{
  "author": "ChronologiaOS editorial guides",
  "date": "2026-10-09",
  "department": "Cities & Civilizations",
  "department_id": "CITIES",
  "epistemic_label": "Source guide",
  "epistemic_status": "SOURCE_GUIDE",
  "period": "c. 2250\u20131700 BCE (alternative model from c. 2400 BCE)",
  "place": "Murghab delta, Turkmenistan",
  "public_sources": [
    {
      "publisher": "Routledge",
      "title": "Questioning the Oxus Civilization or Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Culture (BMAC): An Overview",
      "type": "Scholarly monograph",
      "url": "https://www.routledge.com/The-World-of-the-Oxus-Civilization-1st-Edition/Lyonnet-Dubova/p/book/9781138722873"
    },
    {
      "publisher": "On the Track of Uncovering a Civilisation \u2014 volume honoring Victor Sarianidi",
      "title": "Thinking Around Grave 3245 in the 'Royal Graveyard' of Gonur (Murghab Delta, Turkmenistan)",
      "type": "Peer-reviewed article",
      "url": "https://urkesh.org/attach/Salvatori2010a.pdf"
    }
  ],
  "publication_state": "PUBLIC",
  "read_time": "4 min read",
  "sections": [
    {
      "body": "Lyonnet and Dubova's overview of the Oxus civilization, also called the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex, frames its main span at about 2250 to 1700 BCE, with a later decline toward 1500 BCE. The synthesis emphasizes where radiocarbon dates concentrate and notes the absence of earlier urban architecture at major sites.",
      "heading": "Start with the overview",
      "source": 0
    },
    {
      "body": "Salvatori's study of a grave in the royal graveyard at Gonur proposes a Middle Bronze Age integration horizon beginning earlier, around 2400 or 2300 BCE, and ending near 1950 BCE. The research record keeps this as an alternative periodization rather than letting either model silently replace the other.",
      "heading": "An alternative model",
      "source": 1
    },
    {
      "body": "Two ranges for one civilization usually signal different phase definitions or different site samples. The decision rule used here is to compare phase definitions, site scope, and radiocarbon series before choosing, and never to average the ranges.",
      "heading": "Try the research habit"
    },
    {
      "body": "What would a single new radiocarbon series need to show to favor one model? Think about which sites and which phases it would have to cover.",
      "heading": "A question to carry forward"
    }
  ],
  "short_title": "Can one civilization have two chronologies?",
  "slug": "gonur-depe-and-the-oxus-civilization",
  "summary": "Enter the Oxus civilization of Central Asia through its largest site and learn why two published chronologies are kept as separate candidates.",
  "tags": [
    "Oxus",
    "BMAC",
    "Gonur Depe",
    "Bronze Age",
    "Central Asia"
  ],
  "title": "Gonur Depe and the Oxus civilization: a Bronze Age world with two clocks."
}