in several places, providing evidence for a highly developed water management system. Konar Sandal is associated with the hypothesized Jiroft culture ,

1372-662: Is conjectured to have been associated with the sudden arrival of the Sea Peoples , the kingdom disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived into the 8th century BC. Arzawa , in Western Anatolia, during the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, likely extended along southern Anatolia in a belt from near the Turkish Lakes region to the Aegean coast. Arzawa

1470-526: Is further conjectured that the same migrations spread the Uralic group of languages across Europe and Asia, with extant members of the family including Hungarian , Finnish and Estonian . In China, the earliest bronze artefacts have been found in the Majiayao culture site (3100–2700 BC). The term "Bronze Age" has been transferred to the archaeology of China from that of Western Eurasia, and there

1568-599: Is named after the Korean name for undecorated or plain cooking and storage vessels that form a large part of the pottery assemblage over the entire length of the period, but especially between 850 and 550 BC. The Mumun period is known for the origins of intensive agriculture and complex societies in both the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago. The Middle Mumun pottery period culture of

1666-523: Is no consensus or universally used convention delimiting the "Bronze Age" in the context of Chinese prehistory . The "Early Bronze Age" in China is sometimes taken to be coterminous with the reign of the Shang dynasty (16th–11th centuries BC), and the Later Bronze Age with the subsequent Zhou dynasty (11th–3rd centuries BC), from the 5th century, called Iron Age China although there

1764-642: Is quite distinct from the Tocharian languages. Nevertheless, "Tocharian" remained the standard term for the languages of the Tarim Basin manuscripts and for the people who produced them. A few scholars argue that the Yuezhi were originally speakers of Tocharian who later adopted the Bactrian language. The name of Kucha in Tocharian B was Kuśi , with adjectival form kuśiññe . The word may be derived from Proto-Indo-European *keuk "shining, white". The Tocharian B word akeññe may have referred to people of Agni, with

1862-493: Is very close to those found at Final Neolithic sites in southern France, the Jura Mountains, and western Switzerland c. 3200-2600 BCE. The transfer of such a complex set of cultural traditions such a great distance seems impossible without the migration of ancient people. In particular, regarding the architecture of the tombs: "the unique architectural technique of constructing perimeter embankments lined with stone facades

1960-861: The Altai Mountains and to the southeast, Afanasievans seem to have coexisted with the early period of the Chemurchek culture for some time, as some of their burials are contemporary and some of the artifacts of the burials coincide. The Chemurchek culture had various characteristics of West European origin. Another Chemurcheck burial site was discovered in Yagshiin khuduu in Bulgan soum, Khovd aimag , which contained "the oldest kurgan stelae" discovered so far in Mongolia, dated to c.  2500-2000 BCE . Archaeologist Alexey Kovalev has remarked on

2058-670: The Chemurchek cemetery in Altay City of Chinese Xinjiang . Chemurchek sites have been identified from western Mongolia to areas as far west as the Ili valley ( Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture ). Anthropomorphic standing stones were erected next to the tombs, on their eastern side. Their faces are flattened with a straight nose and globular eyes. They appear to be naked as pectoral muscles seem to be depicted. They far predate and are very different from Turkic balbal statues found in

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2156-827: The Igeum-dong site . Bronze was an important element in ceremonies and for mortuary offerings until 100 BC. Tokharians Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European The Tocharians or Tokharians ( US : / t oʊ ˈ k ɛər i ə n ˌ - ˈ k ɑːr -/ toh- KAIR -ee-ən, -⁠ KAR - ; UK : / t ɒ ˈ k ɑːr i ə n / to- KAR -ee-ən ) were speakers of

2254-754: The Iranian plateau , centred in Anshan . From the mid-2nd millennium BC, Elam was centred in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a crucial role in both the Gutian Empire and the Iranian Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it. The Oxus civilisation was a Bronze Age Central Asian culture dated c.  2300–1700 BC and centred on the upper Amu Darya ( a.k.a. ). In

2352-529: The Kassite period c.  1500  – c.  1155 BC ). The usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used in the context of Mesopotamia. Instead, a division primarily based on art and historical characteristics is more common. The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people. Ur , Kish , Isin , Larsa , and Nippur in

2450-574: The Little Vehicle of the school of the Sarvāstivādas (zhuyiqieyoubu). Their doctrine (teaching of Sūtras) and their rules of discipline (principles of the Vinaya) are like those of India, and those who read them use the same (originals)." The route by which speakers of Indo-European languages reached the Tarim Basin is uncertain. A leading contender is the Afanasievo culture , who occupied

2548-586: The Majiayao site in Gansu rather than at Xinjiang . The production of Erlitou represents the earliest large-scale metallurgy industry in the Central Plains of China. The influence of the Saima-Turbino metalworking tradition from the north is supported by a series of recent discoveries in China of many unique perforated spearheads with downward hooks and small loops on the same or opposite side of

2646-559: The Sarvastivadas . When the Chinese Monk Xuanzang visited Kucha in 630 AD, he received the favours of the Tocharian king Suvarnadeva, the son and successor of Suvarnapushpa , whom he described as a believer of Hinayana Buddhism. In the account of his travel to Kucha (屈支国) he stated that "There are about one hundred convents (saṅghārāmas) in this country, with five thousand and more disciples. These belong to

2744-520: The Shirenzigou site on the eastern edge of Dzungaria 20–80% Yamnaya-like ancestry, lending support to the hypothesis of a migration from Afanasievo into Dzungaria, which is just north of the Tarim Basin. According to archaeologist Alexey Kovalev, the Chemurchek culture (2750-1900 BCE), an Altaic culture with many similarities with cultures of Western Europe and especially Southern France in burial and statuary styles, may have been associated with

2842-543: The Tocharian languages , Indo-European languages known from around 7,600 documents from around AD 400 to 1200, found on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern-day Xinjiang , China ). The name "Tocharian" was given to these languages in the early 20th century by scholars who identified their speakers with a people known in ancient Greek sources as the Tókharoi ( Latin : Tochari ), who inhabited Bactria from

2940-577: The southern Levant in cities such as Hazor , Jericho , and Beit She'an . The Hittite Empire was established during the 18th century BC in Hattusa , northern Anatolia . At its height in the 14th century BC, the Hittite Kingdom encompassed central Anatolia, southwestern Syria as far as Ugarit , and upper Mesopotamia . After 1180 BC, amid general turmoil in the Levant , which

3038-422: The 16th to the 13th century BC, Ugarit remained in constant contact with Egypt and Cyprus ( Alashiya ). Mitanni was a loosely organised state in northern Syria and south-east Anatolia, emerging c.  1500–1300 BC . Founded by an Indo-Aryan ruling class that governed a predominantly Hurrian population, Mitanni came to be a regional power after the Hittite destruction of Kassite Babylon created

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3136-483: The 1st millennium BC. Common Indo-European vocabulary retained in Tocharian includes words for herding, cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, horses, textiles, farming, wheat, gold, silver, and wheeled vehicles. Prakrit documents from 3rd century Krorän , Andir and Niya on the southeast edge of the Tarim Basin contain around 100 loanwords and 1000 proper names that cannot be traced to an Indic or Iranian source. Thomas Burrow suggested that they come from

3234-507: The 2nd century BC. This identification is now generally considered erroneous, but the name "Tocharian" remains the most common term for the languages and their speakers. Their actual ethnic name is unknown, although they may have referred to themselves as the Agni , Kuči , and Krorän or as the Agniya and Kuchiya known from Sanskrit texts. Agricultural communities first appeared in

3332-430: The 3rd millennium BC. The Bronze Age is characterised by the widespread use of bronze , though the introduction and development of bronze technology were not universally synchronous. Tin bronze technology requires systematic techniques: tin must be mined (mainly as the tin ore cassiterite ) and smelted separately, then added to hot copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of extensive use of metals and

3430-776: The 6th century BC attests to knowledge of iron smelting, yet bronze continues to occupy the seat of significance in the archaeological and historical record for some time after this. W. C. White argues that iron did not supplant bronze "at any period before the end of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC)" and that bronze vessels make up the majority of metal vessels through the Eastern Han period , or to 221 BC. The Chinese bronze artefacts generally are either utilitarian, like spear points or adze heads, or "ritual bronzes" , which are more elaborate versions in precious materials of everyday vessels, as well as tools and weapons. Examples are

3528-900: The Altai region to the north between 3300 and 2500 BC. The Afanasievo culture resulted from an eastern offshoot of the Yamnaya culture , originally based in the Pontic steppe north of the Caucasus Mountains . The Afanasevo culture (c. 3500–2500 BC) displays cultural and genetic connections with the Indo-European-associated cultures of the Central Asian steppe yet predates the specifically Indo-Iranian -associated Andronovo culture (c. 2000–900 BC). J. P. Mallory and Victor H. Mair argued that

3626-510: The BMAC had close international relations with the Indus Valley , the Iranian plateau , and possibly even indirectly with Mesopotamia. All civilisations were familiar with lost wax casting . According to a 2019 study, the BMAC was not a primary contributor to later South-Asian genetics. The Altai Mountains , in what is now southern Russia and central Mongolia , have been identified as

3724-666: The Bronze Age began in the Protodynastic Period c.  3150 BC . The archaic Early Bronze Age of Egypt , known as the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt , immediately followed the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt, c.  3100 BC . It is generally taken to include the First and Second dynasties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period until c.  2686 BC , or

3822-663: The Bronze Age in the Mediterranean basin are often characterised as a period of widespread societal collapse known as the Late Bronze Age collapse ( c.  1200  – c.  1150 BC ), although its severity and scope is debated among scholars. An ancient civilisation is deemed to be part of the Bronze Age if it either produced bronze by smelting its own copper and alloying it with tin , arsenic , or other metals, or traded other items for bronze from producing areas elsewhere. Bronze Age cultures were

3920-616: The Chemurchek culture consumed ruminant dairy products. The people of the Chemurchek culture were apparently descendants of Afanasievo populations intermixed with local populations. Their genetic profile shows a contribution of about 50% from the Afanasievans , combined with about 30% of Ancient North Eurasian (an ancient Siberian substrate represented by the Tarim mummies of sample Tarim_EMBA1), and small proportions of Ancient Northeast Asian (Baikal_EBA) and BMAC (Geoksyur_EN). In

4018-635: The Chemurchek culture may be associated with Proto- Tokharians , who must have migrated to the east around this period, and whose Western Indo-European language is closest to proto-Germanic and proto-Italian, corresponding to the broad geographical area encompassing southern France. The language of the Chemurchek/Proto-Tocharians may have originated from the same general location in Western Europe, as did their burial and statuary styles. According to Alexey Kovalev: Taken together,

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4116-405: The Chemurchek/Proto-Tokharians may have originated from the same general location in Western Europe, as did their burial and statuary styles. The Taklamakan Desert is roughly oval in shape, about 1,000 km long and 400 km wide, surrounded on three sides by high mountains. The main part of the desert is sandy, surrounded by a belt of gravel desert. The desert is completely barren, but in

4214-408: The Early Bronze Age, the culture of the Kopet Dag oases and Altyndepe developed a proto-urban society. This corresponds to level IV at Namazga-Tepe . Altyndepe was a major centre even then. Pottery was wheel-turned. Grapes were grown. The height of this urban development was reached in the Middle Bronze Age c.  2300 BC , corresponding to level V at Namazga-Depe. This Bronze Age culture

4312-409: The Erlitou sites belong to the preceding Xia dynasty . The United States National Gallery of Art defines the Chinese Bronze Age as c.  2000  – c.  771 BC , a period that begins with the Erlitou culture and ends abruptly with the disintegration of Western Zhou rule. There is reason to believe that bronze work developed inside of China apart from outside influence. However,

4410-422: The Levant and were followed by the Amorite kingdoms , c.  2000–1600 BC , which arose in Mari , Yamhad , Qatna , and Assyria . From the 15th century BC onward, the term Amurru is usually applied to the region extending north of Canaan as far as Kadesh on the Orontes River . The earliest-known contact of Ugarit with Egypt (and the first exact dating of Ugaritic civilisation) comes from

4508-469: The Middle Bronze Age and Babylon , Calah , and Assur in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The Akkadian Empire (2335–2154 BC) became the dominant power in the region. After its fall, the Sumerians enjoyed a renaissance with the Neo-Sumerian Empire . Assyria , along with the Old Assyrian Empire ( c.  1800–1600 BC ), became a regional power under the Amorite king Shamshi-Adad I . The earliest mention of Babylon (then

4606-411: The Middle Kingdom. During the Second Intermediate Period , Ancient Egypt fell into disarray a second time between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom, best known for the Hyksos , whose reign comprised the Fifteenth and Sixteenth dynasties. The Hyksos first appeared in Egypt during the Eleventh Dynasty, began their climb to power in the Thirteenth Dynasty, and emerged from

4704-401: The Osiris funerary cult rose to dominate popular Ancient Egyptian religion . The period comprises two phases: the Eleventh Dynasty, which ruled from Thebes, and the Twelfth and Thirteenth dynasties, centred on el-Lisht . The unified kingdom was previously considered to comprise the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties, but historians now consider part of the Thirteenth Dynasty to have belonged to

4802-399: The Proto-Tokharians. According to glotto-chronological data, proto-Tokharians must have migrated to the east around the same period, and their Western Indo-European language is closest to proto-Germanic and proto-Italic, corresponding to the broad geographical area encompassing southern France where the style most similar to those of the Chemurchek culture have been identified. The language of

4900-417: The Second Intermediate Period in control of Avaris and the Nile Delta . By the Fifteenth Dynasty, they ruled lower Egypt. They were expelled at the end of the Seventeenth Dynasty . The New Kingdom of Egypt , also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, existed during the 16th–11th centuries BC. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period . It

4998-436: The Tarim Basin was first settled by Proto-Tocharian -speakers from an eastern offshoot of the Afanasievo culture, who migrated to the south and occupied the northern and eastern edges of the basin. The early eastward expansion of the Yamnaya culture circa 3300 BC is enough to account for the isolation of the Tocharian languages from Indo-Iranian linguistic innovations like satemization . Michaël Peyrot argues that several of

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5096-424: The Tarim Basin written in two closely related but previously unknown Indo-European languages , which were easy to read because they used a close variation of the already deciphered Indian Middle-Brahmi script . These languages were designated in similar fashion by their geographical neighbours: Friedrich W. K. Müller was the first to propose a characterization for the newly discovered languages. Müller called

5194-481: The Theban kings conquered the north, reunifying Egypt under a single ruler during the second part of the Eleventh Dynasty . The Bronze Age in Nubia started as early as 2300 BC. Egyptians introduced copper smelting to the Nubian city of Meroë in present-day Sudan c.  2600 BC . A furnace for bronze casting found in Kerma has been dated to 2300–1900 BC. The Middle Kingdom of Egypt spanned between 2055 and 1650 BC. During this period,

5292-455: The Tocharians are largely unknown, but several Chinese goddesses are similar to the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European sun goddess and the dawn goddess , which implies that the Chinese were influenced by the pre-Buddhist beliefs of the Tocharians when they traveled on trade routes which were located in Tocharian territories. Tocharian B has a noun swāñco derived from the name of the Proto-Indo-European sun goddess, while Tocharian A has koṃ ,

5390-503: The Western Zhou period, allowing them to trace the evolution of the vessels and the events they record. The Japanese archipelago saw the introduction of bronze during the early Yayoi period ( c.  300 BC ), which saw the introduction of metalworking and agricultural practices brought by settlers arriving from the continent. Bronze and iron smelting spread to the Japanese archipelago through contact with other ancient East Asian civilisations, particularly immigration and trade from

5488-445: The ancient Korean peninsula, and ancient mainland China. Iron was mainly used for agricultural and other tools, whereas ritual and ceremonial artefacts were mainly made of bronze. On the Korean Peninsula, the Bronze Age began c.  1000–800 BC . Initially centred around Liaoning and southern Manchuria, Korean Bronze Age culture exhibits unique typology and styles, especially in ritual objects. The Mumun pottery period

5586-426: The architecture of burial constructions, the tradition of collective burials in crypts, the form and ornamentation of vessels, the style of stone statues, the paintings on walls of burialchambers, the slate plaques and images of importantdeities reveal a strong analogy with materials of the Middle-Final Neolithic period of Western Europe. The complex of specific attributes that appeared in Dzhungaria from c. 2700-2600 BCE

5684-422: The beginning of the Old Kingdom . With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Abydos to Memphis with a unified Egypt ruled by an Egyptian god-king. Abydos remained the major holy land in the south. The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilisation, such as art, architecture and religion, took shape in the Early Dynastic Period. Memphis , in the Early Bronze Age, was the largest city of the time. The Old Kingdom of

5782-425: The development of trade networks. A 2013 report suggests that the earliest tin-alloy bronze was a foil dated to the mid-5th millennium BC from a Vinča culture site in Pločnik , Serbia , although this culture is not conventionally considered part of the Bronze Age; however, the dating of the foil has been disputed. West Asia and the Near East were the first regions to enter the Bronze Age, beginning with

5880-444: The discovery of the Europoid Tarim mummies in Xinjiang has caused some archaeologists such as Johan Gunnar Andersson , Jan Romgard, and An Zhimin to suggest a possible route of transmission from the West eastwards. According to An Zhimin, "It can be imagined that initially, bronze and iron technology took its rise in West Asia, first influenced the Xinjiang region, and then reached the Yellow River valley, providing external impetus for

5978-405: The early Tarim Mummies to the south and the Okunev culture to the north. The Chemurchek burials are characterized by large rectangular stone fences, built around collective tombs. The mortuary position of the deceased (supine position with flexed legs) is similar to that of the Afanasievo culture, but the Chemurchek culture is considered as distinct. The name "Chemurchek culture" is derived from

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6076-471: The fall of the monarchy. The name "Israel" first appears c.  1209 BC , at the end of the Late Bronze Age and the very beginning of the Iron Age, on the Merneptah Stele raised by the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah . The Arameans were a Northwest Semitic semi-nomadic pastoral people who originated in what is now modern Syria (Biblical Aram ) during the Late Bronze and early Iron Age. Large groups migrated to Mesopotamia, where they intermingled with

6174-415: The first to develop writing . According to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia , which used cuneiform script, and Egypt , which used hieroglyphs , developed the earliest practical writing systems. Bronze Age civilisations gained a technological advantage due to bronze's harder and more durable properties than other metals available at the time. While terrestrial iron is naturally abundant,

6272-407: The gravel deserts of the Turpan Depression to the east of the Taklamakan. From around 2000 BC, these oases supported Bronze Age settled agricultural communities of steadily increasing sophistication. The necessary irrigation technology was first developed during the 3rd millennium BC in the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) to the west of the Pamir mountains , but it

6370-428: The headwaters of the Khabur River . Eventually, Mitanni succumbed to the Hittites and later Assyrian attacks, eventually being reduced to a province of the Middle Assyrian Empire . The Israelites were an ancient Semitic-speaking people of the Ancient Near East who inhabited part of Canaan during the tribal and monarchic periods (15th–6th centuries BC), and lived in the region in smaller numbers after

6468-636: The higher temperature required for smelting, 1,250 °C (2,280 °F), in addition to the greater difficulty of working with it, placed it out of reach of common use until the end of the 2nd millennium BC. Tin's lower melting point of 232 °C (450 °F) and copper's moderate melting point of 1,085 °C (1,985 °F) placed both these metals within the capabilities of Neolithic pottery kilns , which date to 6000 BC and were able to produce temperatures of at least 900 °C (1,650 °F). Copper and tin ores are rare since there were no tin bronzes in West Asia before trading in bronze began in

6566-527: The languages " Tocharian " (German Tocharisch ), linking this toxrï (Tωγry, "Togari") with the ethnonym Tókharoi ( Ancient Greek : Τόχαροι ) applied by Strabo to one of the " Scythian " tribes "from the country on the other side of the Iaxartes " that overran the Greco-Bactrian kingdom (present day Afghanistan ) in the second half of the 2nd century BC. This term also appears in Indo-Iranian languages ( Sanskrit Tushara / Tukhāra , Old Persian tuxāri- , Khotanese ttahvāra ), and became

6664-414: The late spring the melting snows of the surrounding mountains feed streams, which have been altered by human activity to create oases with mild microclimates and supporting intensive agriculture. On the northern edge of the basin, these oases occur in small valleys before the gravels. On the southern edge, they occur in alluvial fans on the edge of the sand zone. Isolated alluvial fan oases also occur in

6762-590: The manuscripts, but it may be that the surviving documents are unrepresentative. Tocharian B (Kuchean or West Tocharian) was found at all the Tocharian A sites and also in several sites further west, including Kuchi (later Kucha). It appears to have still been in use in daily life at that time. Over 3200 manuscripts have been studied in detail. The languages had significant differences in phonology, morphology and vocabulary, making them mutually unintelligible "at least as much as modern Germanic or Romance languages". Tocharian A shows innovations in

6860-482: The most striking typological peculiarities of Tocharian are rooted in a prolonged contact of Proto-Tocharian-speaking Afanasievans with speakers of an early stage of Proto-Samoyedic in South Siberia. Among others, this might explain the merger of all three-stop series (e.g., *t, *d, *dʰ > *t), which must have led to a huge amount of homonyms , as well as the development of an agglutinative case system. Chao Ning et al. (2019) found in burials from around 200 BC at

6958-432: The native Akkadian (Assyrian and Babylonian) population. The Aramaeans never had a unified empire; they were divided into independent kingdoms all across the Near East. After the Bronze Age collapse, their political influence was confined to Syro-Hittite states, which were entirely absorbed into the Neo-Assyrian Empire by the 8th century BC. The Mesopotamian Bronze Age began c.  3500 BC and ended with

7056-801: The north and Chinese empires to the east. These cities, the largest of which was Kucha , also served as way stations on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert . For several centuries, the Tarim basin was ruled by the Xiongnu , the Han dynasty , the Tibetan Empire , and the Tang dynasty . From the 8th century AD, the Uyghurs – speakers of

7154-471: The northeast Tarim area. The manuscripts are written in two distinct, but closely related, Indo-European languages , conventionally known as Tocharian A and Tocharian B. According to glotto-chronological data, Tocharian languages are closest to Western Indo-European languages such as proto-Germanic or proto-Italian, and being devoid of satemization predate the evolution of eastern Indo-European languages. Tocharian A (Agnean or East Tocharian)

7252-408: The numerous large sacrificial tripods known as dings ; there are many other distinct shapes. Surviving identified Chinese ritual bronzes tend to be highly decorated, often with the taotie motif, which involves stylised animal faces. These appear in three main motif types: those of demons, symbolic animals, and abstract symbols. Many large bronzes also bear cast inscriptions that are the bulk of

7350-519: The oases of the northern Tarim circa 2000 BC. Some scholars have linked these communities to the Afanasievo culture found earlier (c. 3500–2500 BC) in Siberia, north of the Tarim or Central Asian BMAC culture. The earliest Tarim mummies date from c. 1800 BC, but it is unclear whether they are connected to the Tocharians of two millennia later. By the 2nd century BC, these settlements had developed into city-states , overshadowed by nomadic peoples to

7448-698: The origins of agriculture. Foothill regions and glacial melt streams supported Bronze Age agro-pastoralists who developed complex east–west trade routes between Central Asia and China that introduced wheat and barley to China and millet to Central Asia. The Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), also known as the Oxus civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in Central Asia, dated c.  2400  – c.  1600 BC , located in present-day northern Afghanistan , eastern Turkmenistan , southern Uzbekistan and western Tajikistan , centred on

7546-588: The point of origin of a cultural enigma termed the Seima-Turbino Phenomenon . It is conjectured that changes in climate in this region c.  2000 BC }}, and the ensuing ecological, economic, and political changes, triggered a rapid and massive migration westward into northeast Europe, eastward into China, and southward into Vietnam and Thailand across a frontier of some 4,000 mi (6,000 km). This migration took place in just five to six generations and led to peoples from Finland in

7644-588: The region laid the foundations for astronomy , mathematics, and astrology . The following dates are approximate. The Bronze Age in the Near East can be divided into Early, Middle and Late periods. The dates and phases below apply solely to the Near East, not universally. However, some archaeologists propose a "high chronology", which extends periods such as the Intermediate Bronze Age by 300 to 500–600 years, based on material analysis of

7742-473: The regional Bronze Age is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egyptian civilisation attained its first continuous peak of complexity and achievement—the first of three "Kingdom" periods which marked the high points of civilisation in the lower Nile Valley (the others being the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom ). The First Intermediate Period of Egypt , often described as

7840-654: The rise of the Mesopotamian civilisation of Sumer in the mid-4th millennium BC. Cultures in the ancient Near East practised intensive year-round agriculture; developed writing systems ; invented the potter's wheel , created centralised governments (usually in the form of hereditary monarchies ), formulated written law codes, developed city-states , nation-states and empires; embarked on advanced architectural projects; and introduced social stratification , economic and civil administration, slavery , and practised organised warfare, medicine, and religion. Societies in

7938-539: The rise of the Shang and Zhou civilizations." According to Jan Romgard, "bronze and iron tools seem to have traveled from west to east as well as the use of wheeled wagons and the domestication of the horse." There are also possible links to Seima-Turbino culture , "a transcultural complex across northern Eurasia", the Eurasian steppe, and the Urals. However, the oldest bronze objects found in China so far were discovered at

8036-460: The same general area but dated to the 7th-10th centuries CE. They are highly similar to Western European anthropomorphic stelae , suggesting the transfer of cultural characteristics through migration. A more developed tradition of anthropomorphic stelae existed in the contemporary Okunev culture to the north, in the Minusinsk basin ( c.  2550/2500  – c.  1900/1700 BCE). In

8134-506: The similarities between the material and tomb cultures of the Chemurcheks and those of Southern France, leading him to suggest a migratory origin for the Chemurchek culture from Western Europe and more specifically southern France. The Chemurchek statues have a lot in common with southern France statues of the late 4th millennium such as " La Dame de Saint-Sernin " or the " Statue-menhir de Maison-Aube ". Kovalev further suggests that

8232-706: The socket, which could be associated with the Seima-Turbino visual vocabulary of southern Siberia. The metallurgical centres of northwestern China, especially the Qijia culture in Gansu and Longshan culture in Shaanxi , played an intermediary role in this process. Iron use in China dates as early as the Zhou dynasty ( c.  1046  – 256 BC), but remained minimal. Chinese literature authored during

8330-629: The source of the term " Tokharistan " usually referring to 1st millennium Bactria , as well as the Takhar province of Afghanistan . The Tókharoi are often identified by modern scholars with the Yuezhi of Chinese historical accounts, who founded the Kushan Empire . Müller's identification became a minority position among scholars when it turned out that the people of Tokharistan ( Bactria ) spoke Bactrian , an Eastern Iranian language , which

8428-517: The southern Korean Peninsula gradually adopted bronze production ( c.  700–600 BC ) after a period when Liaoning-style bronze daggers and other bronze artefacts were exchanged as far as the interior part of the Southern Peninsula ( c.  900–700 BC ). The bronze daggers lent prestige and authority to the personages who wielded and were buried with them in high-status megalithic burials at south-coastal centres such as

8526-474: The surviving body of early Chinese writing and have helped historians and archaeologists piece together the history of China, especially during the Zhou dynasty. The bronzes of the Western Zhou document large portions of history not found in the extant texts that were often composed by persons of varying rank and possibly even social class. Further, the medium of cast bronze lends the record they preserve

8624-402: The tombs, artifacts have been recovered, such as stone bowls, bone tools, ceramics (grey wares with sophisticated patterns of incised decoration), or metal jewelry. Bronze artifacts too are available. Bronze tools include knives, awls, spearheads and arrowheads. Bronze was cast in open or composite stone molds, and seems to have been a focus of economic production. Dental analysis has shown that

8722-570: The upper Amu Darya (Oxus River). Its sites were discovered and named by the Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi (1976). Bactria was the Greek name for the area of Bactra (modern Balkh ), in what is now northern Afghanistan, and Margiana was the Greek name for the Persian satrapy of Marguš , the capital of which was Merv in present-day Turkmenistan. A wealth of information indicates that

8820-640: The use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of the three-age system , following the Stone Age and preceding the Iron Age . Conceived as a global era, the Bronze Age follows the Neolithic , with a transition period between the two known as the Chalcolithic . The final decades of

8918-433: The vowels and nominal inflection, whereas Tocharian B has changes in the consonants and verbal inflection. Many of the differences in vocabulary between the languages concern Buddhist concepts, which may suggest that they were associated with different Buddhist traditions. The differences indicate that they diverged from a common ancestor between 500 and 1000 years before the earliest documents, that is, sometime in

9016-403: The west to Thailand in the east employing the same metalworking technology and, in some areas, horse breeding and riding. However, recent genetic testings of sites in south Siberia and Kazakhstan ( Andronovo horizon) would rather support spreading of the bronze technology via Indo-European migrations eastwards, as this technology had been well known for quite a while in western regions. It

9114-535: The written East Semitic Akkadian language for official use and as a spoken language. By that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use in Assyria and Babylonia, and would remain so until the 1st century AD. The Akkadian and Sumerian traditions played a major role in later Assyrian and Babylonian culture. Despite this, Babylonia, unlike the more militarily powerful Assyria,

9212-581: Was Egypt's most prosperous time and marked the peak of Egypt's power. The later New Kingdom, comprising the Nineteenth and Twentieth dynasties (1292–1069 BC), is also known as the Ramesside period , after the eleven pharaohs who took the name of Ramesses. Elam was a pre-Iranian ancient civilisation located east of Mesopotamia. In the Middle Bronze Age, Elam consisted of kingdoms on

9310-465: Was found in the northeastern oases known to the Tocharians as Ārśi , later Agni (i.e. Chinese Yanqi; modern Karasahr) and Turpan (including Khocho or Qočo; known in Chinese as Gaochang). Some 500 manuscripts have been studied in detail, mostly coming from Buddhist monasteries. Many authors take this to imply that Tocharian A had become a purely literary and liturgical language by the time of

9408-466: Was founded by non-native Amorites and often ruled by other non-indigenous peoples such as the Kassites , Aramaeans and Chaldeans , as well as by its Assyrian neighbours. For many decades, scholars made superficial reference to Central Asia as the "pastoral realm" or alternatively, the "nomadic world", in what researchers call the "Central Asian void": a 5,000-year span that was neglected in studies of

9506-583: Was the western neighbour of the Middle and New Hittite Kingdoms , at times a rival and, at other times, a vassal. The Assuwa league was a confederation of states in western Anatolia defeated by the Hittites under the earlier Tudhaliya I c.  1400 BC . Arzawa has been associated with the more obscure Assuwa generally located to its north. It probably bordered it, and may have been an alternative term for it during some periods. In Ancient Egypt ,

9604-565: Was used before the appearance of the Chemurchek monuments only during the construction of megalithic tombs of France and the British Isles". Three main types of Chemurchek tombs are recorded: the Alkabek, Bulgan and Kermuqi types. Seleucid Empire : Seleucus I Antiochus I Antiochus II Bronze Age The Bronze Age ( c.  3300  – c.  1200 BC ) was a historical period characterised principally by

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