Eder, Saltanat (2020). Die mittelalterliche Wallburg Talkhir. Entstehung und Entwicklung der städtischen Kultur im nordöstlichen Siebenstromland im Lichte der historisch-archäologischen Quellen. (Thesis). Universität Bern, Bern
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Abstract
In the course of long-term coexistence and the interaction of agricultural and livestock breeding cultures a special urbanized landscape, the Land of Seven Rivers, was created in the mountain foreland in southeastern Kazakhstan. One of its main centers was Talkhir. The favorable location on the main route of the Silk Road enabled Talkhir to become one of the most progressive craft and trade centers in northeastern Seven Rivers Land. The development of local crafts and craft production techniques, as well as trade relations within and outside the town, are therefore of particular interest for research. The primary goal of the dissertation is to extract a comprehensive idea of the development dynamics of the craft in Talkhir from the time its creation in the 8th century until the fall of the town in the 13th century. The key question of the problem is: How did the interaction between "craft", "town" and "trade" in the Land of Seven Rivers? The terms of "crafts" and "trade" have a causal connection because the intensive production of handicraft products required the constant search for new sales markets. For this reason, it is necessary to pay particular attention to the issues of long-distance trade links and commodity-money relations of the town. The methodological basis is the treatment of the craft products according to uniform criteria such as technology (raw material, shape, firing conditions), typology (shapes and proportions), function (types of craft products) and surface structures (decor). The doctoral thesis is not only an archaeological but also a historical study. Crafts and trade are closely linked to the term "urbanism". In this case, the historical method presupposes the consideration of medieval urbanism in the context of all its development stages: the origin, flowering period and decline of urban culture in the northeastern Seven Rivers Land. It is important to determine the cause of this process. The chronological research framework encloses the lifespan of Talkhir, namely the period between 8th and 14th centuries. The initial phase, the 8th to the middle of the 10th century, is associated with the emergence and develpment of the town within the Karluk Khanate. In the 10th century, the Seven Rivers Land was included in the Karakhanid Empire. In the Karakhanid period, i.e. from 10 to 12th centuries, Talkhir experienced its highest flower. The final stage – the 13th to the beginning of 14th century-is characterized by the Turk-Mongolian conquest of the Seven River Land and subsequent decay of urban culture in the region. The geography of the study covers the territory of the city of Talkhir and the Talkhir microregion, which according to today's administrative division is located in the southern area of the Almaty province. The source basis is primarily archaeological material from the settlement of Talkhir. The artifacts are in the depository of the Margulan Institute of Archaeology (Kazakhstan) and in the collections of the Central Historical Museum in Almaty. Excavation reports and publications by researchers dealing with problems of medieval settlement in the southern Kazakhstan are also studied. Various life aspects of the Central Asian peoples are relatively well recorded in the medieval chronicles. For this reason, information from historical primary sources, i. e. Chinese, Arabic, Turkish, etc., are included in the work. The innovation of the dissertation project consists in a multi-layered study of the development of medieval handcraft in the northeastern Seven Rivers region on the basis of archaeological and historical sources, using the example of the settlement of Talkhir. The information related to the history of the settlement is summarized and analyzed. The questions of the social-political and economic life of the urban population in the Karakhanid period are broadly raised. The content and results of the work could be used for interdisciplinary studies and research on the archaeology and history of Central Asia. It would be possible to use the material as a supplementary source for the teaching of historical subjects in universities as well as in museum and exhibition practice.
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Dissertation Type: | Single |
| Date of Defense: | 24 September 2020 |
| Subjects: | 900 History > 950 History of Asia |
| Institute / Center: | 06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of History and Archaeology > Institute of Archaeological Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Hammer Igor |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Sep 2025 10:26 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Sep 2025 20:15 |
| URI: | https://boristheses.unibe.ch/id/eprint/6724 |
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