This grant will be for the study and publication of the final report of the Protohistoric occupation of Ancient Bactra and contemporary sites of Bactra oasis, excavated between 2004 and 2009 by the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan (DAFA) under the direction of R. Besenval with the help of Ph. Marquis.
Ancient Bactra is located in northern Afghanistan, in the center of the modern city of Balkh. Famous for its mentions by the historians of Alexander the Great as the capital of the Achaemenids in Central Asia, Bactra was in fact settled since at least the end of the 2nd millennium BC. The second major site of the oasis is Chesme Shafa, at the southern border of the ancient oasis: it consists in a large fortress, which is yet the only known fortified settlement that can be attributed to the Achaemenids in Central Asia. Furthermore, the DAFA has led a survey of Bactra oasis, leading to the identification of several contemporary settlements that we plan to integrate in our study for comparative purposes.
The sites under study will enable us to document the chronology, the urbanism, the political and socio-economic organization during Protohistory, as long as the occupation of the territory of this region at the crossroads between the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent, Iran, and Central Asia.
The publication project is directed by Dr. Johanna Lhuillier.
