Lecture Series on the History and Culture of Central Asia (Summer Semester 2023)Central Asian Archaeological LandscapesA lecture by Tim Williams, Professor of Silk Road Archaeology at the University College London

18 July 2023

Photo: IBISRC

We are pleased to invite you to our last lecture in this Semester, the lecture by Prof. Tim Williams, Professor of Silk Road Archaeology at the University College London. It will take place this time at 12 pm on July 18, 2023.

The Topic of the Lecture is  The Central Asian Archaeological Landscapes Project of The UCL Institute of Archaeology 

 CAAL is a ten-year partnership, which started in 2019, between the UCL Institute of Archaeology, and some 20 institutions from the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Republic of Uzbekistan, and the People's Republic of China (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region).

 The project is documenting and digitising archaeological heritage in Central Asia, to raise awareness of the richness of the resource, and help to protect it. The region, from the Caspian Sea to western China, an area of about 5.7 million km2, and includes major deserts (such as the Karakum, Kyzylkum and Taklamakan), mountain chains (including large parts of the Pamirs, Tian Shan, and Hindu Kush), and fertile river deltas and oases (e.g. Zarafshan, Turfan, Syr Darya and Amu Darya). The region encompasses some of the most significant heritage of the Silk Roads, from megacities to market towns, mountain forts and desert caravanserai, complex water management systems and irrigation, and religious sites which testify to the spread of ideas and belief systems. It also includes a vitally important range of prehistoric sites, including nomadic camps and burial mounds, rock art, and significantly the spread of agriculture and early urban civilizations.

Some sites are well documented, but often information exists across many archives, and many are poorly located (in the days before GPS and accessible maps). The project is drawing together this data, protecting the disparate archives by working with them to digitising their vital information, locating sites using satellite imagery, and linking all of these with the official monument records to create a geographic information system for the national record of each country. We are identifying these using satellite images and aerial surveys (c. 60,000 have already been identified), to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the archaeological landscapes of Central Asia. A sample of these are being explored through fieldwork, interrupted by the pandemic, and we are using this as an opportunity to build capacity with local archaeologists and heritage professionals in digital approaches to documentation; including photogrammetry to create high-resolution 3D data, and using drones to accurately map extensive landscapes.

The work hopes to create a platform for research, and to assist in the protection of archaeological heritage. The fragile record of human adaption to the complex, and sometimes harsh, Central Asian landscapes is under threat from many activities: development projects, changing agricultural practices, urban expansion, and rural depopulation. In particular, the climate crisis is leading to changing patterns of irrigation because of the collapsing glaciers of the ‘third pole’ in the Himalaya-Hindu Kush Mountain ranges. The CAAL project is digitising data to explore the scale and nature of these threats. The future of heritage protection depends on strategic planning, where archaeological resources are considered as part of sustainable development policies. This cannot happen unless there is a solid, and more accessible, digital platform of information for the local agencies to work with and engage in this debate, and capacity building to ensure the skills are available locally.