Some Central Asian history from 3000-2000BC

Model of a Bactrian Camel from
the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex

This post will look at the years 3000-2000BC for the region of Central Asia. Central Asia is a little tricky to describe and for the purposes of this post it will include the Pontic Steppes (referred to in previous European posts), the boreal lands north of Siberia and all the steppe lands from the black soil of the Ukraine, the highlands of the Tibetan Plateau, to the northern steppes on the borders of China. I will also include the history of the Iranian Plateau here. It is not Central Asian, but it does link the northern steppes with the regions of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.

The same caveats that I have mentioned before must be mentioned again. I am not a professional historian, merely someone who finds history interesting. So, all of my data should be questioned heavily.

This period predates most writing, so much of what we learn will come from archaeology, with some additional input from linguistics, genetics, biology and geology. Dendrochronology is of less use here than in Europe but we have the great fortune to be close enough to written history to be able to use folklore and legend here in a way that we have not been able to do in the posts about prehistoric Europe. There will however be some writings, mainly from nearby Mesopotamia, which shed some light on the kingdoms of what is now Iran.

Carved item from Konar Sandal
Possibly a forgery

To speak of the history of the regions of the centre of the Eurasian landmass, we must speak of what this world looked like in the year 3000BC. North of the Caucasus Mountains the Maykop culture was possibly ending. Further north than this, in the Pontic Steppes, the Yamna culture, a possible homeland of the Proto-Indo-European speaking peoples, was flourishing. Possibly the Yamna culture was in conflict with the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture in what are now the lands of Ukraine. Further east in the Altaic region, the Afasanevo culture, which seems to have had a similar material culture to the Yamna culture, was also flourishing. At the southern edges of the Ural Mountains, the speakers of the Uralic languages seem to have been active around this time, with the dialect of Proto-Finno-Ugric possibly branching off around this date. The Tibetan Plateau was populated by Sino-Tibetan speakers from the northern Chinese Plains around this date.

South of the Caucasus, the Kura-Araxes culture flourished, with settlements such as Shengavit being strongly fortified. The Kura-Araxes culture may have been in the ascendant at this time, with the settlement of Arslantepe in Anatolia burned at this time, possibly by the Kura-Araxes peoples.

In Iran itself, Proto-Elamite script was in use. It is hard to pinpoint exactly the time that this region moves from history to prehistory, as the scripts are mostly indecipherable. It is however fair to say that peoples of south-western Iran had become at least partly literate at this point. Large urban settlements that can with justification be called cities exist in Susa, Godin Tepe and Tepe Sialk. A possible settlement existed at this time at Konar Sandal, but the Jiroft culture, of which Konar Sandal is part, is poorly studied (having only been discovered in 2001).

Possible ziggurat at Tepe Sialk

Around 2900 a huge mudbrick structure that may have been intended as a ziggurat was constructed in Tepe Sialk, in what is currently north-western Iran. This may be the oldest existing ziggurat in the world, if this is indeed the case. Around this time vessels have been found in nearby Godin Tepe that show signs of fermentation, which was probably intentional. This is perhaps the oldest indication of humans using alcohol, although it is likely that this long predates this find.

Around 2800 Shahr-e-Sukhteh seems to have been burned (thus ending the period known as Shahr-e-Sukhteh I). This was a city that was in eastern Iran, near the present-day border with Afghanistan. This was the largest city of the Helmand culture, which seems to have had contact with the Indus Valley Civilisation and to have formed a bridge between the Indus Valley culture and the cities and cultures to the west, like Susa and Tepe Sialk. "Shahr-e-Sukhteh" means "The Burnt City" and it lives up to its name, being burned down four separate times over the millennia. But it was also a vibrant cultural hub and was a very large settlement for its time.

Buildings at Shahr-e-Sukhteh

Around 2700 Elamite culture evolved from Proto-Elamite culture. It influenced, and was heavily influenced by, the nearby Sumerian culture of Lower Mesopotamia, but the Elamites certainly spoke their own language and had their own gods and political organisations. The writing script Linear Elamite, which is yet another untranslated Elamite script, dates from around this time. The interaction between Susa and Sumer seems to have been quite hostile at times, with Mesopotamian texts indication a possible war between the city of Kish and Susa during this era.

Also around this time, the Indo-Iranian languages may have begun to split off from Proto-Indo-European as a dialect. Of course this is very conjectural, but it is a plausible date.

Around the time of 2600 the Yamna culture, that had inhabited the steppes north of the Black Sea, seems to have evolved into what is known as the Poltavka culture, which might possibly be identified as the culture or homeland of the Indo-Iranian branch of Proto-Indo-European. This might suggest that other branches, such as Proto-Hittite, Proto-Tocharian, Proto-Germanic etc., had speakers that had migrated away from that particular area of the steppes, but caution is always needed in applying such broad brushes to complex language shifts.

Animation on pot from
Shahr-e-Sukhteh

Around this time Shahr-i-Sukhteh was flourishing and reaching perhaps the high point of its culture. One of the most fascinating artefacts to emerge from this period was a jar with four similar images on it, which when spun on a wheel would produce an image of a goat leaping up to a tree. This is the world’s earliest known attempt at animation. The Burned City was effectively producing the Photoshop or After Effects of the ancient world.

There were a number of other wonderful things that were being done here at this time though, with evidence that the inhabitants practiced a form of brain surgery (or cranial surgery to be more accurate). Much survives of the city because of a large graveyard outside the city, which may contain up to 40,000 burials. The remains of the city are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Around the year 2500 a great many things seem to have been happening. This is probably an illusion, as archaeologists will, in the absence of fixed dates, round their dates to the nearest half millennium. So if something happened between 2700 and 2300 and you were unsure, you might just say it happened in 2500. So with that caveat in mind, let’s see what things archaeologists’ record happening for these years.

In the eastern steppes, the Afanasevo culture seems to have come to an end around this time and the Okunev culture seems to have come to prominence. The people of the Okunev culture may have come from further east, from the region near Lake Baikal. They raised sheep and cattle and buried their dead in slab tombs; buried face upwards towards the sky and with their earthly goods surrounding them.

Yamna Arrowheads

After the gradual decline of the Yamna culture, the Potapovka culture and the Abashevo cultures began to flourish to the north of where the Yamna culture had been before. These cultures resembled the Yamna cultures to some extent and used a similar pottery type, although again, it must be remembered that “pots are not people”. The Potapovka cultures in particular began to show horse remains in their kurgans, which were impressive and occasionally had wheeled vehicles as well.

Tepe Sialk appears to have been burned around this time, although the nearby Kura-Araxes culture may not have been at fault, as the settlement of Shengavit appears to be abandoned around this period as well.

In Elam, the semi-mythical Dynasty of Awan seems to have come to power around 2500. Awan may have been the city of Godin Tepe and the names of their kings survive from a king list. But like many king lists of the ancient world, even if the names are right, the order may be confused. It’s unclear if the kings of Awan controlled all of Elam and also not clear if they actually controlled Susa, which was a semi-independent city-state in its own right. The writing system known as “Elamite cuneiform”, as opposed to other systems such as Linear Elamite, or Proto-Elamite, was probably in use around this time, although no texts are extant from that exact era. Around this time the city of Lagash seems to have been dominant in southern Mesopotamia and the ruler, Eannatum, claims laconically to have conquered Susa.

He defeated Susa. 
Inscription of Eannatum

Drinking vessel from Kulli Culture

Around this time the Kulli culture in Baluchistan began to flourish. This had some similarities with the other cultures such as the Jiroft and the Helmand cultures to the west and north but was most influenced by the Indus Valley Civilisation to its east. Numerous Indus Valley seals have been found and the art styles are very similar to each other. The main cultural difference is that the main Kulli site of Nindowari seems to have had a monumental mound, like a proto-ziggurat, that rose to 25 metres. This is in contrast to the Indus Valley sites, which do not seem have monumental architecture.

The city of Konar Sandal, in the Jiroft culture, seems to have reached the peak of its cultural output around this time, as does the nearby Helmand civilisation. However, true to its name of “The Burnt City”, Shahr-e-Sukhteh appears to have been burned down again around this time.

Around the year 2400, far away from Elam, or the steppes, or even the Tibetan Plateau, in the Arctic Ocean north of the Bering Straits, the last woolly mammoth on earth died. I find it astonishing that this last remnant of megafauna could have coexisted with the building of Stonehenge and the pyramids. It has nothing really to do with the rest of this blog, but I felt it was worth mentioning somewhere and it might as well be here.

Clay goddess figurines from Helmand Culture
Object on left from Mundigak

In what is present-day Afghanistan, the city of Mundigak flourished around this time, having close trade relations with the Indus Valley, but differing from them in having large mounds (possibly for temples or palaces) prominent in their city. Around this time, the cities of Tepe Yahya and Bampur (in present day south-eastern Iran) became prominent. It appears that not only did they trade with each other, but that they also traded across the straits with the civilisations on the Arabian Peninsula. This, along with evidence from Mesopotamia, is yet more evidence of a strong trade network connecting the Indus and the Tigris/Euphrates.

Stele of Naram-Sin,
an Akkadian conqueror

Around the year 2300, Susa moves very definitely into the realms of history, as the conqueror Sargon of Akkad conquered the city and its hinterland. The descendants of Sargon would have further campaigns in this area. Shahr-i-Sukhteh was once again burned, marking the end of the Shahr-i-Sukhteh III period, but this is unlikely to have been by the Akkadians, as it is very far from Mesopotamia.

This time period is also a possible date for the Maikop kurgan, north of the Caucasus. This was described in the last blog post in detail and the fact that the dates assigned to it are up to a thousand years apart means we must be very cautious with dating in this era.

Also around this time the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex emerges. This is often shortened to the BMAC for convenience. This was a culture in present-day Turkmenistan and northern Afghanistan. It was an urban civilisation, possibly a blending of Neolithic farmers from the region and migrants from what is now Iran. This area had been urbanised previously but around this time the cities, particularly the large city of Gonur Tepe, become very prominent. They had trading relationships with the cultures of Iran and the Indus Valley civilisation. They were possibly the first people to domesticate the Bactrian camel.

Anau seal from Bactria-Margiana Archaeological
Complex. Image credit here.
Please see article for further discussion of item

Most intriguingly a small seal has been found that was incised with hitherto unknown characters that vaguely resemble later Chinese characters. Some people extrapolate that the BMAC was a literate culture and that it was through them that the idea of writing passed eastwards towards the Chinese plains. This is extremely conjectural and should be treated with extreme scepticism. But the level of culture displayed by the BMAC, particularly at their “capital” Gonur Tepe, would certainly allow one to believe that they were literate.


Around the year 2200 the Helmand culture and the cities of Shahr-i-Sukhteh and Mundigak began to go into a decline. It is possible that the monsoon cycle was changing and that rains no longer reached as far north as they previously had. This is interesting as the Indus Valley Civilisation begins to experience some difficulties around this time. The rain-fed Ghaggar-Hakra River (sometimes referred to conjecturally as the Sarasvati River) seems to have begun drying at this time.

Susa Kinglist describing Awan Dynasty

The first definite texts of Elamite cuneiform date from this time, although as mentioned earlier, it was probably in use significantly earlier. The first texts seem to be treaties between the Akkadian kings and unknown vassals in the Elamite heartlands.

Around the year 2100 the Poltavka culture in seems to have come to an end and evolved into the Sintashta culture north of the Caspian Sea. Again, the Sintashta did not differ greatly from the Poltavka, nor the Poltavka from the Yamna. The main difference is that the Poltavka had substantially greater grave goods in their tombs. The Sintashta by contrast also had large amounts of grave goods in their tombs, but also chariots. The Lake of Krivoye Ozero was a place of burial for the Sintashta culture and the first true chariot burial in the world is there. The chariot was the first indisputable example of the horse as a weapon. Prior to the development of the chariot we have no way of knowing if horses were rode and it seems likely that they were more of a draught animal. But with the chariot, individuals could fight from a stable platform and move at great speeds in battle. A new age of warfare had begun.

Statue of goddess
dedicated by Kutik-Inshushinak

Further south, in Susa, the last king of the Awan Dynasty according to the Susa Kinglist, Kutik-Inshushinak, shook off the yoke of the fading Akkadian Empire and made Susa independent. He conquered Anshan, a city somewhere to the east of Susa, but whose location is not securely known. He then embarked on a building program and fostered the use of Linear Elamite. However, after the death of Kutik-Inshushinak the use of Linear Elamite would fade away, leaving Elamite cuneiform as the main writing method of the Elamites. After his death the Shimashki Dynasty, which may not have been a dynasty in any real sense of the word, ruled Elam. However, as is so often the case with Elam, we know very little about them.

As our period comes to a close, around the year 2000BC, we see the Kulli culture of Baluchistan coming to an end. This probably signals that the Indus Valley Civilisation, upon which the Kulli culture appears to have been based, was entering a period of difficulty and any influence on the hinterlands appears to have ending. It is around this time that the trade from Meluhha to Mesopotamia stops and the two civilisations drift apart, leaving each other as only a memory.

The Kura-Araxes culture south of the Caucasus comes to an end around this time and the Trialeti culture, based in what is now Georgia, come to prominence. The Trialeti are known for their spectacular kurgan burials and might possibly be counted as a steppe culture.

Gold goblet from Trialeti culture

Much further to the north and east, in Siberia, the Okunev culture comes to an end and the sprawling Andronovo culture. The Andronovo culture was in many ways an extension of the Sintashta culture. It covered a vast swathe of territory. The Andronovo region stretched from the north of the Caspian Sea past Lake Balkhash to the east and stretching into what is now Xinjiang in China. To the south it stretched down as far south as the BMAC, where it seems to have influenced the culture.

The Andronovo culture should in no way be thought of as a single group and definitely not as an empire but it is rather a cultural expansion, probably driven by the now perfected methods of chariot warfare. Every group on the steppe now adopted this new method or faced absorption by those that did. The transient nature of steppe life depended on the herds of livestock that could be kept. This means that any group that specialised in mobile warfare could steal the herds of those that did not with impunity. This gave a strong impetus for all groups to adopt a mobile form of warfare, in this case, the chariot.

Graveyard from Shahr-i-Sukhteh

In Elam, the city of Susa was conquered by the Ur III Dynasty in their expansion under their king Shulgi, but it won independence around the turn of the millennium under a Shimashki king known as Kindattu.

After he roared over Susa, Adamshah, and the land of Awan like a storm, made them submit in a single day, and captured their lords…
Inscription 2 of Ibbi-Sin, the last king of the Ur III Dynasty. The bombastic description here probably masks a weakening of Sumerian power

Ornament from Bactria-Margiana Archaeoligical Complex

Thus the period comes to a close, with Elam locked in a perpetual conflict with their Mesopotamian neighbours. The steppe cultures have mastered the two-wheel chariot and used it to expand greatly. The Indo-European languages have broken up into their main constituents, with the gradual eastwards movements of the Indo-Iranian speakers, possibly tied in with the Andronovo culture. A new and vibrant civilisation has arisen in the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex, but is threatened by the chariot cultures to the north and changing climate patterns. The changing climate and trade patterns also threaten the Helmand and Jiroft cultures of south-eastern Iran. While there is a very great deal that can be written about the central area of the Eurasian landmass at this time, it must be remembered that what we write is nearly all taken from archaeology and linguistics and only a tiny fraction of the area, Elam and its hinterlands, are able to provide us texts for history proper. Hopefully this has shed some light however.

Related Blog Posts:
Some Central Asian history from 4000-3000BC
Some Central Asian history from 3000-2000BC
Some Central Asian history from 2000-1500BC
Some Central Asian history from 1500-1000BC
Some Central Asian history from 1000-750BC
Some Central Asian history from 750-500BC