Abstract: The emergence of productive economies based transformed virtually every aspect of human life—from subsistence strategies and methods of landscape exploitation to material culture and the mechanisms of interaction among human populations. The most comprehensive studies on Neolithization have been conducted in the regions of the Fertile Crescent and East Asia. In Central Asia, the influence of these two centers is evident, although the majority of research has focused on relatively later periods in history (the Bronze Age) (Frachetti et al., 2017; Spengler et al., 2014). Regarding the earliest stages in the development of productive economies, two centers are currently recognized in the region: the foothills of Kopetdag (Jeitun culture) (Harris, 2010; Masson, 1971) and southern Ferghana (Obishir-5, Surungur) (Shnaider et al., 2021, 2017; Taylor et al., 2021). We conducted an analysis of materials from the sites of Jeitun, Obishir-5, and Surungur, which included an examination of archaeological artifacts and a paleofaunal collection, along with the application of bioarchaeological analytical methods. Based on these analyses, we propose a model for the formation of the Neolithic in the mountainous regions of Central Asia and trace how the Jeitun Neolithic influenced the development of Neolithization in these highland areas.

Cite: Shnaider S.V. , Markovskii G.I.
Neolithization in Central Asia
2nd Conference on the Emergence of the Neolithic in Europe 22-25 May 2025