An Imagined Past? Nomadic Narratives in Central Asian Archaeology

Citation metadata

Type

journal article

Publication

Current Anthropology, vol. 62, no. 3

Peer reviewed

Yes

Open DOI or stable record (opens in a new tab)

Records informed by this source

• entity Andronovo-family classifications
  Evidence confidence: ◈ moderate
  informs · critiques interpretation · Discussion of archaeological narratives and identity

  Challenges uniform national and nomadic narratives.

• date assertion Andronovo-family classifications — date assertion
  Evidence confidence: ◈ moderate
  informs · critiques interpretation · Discussion of archaeological narratives and identity

  Challenges uniform national and nomadic narratives.

• claim Ceramic, mortuary and metallurgical taxonomies in this package do not automatically identify ethnic, linguistic or political communities.
  Evidence confidence: ◈ high
  supports · critiques interpretation · Discussion of archaeological identity narratives

  Shows how broad categories can be reified in modern narratives.

• claim Saka and Scythian labels should not be projected backward onto second-millennium BCE Central Asian assemblages without independent contemporary evidence.
  Evidence confidence: ◈ high
  supports · critiques interpretation · Modern narratives of ancient steppe identity

  Supports caution about nationalist and ethnogenetic back-projection.

• claim Areas without securely dated points in this package must not be presented as uninhabited.
  Evidence confidence: ◈ high
  supports · critiques interpretation · Regional narrative and visibility critique

  Supports caution about simplified spatial narratives.

• claim Modern national narratives can appropriate archaeological cultures as direct ancestors of present nations, obscuring ancient diversity and uncertainty.
  Evidence confidence: ◈ high
  supports · critiques interpretation · Analysis of imagined nomadic pasts and national narratives

  Provides direct historiographic critique.