Southern Turkmenistan in the Neolithic : A petrographic case study

The Neolithic period of southern Turkmenistan, Central Asia is the primary focus of this study. During the Neolithic, southern Turkmenia was inhabited by two main groups living in two discrete ecological environmental zones: the Jeitun Culture of the southern super-zone and the Keltiminar Culture of the northern super-zone. In this study, Chapters 1-3 provide the background critical to an accurate understanding of the typological and petrographic case studies, the insight those studies can provide to our knowledge of the structure of the Jeitun and Keltiminar Neolithic adaptations, and the notion of prehistoric Turkmenia as an archaeological border zone. The ceramic assemblages for the petrographic case study are initially introduced in the context of ceramic typology (Chapter 4), and subsequently in terms of general petrography (Chapter 5) and the Kopet Dag case study (Chapter 6). Finally, Chapter 7 represents a synthesis and interpretation of the data and results from Chapters 4 and 6. This synthesis and interpretation serves as a precursor to a final discussion of contrasts, comparisons, and possibilities for future research in the region (Chapter 8).