On the question of cultural interactions between the Tarim Basin and the Fergana Basin in the Late Bronze Age

During the Late Bronze Age (late 2nd millennium to early 1st millennium BCE), the Tarim Basin and the Fergana Basin served as key nodes of cultural exchange in Eurasia. The mechanisms of their interaction are of great significance for understanding the formation of the prehistoric Silk Road. This paper systematically reviews the material cultural features of three archaeological assemblages from the Tarim Basin (the Xintala, Northern Niya, and Saensayi types) and the Chust culture of the Fergana Basin. Through typological and cultural factor analysis, significant similarities between the two regions are identified in burial practices, settlement architecture, pottery shapes and decoration (especially geometric painted ceramics), stone tool assemblages (curved-back stone sickles and saddle-shaped querns), metallurgical production, and agropastoral economic patterns. The study shows that their interaction was grounded in similar intermontane oasis environments and facilitated by a natural corridor along the Fergana–Alay Range–southwestern Tarim route. Painted pottery motifs may indicate an east-to-west influence, while metallurgical traditions were integrated into the broader Eurasian steppe network. The indirect distribution of Andronovo-related populations provides a background for possible human contacts between the two regions. Overall, by the Late Bronze Age, a bidirectional and multi-sourced network of cultural interaction had emerged on both sides of the Tien Shan, offering key evidence for the formation of the prehistoric Silk Road.

Bronze · Bronze Age · Human settlement · Pottery · Prehistory · Rock art · Structural basin · Tarim basin · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology