This project deals with temporality of archaeological evidence from the Neolithic and Aeneolithic settlement Monjukli Depe and other sites in the Kopet Dag region (southern Turkmenistan) with a main focus on changes in prehistoric building and living practices.

Research

Based on architectural structures and installations (dis-)continuities of spatial design are examined with a multiscalar approach. This encompasses three analytical scales closely bounded to the experienced time of the past people: On a microscale, the research focuses at change which could be witnessed by single persons. On a mesoscale, the processes are traced which are not directly perceived by individuals but could be potentially orally traded and passed across generations. On a macroscale, long-durée processes are examined which lie beyond the individual perception and belong rather to the mythical realm or analytical understandings of archaeologists.

For better understanding of the duration and temporality of the processes a chronological framework was refined by Bayesian modelling of the 14C data from the main site Monjukli Depe and other prehistoric sites in the region. At present, the work concentrates on analysis of architectural data.

This doctoral thesis is being written within the program “Landscape Archaeology and Architecture” (LAA) of the Berlin Graduate School of Ancient Studies (BerGSAS).

Contributions