Ussr military Topographic map

 3.
Undertake 
targeted excavations
in selected open-
air pits and underground shafts in order to recover 
archaeological material, record the shape and 
dimensions of mining activity (including estimated 
volumes), and document ancient mining techniques.
From northern China and Mongolia to the Black Sea 
region, turquoise was the dominant gemstone in the 
ornamentation of communities occupying the central and 
northern regions of Eurasia in the first millennium BCE and 
the first centuries CE. In Central Asia, turquoise became the 
main blue-colored gem used through the Achaemenid, 
Greco-Bactrian, and Kushan periods, particularly in the 
form of small beads or inlays (c.f. Tillya Tepe). 
1
The 
modus operandi
 of turquoise 
procurement in the Kyzylkum and its 
dissemination into surrounding regions.
This 
includes the identity of actors involved in 
these various processes, as well as the role of 
turquoise and its companion industries in the 
context of larger desert economic systems 
(e.g., metal resource extraction). 
2
The role of turquoise among other 
gemstones in ancient Eurasian exchange 
networks
, especially in relation to the 
formation of elite languages of prestige in 
the centuries around our common era. 
Fundamentally, these queries hope to 
enrich our inadequate understanding about 
the economy of ancient Central Asia and
the role of nomadic and semi-nomadic 
communities within it.
Despite its clear importance among pre-modern Central Asian 
communities, focused archaeological research of turquoise stones 
has only rarely deviated from mineralogical and geochemical 
considerations. Countering this tendency, the present poster 
outlines the goals and preliminary results of on-going doctoral 
dissertation that centers on the important yet under-studied 
turquoise mines of the Kyzylkum desert in modern Uzbekistan. It 
explores two interrelated questions:
FIELDWORK
SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS
NEXT STEPS: GIS
The first stage of research consists of a multi-
year survey and excavation of turquoise mining 
complexes in the Inner Kyzylkum, where this 
stone has been extracted since prehistoric 
times. The mines included are those where 
ancient mining activity has been previously 
recorded, namely those located in the 
mountain ranges of the Bukantau, Tamdytau, 
Auminzatau, and Kuldjuktau, as well as possibly 
the Sultanuizdag mines in Khorezm. 
The first survey season was conducted during 
the summer of 2021and concentrated on the 
Tamdytau and the Bukantau. The main goals 
were to