The research project “Rural Life in a Changing World: New Light on Economic Development and Inequality in Central Asia under the Kushan Empire” (PRIMUS/23/HUM/013) is funded by the PRIMUS research programme from 2023–2027 and led by Dr. Lauren Morris. Drawing on new archaeological fieldwork in southern Uzbekistan, this project investigates the scope and catalysts of economic development in northern Bactria in the Kushan period. The Kushan period (ca. 50–230 CE) in this region is understood to have witnessed remarkable transformations in urbanism, agricultural extensification, craft production, and trade – but the relevant data often lack chronological precision and emphasise irrigated lowlands and urban settlements. It remains unclear whether these benefits were shared across society, including in rural settlements traditionally conceived as subsidiary suppliers to cities that served as primary centres for trade. The project contributes fresh data on the evolution of a multiperiod rural settlement in a piedmont zone (Kulal Tepa), with particular emphasis on the structure of the economy, land use, monetisation, and connectivity throughout Antiquity into the Early Medieval period.
The project team at the Institute of Classical Archaeology includes Lauren Morris (PI), Jakub Havlík, Elena Paralovo, Ján Bobik, and Jana Matznerová.
The Kulal Tepa Archaeological Project forms the fieldwork component of this research project, focusing on the rural settlement of Kulal Tepa in the eastern Kugitang piedmonts, located in the present Sherabad district of the Surkhandarya province. Conducted over three seasons (2023-2024) under the auspices of the Czech-Uzbekistani Archaeological Expedition in collaboration with Termez State University, the project complements prior and ongoing research of the Expedition at Iskandar Tepa and other sites in the vicinty, by examining the development of this site and its landscape through the Antique and Early Medieval periods. Our multifaceted approach integrates stratigraphic excavation with survey (systematic surface collection, extensive surface survey, remote sensing), and data collection and analysis with various international partners, including in ceramics studies with archaeometric analysis (Austrian Academy of Sciences; Koç University), metal detector survey (Czech Academy of Sciences), conservation and compositional analysis of metal finds (Institute of Classical Archaeology, CU; Czech Academy of Sciences), geology, geophysical prospection (Masaryk University), archaeobotanical data (Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology), and zooarchaeological data (University of Michigan). Primary field data collection is now complete, with the study of material underway.
Preliminary reports for the autumn 2023 field season have been published in Studia Hercynia 2024, XXVIII/2.
